754 



SERVICE, UNITED STATES LIFE-SAVING. 



^ jumping en masse into the surf-boat as 



it" came alongside in the darkness, capsizing it 

 instantly, and also drowning the life-saving 

 crew. This disaster occurred on the coast of 

 North Carolina, from the Italian bark Nuova 

 Ottavia. 



In the year 1876-'77 four new districts were 

 organized three embracing the lake-coast, and 

 one on the coast of Florida. Thirty-five new 

 stations of the number authorized by the act of 

 June 20, 1874, were put into operation, including 

 five houses of refuge on the Florida coast. A 

 new gun for service at wrecks, considerably 

 lighter than the gun formerly in use, and with 

 a maximum range of 473 yards, was invented by 

 K. P. Parrott, Esq., and brought into use at a 

 number of the stations. The second serious at- 

 tempt to subordinate the interests of the service 

 to local politics was this year discovered by the 

 Examining Board in the newly organized Fifth 

 District, a number of political retainers, without 

 character as surfmen, being found at the open- 

 ing of the season installed in the stations as 

 keepers and surfmen. They were promptly 

 thrown out, and their places filled by profes- 

 sionals. The local superintendent, in consid- 

 eration of his having been terrorized by the 

 politicians into accepting these men, and in 

 view of his own high personal and professional 

 character, was kept in the service, with a strin- 

 gent admonition against another lapse of this 

 kind. The stations this year continued in effec- 

 tive running order. The number of lives saved 

 was 1,500. One tragic disaster occurred in 

 the loss of the British ship Circassian, from 

 which 28 persons perished, the vessel being 

 beyond the reach of the wreck ordnance, and 

 the terrific sea rendering boat service impossi- 

 ble. The ship's company had all been rescued 

 by the life-saving crew about three weeks 

 before, at the time of its stranding, and those 

 lost were mainly a corps of wreckers who had 

 been employed to get the vessel off, and whose 

 leader had refused to allow the life-saving crew 

 to keep a line between the vessel and the shore. 

 Besides these, 1 1 lives were lost on other coasts, 

 seven of them by the swift disintegration, in an 

 ordinary sea, of a rotten vessel upon striking, 

 before the crew could either take to their own 

 boat or receive help from the shore ; three at the 

 stranding of the French steamer L'Amerique 

 by an attempt of the sailors to land ; and one 

 by a man being washed overboard before strik- 

 ing. 



The next year, 1877-'78, is memorable in the 

 history of the service for active efforts and im- 

 portant results. The life-saving establishment 

 at its close embraced 148 stations. Of these, 



8 were life-boat stations, 16 of them on the 

 Lakes and 2 on the Pacific coast, together with 



) houses of refuge on the coast of Florida. 

 The two Pacific stations were built during the 

 year. In the latter part of 1878 two new life- 

 saving stations were built on the coast of Long 

 Island, one at Coney Island, the other at Short 

 Beach. Two of the old stations were rebuilt 



and 26 others repaired. On the New Jersey 

 coast, two stations were also rebuilt and 36 

 repaired. Four of the Richardson self-righting 

 and self-bailing life-boats were constructed, and 

 placed respectively at Orleans, Mass., Fire Isl- 

 and, N. Y., Absecom Inlet, N. J., and Town- 

 send's Inlet, N. J. A code of signals for com- 

 munication between vessels in danger or dis- 

 tress and the life-saving stations was devised 

 by the Signal Service, and signals for similar 

 night communication were brought into con- 

 templation. A line of telegraph built by the 

 War Department for the Signal Service, be- 

 tween Cape Henry and Cape Hatteras, running 

 in the neighborhood of several of the life-sav- 

 ing stations on the North Carolina coast, and 

 communicating with headquarters at Washing- 

 ton, proved of great benefit to the establish- 

 ment by affording instant intelligence of wreck 

 operations. Preparations were made by the 

 Chief Signal Officer, at the instance of Mr. Kim- 

 ball, for establishing telephones at twelve of 

 the stations on the same coast, for the purpose 

 of accomplishing intercommunication with the 

 keepers, which have since been put into effec- 

 tive operation. ' The extension of the service, 

 and the many improvements which had been 

 introduced, called for a thorough revision of the 

 regulations, which was accordingly made by 

 direction of the Hon. John Sherman, Secretary 

 of the Treasury. The most remarkable achieve- 

 ment of the year was that of Lieutenant D. A. 

 Lyle, of the Ordnance Corps, who was detailed, 

 at the request of the Life-saving Service, to 

 conduct experiments in increasing the range of 

 wreck artillery, and who succeeded in devising 

 two bronze guns, one weighing with its projec- 

 tile only 202 pounds, which has carried a line 

 695 yards, and a smaller gun weighing with its 



Erojectile only 102 pounds, which has an extreme 

 ne-carrying range of 477 yards. This result 

 would appear to make catastrophes like those 

 of the Giovanni and Circassian impossible. 

 The year was one of severe tempests, there 

 being 171 disasters to vessels within the scope 

 of life-saving operations the highest annual 

 number previously known to the service be- 

 ing 134. In the report of the service for 1876, 

 the General Superintendent, commenting upon 

 the remarkable success which the establishment 

 had achieved in saving life, and claiming it as 

 the legitimate fruit of organization, had re- 

 marked that, if ever the annual result should 

 be less proud, it would be because the Govern- 

 ment failed to meet the demands made by the 

 natural development of the service. There had 

 recently been such a failure, and this year the 

 predicted result followed. An appropriation 

 by Congress below the estimates submitted, 

 prevented the stations on the North Caro- 

 lina coast from being opened for service ear- 

 lier than the 1st of December, and six days 

 before this time arrived 98 lives were lost by 

 the wreck of the U. S. steamer Huron, no 

 assistance being at hand. A similar misfor- 

 tune occurred on the 1st of January follow- 



