The No. 2 surfman is Charles H. Howes. He was born in Chatham, is
thirty-six years of age, and has been in the life-saving service five
years. Surfman Howes was assigned to the Coskata Station on Nantucket
when he entered the service; later he was transferred here. He was
a boatman and fisherman over the Old Harbor bars from boyhood until
he entered the life-saving service. The experience he gained in that
hazardous work fully prepared him for the duties of a surfman, and
he has made a brave and trustworthy life saver. He married Henrietta
Jones, and is the father of a daughter and son.
The No. 3 surfman is Samuel D. Eldredge. Surfman Eldredge was born in
East Harwich in 1859, and has been in the life-saving service for five
years, all of that time at this station. He was a boatman and fisherman
from the time that he was a boy until he entered the service, and was
in every way qualified for the work of a life saver. He married Sarah
J. Eldredge.
The No. 4 surfman is John W. Crowell. He was born in East Harwich, and
is twenty-six years of age. Surfman Crowell has been in the life-saving
service six years, serving four years at the Monomoy Station under
the late Captain Eldredge, the remaining time at this station. Before
entering the service he was a boatman and fisherman on the Chatham
bars. As a member of the Monomoy crew he was called upon to face the
greatest perils in the work of rescuing lives from wrecked vessels, and
proved a faithful and brave surfman. He married Elsie Nickerson, and is
the father of a son.
The No. 5 surfman is Nathaniel Hamilton. He was born in Foxboro,
Mass., in 1872, and has been in the life-saving service for four
years. Surfman Hamilton was formerly a member of the Coskata Station,
Nantucket. Owing to injuries received by falling on a piece of
wreckage, while on patrol duty at that station, he was on sick leave
for one year. When he reentered the service he was assigned to this
station. He was a boatman and fisherman before entering the service,
and has made a brave and efficient life saver. He married Abbie L.
Johnson, and is the father of three daughters.
The No. 6 surfman is Franklin W. Eldredge. He was born in Chatham
in 1859, and has been in the life-saving service one year. Surfman
Eldredge joined the Coskata Station crew when he entered the service,
and after five months at that station was transferred here. He was a
boatman and fisherman before he entered the service, spending thirteen
years as a fisherman over Chatham bars. He entered the life-saving
service fully prepared for the most perilous work, and has proved to be
a skilled and faithful life saver. He married Modena B. Jerauld, and is
the father of three daughters and two sons.
The No. 7 surfman is Herbert P. Smith. He was born in Edgartown,
Martha’s Vineyard, in 1877, and has been in the life-saving service
five years. Surfman Smith was a boatman and fisherman along the
shores of Martha’s Vineyard from boyhood. In addition to being an
expert boatman, he received a thorough nautical training, having made
several foreign cruises as a cadet on the United States training ship
_Enterprise_. Surfman Smith also served on the repair ship _Vulcan_
during the war with Spain.
He is skilled in the art of boating through the surf and has made a
faithful and fearless life saver.