conditions were so adverse that, although they tried every resource with beach apparatus and boat, at 4 o'clock on the morning of the 24th they had been unable to effect communication with the vessel. In the meantime the superintendent, who lived some 35 miles distant, had heard of the disaster and put in an appearance. He at once assumed direction of the work, and by an ingenious expedient the rescue of all on board was effected. He caused the gun to be lashed upon the apparatus cart, while the shot-line box was secured on the forward axle of the boat carriage. The cart was pushed into the water as far as possible, the men following the receding surf, wading waist deep, and at the right moment the gun, heavily loaded for this final trial, was discharged. There was a moment of breathless suspense, but the result justified the most hopeful anticipations of the life savers, for the shot landed just over the rail, fairly falling on the ship's deck. This gave the desired communication and brought salvation to the shipwrecked. The keeper and members of the crew subsequently received the thanks of the Spanish Government, with a medal of honor and a diploma for each. The superintendent's expedient had proved the turning point upon which hinged the success of the entire operations.

Captain Rich was succeeded by his son, Capt. Newell B. Rich, the present incumbent. He originally enlisted at the Wachapreague station as a surfman, in 1882, and was promoted to the keepership of Parramore Beach station in 1884, which position he resigned in 1891. He subsequently enlisted again as surfman at Wallops Beach station, in 1895, and was promoted to keeper of Assateague Beach station in 1896. As keeper of the two stations he made the remarkable record of officiating at 54 disasters to vessels without the loss of a single life.

Time will not permit me to narrate the details of the incidents which I shall mention in connection with the experiences of the superintendents of the other districts, although could I do so they would prove fully as interesting as those given in the preceding instances; and in some cases more tragic and pathetic, while always attesting the loftiest self-sacrifice and devotion.

On November 25, 1877, Capt. John J. Guthrie, of the seventh district, was drowned by the pitch-poling of a surfboat while proceeding to the wreck of the ill-fated U. S. S. Huron. The history of that catastrophe and the shock which convulsed the nation are well remembered by everyone who was at the time old enough to remember anything. The widow and children of Captain Guthrie were granted a pension at the rate provided for a deceased captain of the Navy by the act of May 25, 1878.

On February 15, 1893, Capt. Joseph W. Etheridge, superintendent of the same district (seventh), died from pneumonia contracted while making a tour of his district under the requirements of the regulations of the Service. The coast of which he had charge was an extremely wild and desolate one, to traverse which, especially in winter, involved great privation and hardships. I think in this case I must take time to quote from an affidavit made by Joseph Gaskill, the keeper of the Cape Lookout station, who was accompanying him from the Ocracoke to the Cape Lookout station. He says:

On or about the 20th day of January, 1893, I made harbor at Ocracoke, N. C., where I met Capt. J. W. Etheridge, superintendent of the sixth (North Carolina) live-saving district, on his way south, paying off [and inspecting] the crews of S D-60-1-Vol 32-16

the several stations of his district. Having gotten that far and finding the weather so severe, and there being so much ice he could not proceed, being unable to procure a boat. Being anxious to proceed he hired me to attempt to take him to Newbern, N. C., in my schooner. We tried, and got a short distance through the ice, and were blocked. We then drifted back with the tide. I purchased a pony and road cart, taking pony and cart in boat across Ocracoke Inlet, the ice in the inlet being broken by the current. We landed at Portsmouth, N. C., on the afternoon of January 23, and made a start on the beach for Cape Lookout station. We covered 10 miles of our journey that afternoon. Before night we stopped at the only dwelling on the route of 46 miles, took dinner, and then prepared to make a start. Our horse got away from us, with cart attached.

We secured the horse, but the cart was broken and we could not use it further. Our horse was also so much disabled that we were compelled to remain over night. We then tried to procure a boat to cross over to the mainland, but it was impossible to cross, the sound being frozen. Failing in this, we hitched our horse to an ox cart and proceeded, one walking while the other rode, the weather being so severe it was necessary for us to exercise to prevent freezing. Night overtook us about 10 miles from Cape Lookout, and we were compelled to stop at a deserted fish camp on the beach. Having no wood, we had to tear the side from the camp for firewood. The camp had no floor. We .built a fire on the dirt and cut rushes to protect us from the frozen ground. We had one blanket, which Captain Etheridge covered with, while I kept up the fire the best I could.

Captain Etheridge, being very tired and worn out from exposure, dropped to sleep about 8 o'clock. At 9.40 the captain awoke and asked the time. When he learned that it was so early he complained that he was sick and that we must move, declaring that he would not live until daylight if compelled to stay where we then were. Soon after he had a chill, followed by a severe headache and fever. However, it was compulsory for us to remain, there being no other place of refuge which we could reach. When morning came we started for the station and arrived there about 10 a. m., being compelled to walk a distance of 10 miles, as our horse was worn out and unable to pull either of us. When we reached the station Captain Etheridge was exhausted. At the station we were supplied with food and then taken in a cart to a small settlement on the banks near Beaufort, N. C. There we procured a boat and arrived at Beaufort on the 25th day of January, at 5 o'clock p. m.

Captain Etheridge continued sick all the way over from the station, and died in a very few days after his arrival home.

Capt. Hiram B. Shaw is superintendent of the eighth life-saving district, which position he has held since 1889. His district contains an extensive coast line, reaching from the northern boundary of South Carolina to Key West, Fla., a distance of about 800 miles. On account of the mildness of the climate, however, the nature of the coast, and the comparatively small amount of shipping which passes in proximity to the shores, serious shipwrecks are rare and are uncomplicated with the severe conditions which usually accompany such disasters north of the South Carolina line. But few stations are, therefore, located in the district, being only nine in number, and these chiefly houses of refuge. Consequently, all in all, it is the least important district in the Service. Yet it is necessary that the superintendent should make his stated tours of the stations, a portion of which has to be made under conditions involving hardships and danger. As chief officer of the district he is looked upon as the person responsible for the efficiency of that portion of the Service under his charge.

On one occasion a serious wreck occurred near Ormond, Fla., when the schooner Nathan F. Cobb went ashore on December 5, 1896. There was no station within many miles of the place, but Captain Shaw resided in the town and was looked to as the proper person to take charge of an attempt at rescue. An independent attempt, how

ever, was made by a couple of brave men to carry a line to the stranded vessel. The sea and surf were violent, and the weather was severely cold for that climate. The wreck had been ashore for some time and was rapidly pounding to pieces. Shaw had no boat, nor could any be obtained by him, except a small one, which was in bad order and needed some repairs and cleaning from barnacles. This he borrowed. While he was engaged in repairing it the two brave men before spoken of had found another and better boat, and shot out with a line toward the stranded vessel. They had not gone far when the boat capsized and one of them was drowned. Shaw saw the drowning man as he went down with his hand uplifted as if calling for help.

The superintendent had previously asked Capt. Edward De Courcy to accompany him in an effort to rescue the vessel's crew, and he had agreed to do so. The two men stripped themselves, jumped into the boat, unsuitable as it was, and started out, taking with them a long line. Having seen the fate of the other two, they expected to be capsized, and their plan was to then swim for the vessel with the line. They reached the remaining man upon the capsized boat just in time to seize him and get him into their own boat alive. They then pursued their way, and fortunately succeeded in getting a line from the vessel, which they brought ashore, by means of which, using an expedient which the superintendent had been taught when he entered the Service, they succeeded in rescuing the vessel's crew. It was a desperate undertaking, and his daring on that occasion, in which every one on shore expected he and his comrade would perish, was warmly applauded throughout that section of the country.

Capt. William A. Hutchings, of Galveston, has for many years been superintendent of the ninth life-saving district, which comprises the Gulf coast, from Key West to the Rio Grande River, a distance of about 1,400 miles, although with one exception the stations are located entirely upon the coast of Texas, which is subject to destructive storms and hurricanes, from which the remainder of the Gulf coast is comparatively immune. He has been a most efficient officer and has on several occasions taken the leading part in rescue work in his district.

His services in July, 1899, when the whole country was made aware of impending disaster in the vicinity of the Brazos River, which had overflown its banks and threatened to cause an immense loss of property and probably of human life, was particularly conspicuous. Without going into the most interesting details of his efforts on this occasion, which would consume much time, let it suffice to say that he organized and led an expedition of four boat crews who were out five days engaged in rescuing people from high knolls on which they had gathered and from the upper chambers and roofs of houses nearly submerged and conveying them to places of safety, and subsequently carrying them supplies of food, which had been provided by subscription and stored at designated depots. Captain Hutchings completed his very exhaustive report of this enterprise in the following words:

The work was laborious in the extreme, either rowing under the burning heat of the July sun or when not exposed to its debilitating influence, cutting and breaking the way for the boats from one stretch of open water to another, through thick vines and branches of trees and poisonous shrubs, often encoun

tering reptiles which had found refuge above the waters. The operations covered some 150 miles, over a country totally devastated by the greatest overflow the Southwest has ever known. Thousands of people were rendered homeless, and the crops of the richest section of this great State were mostly destroyed, causing a loss of millions of dollars. By a systematic method of performing the labors assumed, and by dogged persistence, the life-savers were instrumental in rescuing 557 lives.

It should be remarked that this enterprise was not without its dangers. The men oftentimes had to pull against strong currents, and their boats were liable to puncture by coming in contact with submerged obstructions and of being dashed against trees and telegraph poles by swift currents. In fact, one of the crews came near being drowned from the staving of a hole in the bilge of the boat by a submerged obstacle, the boats not being in company, but widely separated, and unable to render assistance to each other. In the instance referred to, the boat was saved only by skillful management. The rescuers were also exposed to the liability of contracting dangerous fevers.

In the eleventh district, covering the American shores of Lakes Huron and Superior, Supt. Joseph Sawyer was drowned on Lake Huron off Rogers City while making a tour of his district, on October 20, 1880. The only means of conveyance over that portion of his district was a sailboat belonging to the keeper of one of the stations. The keeper who accompanied him was also drowned.

His successor was Capt. Jerome G. Kiah, the present incumbent. Captain Kiah originally entered the Service as keeper of the Pointe aux Barques life-saving station, and upon the death of Captain. Sawyer was promoted to district superintendent. On April 23, 1880, Captain Kiah barely escaped drowning, being the only survivor of the crew of which he was keeper, the others having lost their lives from the lifeboat which was capsized in an attempt to go to the relief of a vessel in distress. Captain Kiah reached the shore in an unconscious condition, where he was found by his neighbors, black in the face, unrecognizable and bereft of his reason. The sad details of this event are of the most pathetic nature.

Superintendent Sawyer and several of the lost station crew left widows and small children behind them to whom the Government has never given any assistance.

In the twelfth district, covering the shores of Lake Michigan, Capt. Nathan Robbins, superintendent from April, 1882, to the date of his death, August 2, 1898, lost his life from overexertion on his last tour of inspection. He arrived at Plum Island late in the previous day, after a hard day's work, and while examining into the conditions of the station affairs he found reason to mistrust that the patrol of the island had not been faithfully kept throughout its entire course, and to satisfy himself followed the shores of the island over an exceedingly rough pathway, obstructed with crags, fallen trees, and underbrush, in pursuit of evidence as to his suspicion. The journey was exceedingly difficult and toilsome, and when completed Captain Robbins was much exhausted. During the night he suffered severely, and died early the next morning.

It will be observed that one or more of the incidents related occurred in each of nine districts out of the thirteen. The districts omitted are the fourth and fifth, embracing, respectively, the coasts of Long Island and New Jersey, on the Atlantic, and containing,

respectively, 30 and 41 stations; the tenth, embracing Lakes Ontario and Erie, containing 11 stations, but having about 500 miles of coast line, and the thirteenth, containing 16 stations, embracing the entire Pacific coast, a distance of about 800 miles. A station at Nome, Alaska, has just been added.

In the first two of these districts the stations are closer to each other than elsewhere, and the facilities for visiting them are much better than in any of the other districts, but the duties of the superintendents are extremely onerous, the office work alone keeping them constantly engaged when they are not obliged to be on the coast. They have both, however, been in attendance on several occasions of shipwreck.

The tenth district was organized in 1876, Capt. David P. Dobbins being appointed superintendent. Captain Dobbins was a well-known shipmaster on the Lakes, and his experience repeatedly afforded him opportunities to aid in the rescue and succor of the shipwrecked. Perhaps the most notable service of this kind was a rescue made under circumstances of great difficulty and danger in 1853. In recognition of the heroism displayed on this occasion he was rewarded by the citizens of Buffalo with a gold watch, suitably inscribed. He died in August, 1892, from disease (pneumonia) said to have been contracted in making a tour of his district.

His successor, Capt. Edwin E. Chapman, entered the Service originally as a surfman in one of the stations of the district, was subsequently promoted as keeper of another, and upon the death of Captain Dobbins was made superintendent of the district. His record, both as surfman and keeper, was of the best, and as superintendent he ranks with the first.

The thirteenth district was organized in 1877, and until 1882 was under the charge of Capt. John W. White, of the Revenue-Cutter Service, as acting superintendent. Capt. Thomas J. Blakeney was appointed in 1882, and has occupied the position, in which he has served faithfully and efficiently, until the present time. His official tours extend over a coast line of about 800 miles, which probably involves over 900 miles of travel, owing to the lack of traveling facilities along the coast and consequent necessity of several long detours inland, involving many hardships and discomforts. His duties in his office are also arduous and trying. In addition to those pertaining to the general superintendence of the district, he has charge of the distributing depot of the Service, receiving, storing, and distributing all supplies of every kind for the Pacific coast.

It will be seen from what has been said that since the organization of the system seven of the district superintendents have died, and of these seven but one has breathed his last at home and among friends, and his death is said to have been from pneumonia contracted on one of his official tours.

In this connection attention is called to the fact that seven of the thirteen persons who now hold the position of superintendent attained their office by promotion from the position of keeper, and that hereafter none can reach the rank of superintendent except by promotion under the civil-service rules, after a competitive examination in which every eligible keeper in the district is invited to participate. Hence, if retirement is to be granted to keepers and surfmen, and district superintendents are to be excluded, those of the latter class who have