LIFE-SAVING SERVICE. The Life-Saving Service of the United States was organized under the present system in 1S71. Previously. however, a number of small boat-houses had been located on the coasts of Long Island and New ,Jersey, placed in charge of officers known as keepers. and imperfectly equipped with boats and appliances for the use of such of the coast residents as might volunteer to serve without compensation upon occasions of disaster. The act of April 20. 1871, gave the Secretary of the Treasury authority to establish additional stations on the coasts of Long Island and New ,Jersey, and to employ crews of experienced surfmen at such stations and for such periods as he might deem necessary. at a com pensation not to exceed forty dollars per month. Upon this limited authority the inauguration of the existing system was undertaken. Subsequent legislation has extended it to embrace the entire ocean and lake coasts of the United States, and has added many improvements. its purpose, primarily, is to save life from wrecked or im periled vessels near the shore by means of or ganized equipment and effort. Next to the rescue of life is the saving of marine property.
In 1807 the Massachusetts Humane Society. a benevolent organization, placed a lifeboat station at Cohasset, which was the first regular attempt in this country to render direct aid to the ship wrecked from the shore. Later the society built a number of small stations and enlarged mate rially the scope of its work. The creation and extension of the Government service, however, re lieved the society of much of its charge, although it still maintains some 50 small houses, equipped with boats and line-earrying guns, on the Massa chusetts coast. Between 1848 and 1871 Congress made occasional small appropriations, commenc ing with one of $10,000 in the former year, for providing means for the rescue of life and prop erty from shipwreck, and under the authority of such fragmentary legislation a number of houses were established along the seaboard furnished with boats and some other life-saving appliances. Lifeboats were also placed at scattered points on the Atlantic and lake coasts. The stations erected had to rely upon volunteers from among the fishermen in the various localities to man the boats and apparatus as occasion required. While there was much of value in this inchoate service, its defects were many and serious. Fi nally the occurrence of a number of disasters to vessels and their crews on the Atlantic Coast. disclosing the inadequacy of the means of succor then at hand, so aroused public sentiment as to cause the enactment of national legislation, upon which the present life-saving system is based. it is the only governmental service. all other life saving institutions, except one or two small Eu ropean organizations, being maintained wholly or in part by private contribution.
At the close of the fiscal year which ended June 30. 1901, there were 270 stations included in the service. Of these 195 were situated on the coasts of the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Metxico, 5S on the shores of the Great Lakes. hi on the Pacific Coast, and 1 at the falls of the Ohio River, Louisville, Ky. Eight stations in cluded in this summary were houses of refuge on the eastern coast of Florida. For the con venience of administration, the sea and lake coasts, which have a general extent of about 10, 000 miles, exclusive of Alaska, are divided into separate districts numbered from 1 to 13 Mehl sive. These districts have been fixed with ref erence to the conformation of the shores, there being S on the Atlantic, 1 on the Gulf, 1 on the Pacific. and 3 on the lakes, one of the last-named (the Nth) including the station at the falls of the Ohio River.
The station buildings are located at points of danger to shipping, most of them being at ex posed places. Those on the ocean coast are gen erally two-story wooden structures, built to withstand severe winds and the encroachment of storm tides, and, when conditions permit, are placed sufficiently back of high-water mark to make them safe. The stations on the lakes are similar.to those on the seashore. Many of them, however, are located in the vicinity of harbors, behind piers or breakwaters, and are specially devised for the use of the heavy lifeboats em ployed in that region. The interiors of the buildings are divided into suitable apartments for the accommodation of the crews and the re ception of the live-saving appliances, the largest space being allotted to the boatroom, from which a sloping platform leads for the running out of the heavier equipments. Stations exposed to view from off shore are so painted that they can he distinguished a long distance. Each has a lookout tower, or platform, where the day watch is kept. and is marked by a flagstaff that may be used in signaling passing vessels. Two sta tions, the one on the Ohio River and another in Boston Harbor, are house-boats, or floating sta tions, which are moored in their respective lo calities and are equipped and manned for their special purposes. The houses of refuge on the coast of Florida are small dwellings, each large enough for the residence of one man, who has charge, and his family. They are supplied with provisions and other necessaries and are in tended for places of shelter only, as the character of the neighboring shores makes it possible for wrecked persons to reach the land with little difficulty, their chief danger being from hunger and thirst.