Democratic Sentinel, Volume 16, Number 10, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 25 March 1892 — SAVING HUMAN LIFE. [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

SAVING HUMAN LIFE.

A NOBLE BRANCH OF THE PUBLIC SERVICE. *he Romance of Calling, Whoso Reality la One ot lntenso Interest—A History of the Luo-Saving Service of All Nations— Hew Life-Boats Are Constructed. Manning the Life-Boat. The romance of the lifeboat has furnished many a writer with an interesting theme. The wild storm, Iho play of irresistible forces, the ship tossed like a toy on the surface of the waves, the heartrending scones attending, the wreck, the gallant struggle of the heroio llfeboatmen with the apparently resistless power of the ooenn, and the gallant reseue, have furnished a thousand scenes to the artist, a thousand tale 3 to the poet and dramatist. Like the fireman, the llfeboatman is an interesting character. While light houses are as old as shipping, lifeboats are a modern invention. In 1789, during a heavy storm, a ship went ashore at Tynemouth. The wreck | was close to land, and by the lights on | the shore the people of the town could i see the wretched men swept one by one : from the rigging and drawn down into : the vortex of the waters. Among the lookers-on were the members of a elub, who, from the windows of their assembly room, beheld the fate of the crew. The eight inspired an inquiry whether •omething might not be done to avert such catastrophes, and the inquiry was answered by a proposal to start a subacription fund as a premium to the inventor of a boat which could live in a

heavy sea and, therefore, might be used In saving the lives of wrecked sailors. This was the origin of the lifeboat system, which has in England reached its highest perfection. The vast commerce of Great Britain, by which every year thosands of ships are drawn to her coasts hi all kinds of weather, the dangerous character of many of the harbors aud entrances to bays and rivers, have given

the English an interest in lifeboats and life-saving apparatus such as is felt to the same degree by no other nation. One Henry Greathead deserves the honor of being the inventor of the first lifeboat. A number of models were j entered in the competition proposed by the Tynemouth Club, but Greathead’s 1 boat was deemed most nearly to comply , with the conditions required, and was therefore accepted. The first lifeboat was very broad iir .proportion to its length, its sides, both within and without, were lined with cork, and so small was its specific gravity that even when filled with water it still continued to preserve its efficiency. In the first two seasons after the adoption of the new craft, 300 lives were saved at Tynemouth alone by its employment, during volunteers going out to the wrecks in any weather and bringing off the crew from the most exposed situations. Honors were showered upon the inventor. He received medals and certificates lrom half the benevolent societies of Europe. The matter was taken up by Lloyd’s Association, money was voted and subscriptions were raised to place lifeboats at the most dangerous points along the coast. Many boats were built and put in operation, most of them after the pattern of Greathead’s model, ■which remained tho favorite, until the middle of the century. Several failures, however, of the boat to right itself in a heavy sea, thus sometimes causing tho loss of all on board as well as of those they intended to save, caused proposals to be issued for lifeboats of an improved construction. Thqpremiums were large and thepo were over 100 entries. Tho inventors were paid for their models, and practical boat builders were set to

wwfc teeombiuo all the good features of tk* settle* lato one model boat Wt as thus perfected and apMM tajuw. id practically faultless. Mm * %sci ooesttwctioa, cork, and

very light wood entering to a great extent la to its composition. Above the bottom there la a,false keel of cork and wood, sufficiently strong to enable the boat to return In safety even if the keel should be broken on a rock or

wreck. At both ends and on the sides are air-chambers of such size that the halves of lifeboats broken completely in two have been known to support the crew until assistance arrived. The boat is of broad beam, being 8 feet wide by only 30 in length, its peculiarity of construction rendering a capsize very rare; it is two or three feet higher at Ihe ends than in the middle, and to enable it to right itself long bars of iron beneath the keol serve ns ballast. In a heavy sea the boat may capsize, though such an event is extremely improbable, but it instantly lights itself. It is impossible to sink a model lifeboat, for, even if full of water, so great is its buoyany that it will bear up the weight of all the peoplo that can be crowded into it. One of the cleverest contrivances about the model n lifeboat is the apparatus by which, if its sides are to much as six

inches above the sea, it will discharge any water that the waves may cast into it. On each side there arc six relieving cubes, having openings in the bottom of the boat and at the sides. The valves open outward, and, no matter which way the boat rocks, if it moves at all from side to side, the water surely finds its way out, and the grea:or the depth of water in the boat tho more vapidly will it run out. With a boat that cannot sink, will not stay capsized, and that empties itself of water perfection has been attained, and tho loss of life among the crew of a lifeboat is an exceedingly rare occurrence. The lifeboats of various countries are sometimes maintained by tho Government, but more frequently by private associations, and the most influential, best known and most efficient of these is the Eoyal National Lifeboat Institution of Great Britain. This association was first incorporated in 1824, although for several years before it had an informal existence. From humble beginnings it has risen to a condition of the highest efficiency. Supported entirely by voluntary contributions, it has demonstrated its own usefulness to such an ixtentthatit oan, by a simple request, get all the money it needs. It gets plenty, too, for in a recent year it expended over £40,000 in establishing stations, in purchasing boats, in rewards and wages to seamen. It keeps a fleet of over three hundred lifeboats on,the shores of Great Britain, and has reguj larly enlisted crews composed usually of seamen resident in the immediate 1 neighborhood of the station. Only the coxswains of the boats are kept on pay,

and their salaries are small, amounting to only £8 a year, about S4O, but their duties are light, and both they and the crew receive extra pay when their services are required during a storm. The seamen are paid only for actual service, and the recompense oven then is far from large considering the extra hazardous nature of the employment. But, as an old English sailor remarked, the pleasure of saving life is more than the pay, and the institution rarely has any trouble in manning its boats. The lifeboat is kept in a house near the water, and is always placed upon a truck or wagon of four wheels, by which it is easily run down Into the water. This is necessary, for the boat itself without the crew, or oars weighs a little over two tons. At many important stations horses are kept, in order when the emergency arises to draw the boat to a distance and bring it as close as possible to the wreck before launching. But the lifeboat is not the only requisite on a dangerous coast. At every life station a considerable amount of apparatus is provided for the purpose of rendering assistance in special eases. A supply of cork jackets is always in readiness, not only for the crew, but also to take along, that persons may alqo in ease at accident to th« ‘bo»t, A light mortar, with balls and Une attached, is prepared, in order that should the shipwrecked vessel be inapproachable by

sea, a line may be oast and thus a chance of escape be given to the crew. Rockets are sometimes used for the same purpose, and it frequently happens that when a vessels is wrecked in a Situation where even the lifeboat can-

not go—as, for instance, under a cliff—the use of the mortar or rocket enables the shipwrecked crew to communicate with the land, and by drawing aboard a heavier line, to transfer themselves ono at a time to the shore. For the purpose of bringing tho crew to land several appliances have been used which have proved very valuable. A small cage is sometimes employed of a size sufficient to contain one person at a time, and thus many rescues have been made. The breeches buoy is another device which has often proved successful. It is made of stout canvas in the shape of a pair of pantaloons cut off at tho knees. Clad In this unique garment, and with a belt securely strapped to the reps, many a sailor has been drawn from a sinking vessel to the land. Stirring scenes are witnessed at a lifeboat station when a wreck occurs. It is easily anticipated, for during a storm a careful watch is kept. At some lull in the tempest the lookout on the shore, straining his eyes in the darkness, sees a distressed ship in the offing and perhaps notices a rocket or hears the dull boom of a minute gun, which indicates the peril of the crew. Hurrying to the station he fires a cannon or rings a bell to summon the crew. There is a general rush. From every direction come tho seamen, buckling on their cork jackets as they run; with a yeo heave, ho! tho boat is drawn from the house, oarsmen place themselves in position, a hundred willing hands back the truck into the waves, the boat floats, the coxswain gives the order, and through tho darkness they make their way to the sinking vessel. Scenes lik; this are far moro frequent than most people suppose. Lloyd’s reports show that wrecks are, oven in tho most favorable seasons, frightfully common on the British Isles. As long ago as the year 1800 it was estimated that there was for every day "in the year one wreck somewhere on the British coast. But with the increase of shipping tho number has become far moro numerous. In 1853 there were 832, in 1854 there were 987, and in no year since then has the number fallen below 1,000, nor in any year since that date has the loss of life by shipwreck on the British coast been less thun 500. The terrible storms of 1859, 1801, 1874, 1875 and 1870 were extremely productive of wrecks, and in the last-named year 4,104 vessels were wrecked on the British Islands. Tho greatest loss of life,

however, does not always accompany the greatest number of wrecks. In 1876, for Instance, the year just mentioned, the loss of life was but 776, while in the winter of 1879-80. though the

wrecks numbered but 2,971, the loss of life was 2,155. Some idea of the usefulness of the National Institution may be gained from the fact thap #tf®fy year since Its eslab-

lishment it has saved more than 1,000 lives, and in 1867 the number of persons rescued-tey the company’s boats was 5,845. Up to the present time it is said to have saved ®ver 50,000 men, women and

children from a watery grave. Even, however, with all these rescues, enough lives are still lost at sea to make a fearful list of casualties. Many heroic exploits are credited to tho crews of lifeboats, but the history of shipwreck contains no tale of more daring deed than that of Grace Darling. Her father was a lighthouse keeper at Bamborough, and on Sept. 7. 1838, the Forfarshire, a eoastlng steamer, was wrockod among the Farne Islands, directly opposite the castle. Grace, then 22 years old, persuaded hor father to venture out in her light lifeboat. Accompanied only by the daring girl, he went, and with her assistance brought away ilftoen survivors clinging to the wreck. The act made her famous throughout the world, but she did not live loug to enjoy her reputation for heroism, for four years later she died, Oct. 20, 1842. Sho is buried at Bamborough, and to her grave, as to a shrine, pilgrimages are still mado by hero worshipers. Tho great castle of Bamborough, which looked down upon her exploit, onco a famous fortress, is now a charitablo institution, but moro people remember it from its association with the name of Grace Darling than from all the royal and knightly recollections which cling about its chambers and courts. Large donations have been made to the charitable institutions established wilhin the circuit of its walls; it has an income of £9,000, and in tho chambers where once kings were entertained, medical advice is given and medicines are dispensed to the poor, orphans and sailors are educated; its funds support the lifeboats of tho station below, and during every storm men in the pay of tho Bamborough endowment patrol nine miles of the worst coast in Ihe world. ® The United States devotes more attention to lights and light houses than to lifeboats. Last year there were 1,152 light-house keepers in half as many houses, and drawing salaries of S6UO 1o SI,OOO each. The discipline of tho light-house brigade is strict in the extreme, and a light house is probably the only portion of United Slat, s territory where prohibition is strictly enforced. The light-housekeeper must not become intoxicated, he must not let his light go out, he must, under no circumstances, desert his station. These are three offenses which can be neither extenuated or par oned. The keepers lead solitary but not unpleasant lives; they are provided with reading n.alter by the Government, and in exposed situations, their rations and fuel are furnished. In the sea light houses—that is to say, those established on shoals at somo distance from the land—they are sometimes cutoff from all communication for weeks at a time. But they arc (Seldom in danger, and rarely have any of that thrilling excitement incident to the life of the sailor who volunteers in tho crew of a lifeboat. Tho character of our coast is in most parts quite different from that of Great Britain. Commerce to this country follows beaten tracks, and although lifeboats are sometimes necessary, and American sailors are quite as daring in their efforts to save life as are tho seamen of any other nation, they are fortunately not so frequently called into this dangerous though benevolent servioe.

STARTING OUT TO THE WRECK.

THE ONLY ONE SAVED. [From a Picture in the Royal Academy.]

A MODEL LIFE STATION.

GEACE DARLING'S MONUMENT.

LATEST IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS.

THE MODERN LIFE BOAT.

READY FOR BUSINESS.