Democratic Sentinel, Volume 20, Number 51, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 25 December 1896 — LIFE-SAVING STATIONS. [ARTICLE]

LIFE-SAVING STATIONS.

How They Are Arranged and the Duties of the Keepers. The sitation itself is a two-story house built securely and solidly upon some good site along the beaeh; it is comfortable and roomy, furnished by the government, and has the boat-room and kitchen on the lower floor; a large bedroom for the keeper, another for the surfmen, and a store-room occupy the second story. The boat-room Is large, and opens by great double doors upon the beaeh. It contains the life-boat and all the lifesaving apparatus—always in perfect order and readiness. The crew consists of a keeper and six surfmen, though some stations number seven surfmen; these men are graduates from no naval college, but have served their apprenticeship with Old Ocean as their master; they must be able to handle a boat in the roughest weather, and to face all the dangers of the deep. Each man must undergo a strict medical examination, and must bring to the station his certificate of good health; and he is also obliged to sign an agreement to failitfuMy perform all duties. The keeper receives a salary of S9OO a year (up to 1892 it was $700); he must be at the station all the year round, but is allowed a month’s leave of absence in summer if he gives up his pay. A surfinah receives $65 a month, is at the station during eight months of the year, and has the privilege of leaving the station for twenty-four hours every two weeks—but in lonely stations they generally remain for the active season, which begins September 1, ending May 1; when a man leaves in May, he goes where he pleases, and if he does not return in September the keeper gets another man in his place for the next winter season. Thfe keeper is held responsible for the condition of everything connected with the station; he must drill the men in their duties, divide the work evenly, and see that the men are orderly. No liquor is allowed on the premises; drunkenness or neglect of duty is punished by instant dlsmissaJ from the service; the man who is detailed to cook must keep the kitchen in perfect order; and each has his share of the housework to perform, for no women live at the stations. The crew are numbered by the keeper from one to six, and at midnight preceding September 1 the station goes into commission; at that hour the keeper gives patrol equipments to two of the surfmen, and they start out on the first patrol, and the active season has fairly begun; everything runs like clock-work after that, and as strict a discipline is maintained as on board a man-of-war.— St. Nicholas.