SERVICE, UNITED STATES LIFE-SAVING. 



755 



ing, on the same coast, by the wreck of the 

 steamer Metropolis, whereby 85 lives were 

 lost, the fatality being due to the remoteness 

 of life-saving relief from the point of disaster, 

 the stations in that locality being at that time 

 from 10 to 16 miles apart, and recommendations 

 for their increase, so as to bring them within 

 the ordinary contiguity, made by the General 

 Superintendent for two years previously, hav- 

 ing been disregarded. In addition to these, ten 

 lives were lost on other coasts at times when 

 the neighboring stations were closed, and four 

 at points too remote for prompt life-saving aid. 

 The number of lives fairly lost this year with- 

 in the scope of life-saving activity was 29. 

 The number of lives saved was 1,331. 



The season's disasters, no less than its suc- 

 cesses, stimulated Congress to action, and the 

 year ended like a peroration with the passage of 

 the act of June 18, 1878, formally organizing the 

 service. The bill was originally introduced by 

 the Hon. S. S. Cox, who for many years had 

 been an ardent f fiend and promoter of the ser- 

 vice. It was opposed by a bill to transfer the 

 service to the Navy, which was introduced in 

 both Houses. Both the House bills were re- 

 ferred to the Committee on Commerce, from 

 which the Hon. Charles B. Roberts reported 

 a substitute, incorporating with Mr. Cox's some 

 features of the other bill. The measure gave 

 rise to a spirited discussion, marked by an able 

 argument in behalf of the existing service from 

 Mr. Roberts, a speech of great brilliancy on 

 the same side from Mr. Cox, and eloquent and 

 cogent speeches from Messrs. James W. Covert, 

 J. J. Yeates, John H. Pugh, W. W. Crapo, M. 

 H. Dunnell, O. D. Conger, and 0. H. Brogden. 

 The result was that the bill passed the House 

 without a dissenting voice, and upon reaching 

 the Senate also there passed unanimously. It 

 should be remarked that, so long as its fate was 

 in suspense, the Boards of Trade and Chambers 

 of Commerce in the various maritime cities, 

 the mercantile and marine classes, and the sea- 

 board population incessantly poured memorials 

 and petitions for its passage upon Congress, 

 and protests against the proposed transfer to 

 the Navy. A clever woodcut in one of the 

 leading journals, drawn by our most popu- 

 lar caricaturist, representing Uncle Sam in a 

 boat, fishing up the life-saving bill amid a gen- 

 eral shipwreck of sinking bills, with the le- 

 gend underneath, " The only thing worth sav- 

 ing," was an expressive token of the general 

 warmth of public interest in the establishment. 

 Mr. Kimball was immediately nominated to 

 the Senate, by the President, as the General 

 Superintendent of the newly organized service, 

 and promptly and unanimously confirmed. 

 The provisions of the new act made it of 

 great importance. A leading feature was the 

 organization of the service into a separate 

 and definite establishment, detached from the 

 Revenue Marine, in conjunction with which it 

 had hitherto existed, and placed under the 

 charge of a General Superintendent, whose 



powers, duties, and qualifications were ex- 

 pressed in distinct terms, and for whose aid an 

 Assistant General Superintendent was also pro- 

 vided. Provision was made in one of its sec- 

 tions for the detail of otticers of the Revenue 

 Marine as inspectors of the stations, a duty for 

 which their experience as revenue officers and 

 const navigators in several respects qualifies 

 them. The act extended the annual term of 

 service at the seaboard stations from Septem- 

 ber to May, thus covering in the earliest storms 

 of autumn and the latest of spring as the period 

 for the activity of the crews, and preventing 

 for the future the occurrence ot unaided dis- 

 tress such as befell the Huron. On the Lakes, 

 the term of service was also lengthened from 

 the opening to the close of navigation. The 

 utility of this measure was seen in the abun- 

 dant succor rendered to imperiled navigators 

 on our inland waters last autumn, as well as 

 on the Atlantic coast. The pay of the keepers 

 was raised by the act to $400 per annum, just 

 double what they formerly received ; and this 

 increase of compensation to professional ex- 

 perts who risk their lives upon many if not all 

 occasions of shipwreck, besides its justice to 

 them, relieved the officers in charge of the es- 

 tablishment from the very serious anxiety which 

 they had felt for some time previous in view 

 of the steady dropping away from the stations 

 of trusty men, disgusted with the paltry pit- 

 tance which had been given them for such la- 

 bors and responsibilities as theirs. An equal 

 relief, and no less justice, was effected by an- 

 other provision of the act, setting the volunteer 

 life-boat service on the Lakes upon a proper foot- 

 ing. Previously these men had never been paid 

 for days spent in the drill and exercise neces- 

 sary to perfect them in the use of the life-boats 

 and apparatus, nor were they compensated for 

 service at wrecks, no matter what its hardship 

 and danger, unless it resulted in the actual sav- 

 ing of life. This lottery of preponderating 

 blanks was abolished by the provision of the 

 new act giving enrolled volunteer crews $3 

 per diem for each day spent in drill, and $10 

 per man for each occasion of wreck service. 

 All keepers were created inspectors of customs 

 by the law, thus enabling them to protect rev- 

 enue interests and the interests of owners in 

 relation to stranded property. Investigations 

 into the circumstances of all disasters involv- 

 ing loss of life were ordered, with a view of 

 ascertaining their causes, and whether the offi- 

 cers of the service have been guilty of neglect 

 and misconduct; and authority was given to 

 examine into any alleged incornpetency or fault 

 of the employees at any time provisions whose 

 importance is apparent. The act further cre- 

 ated a new district for the Gulf coast, whose 

 shipping operations are steadily increasing and 

 require this protection at seasons of tempest, 

 and also provided for the establishment of 37 

 new stations, 6 of them upon the Gulf coast, 3 

 upon the New England, 3 upon the coasts of 

 Delaware and Maryland, 10 upon the Lakes, 



