Other contrivances are the self-bailing and self-righting lifeboat, a reproduction of the Eng lish model, and the Beebe-McLellan self-bailing boat of American design. (See Lifeboats are used with good effect on the Great Lakes, where the conditions favor their employ ment. are utilized to some extent at selected points on the ocean coast. and often go long dis tances under sail. The matter of placing boats at stations has always to be carefully considered. as the type which may be suited to one locality may be entirely unfitted for another.
When it is impracticable to use a boat. wreck ordnance is relied upon for communicating with stranded vessels. A small. bronze. smoothbore gun, weighing with its carriage Is.; pounds. in vented by Major David A. Lyle, of the army. is the appliance in general use. It carries an IS-pound elongated cast-iron projectile, in one end of which is an eyebolt or shank that pro jects sufficiently beyond the muzzle of the gun to protect the line which is fastened to it from being burned off. When the gun is tired the strain of the line causes the projectile to re verse. A range of nearly 700 yards. with a small shot-line, has been obtained with this gun under favorable ciwunistances, although the piece is not often vaned upon to cover a range of more than 100 yards.
The breeches buoy is a circular life-preserver of cork, about feet in eircumferenee, to which short canvas breeches are attached. It holds one person, is suspended by lanyards from a hawser. and is drawn to and from the wreck with lines. On account of its being safe, as well as light and easy to transport and handle, and from the further consideration that the greater num ber of vessels now stranding on the coast have small crews, from six to ten, it is more fre quently used than the life-car.
The life-ear is made of galvanized sheet iron and is shaped like a covered boat with an open ing on top, provided with a hatch which may lie fastened inside or out. While practically water tight, it has means for supplying air to those within. It is between 10 and 11 feet long, has sufficient capacity for five or six persons, and may be connected with a hawser and hauled in the water to and from a vessel, or can be operated similarly to the breeches buoy. This
ear has been found very useful in landing sick people and valuables. as they are protected from getting wet.
There are a number of appliances, auxiliary to the principal means of saving life, belonging to the regular outfit of a station. Among these are boat-wagons, roller boat-skids, apparatus carts, cork jackets. heaving-sticks, signal-flags, night warning signals, beach torches, patrol lanterns, medieine-ehests, hawsers, hauling-lines, etc. At sonic points. where the outlying bars are a considerable distance from the shore, powerful line-carrying rockets, which have a greater range than the gun. are kept, but there have been few calls for their use.
In the day a strict lookout seaward is kept from the stations for distressed craft, and during the night between sunset and dawn, and at all times when the weather is thick and stormy, the patrolmen maintain a steady vigil along the beach. At the beginning of their watch two surfmen from each station follow the shoreline in opposite directions until they meet the patrolmen from the adjacent stations. with whom metallic cheeks, suitably marked. are exchanged and taken to the keepers as proof of the honest performance of duty. When the stations are remote from each other this scheme, of course, is not practicable, and then the patrolman carries a watchman's clock which can he registered as to time of ar rival only by means of a key contained in a post at the limit of his beat. Each man carries, be sides a lantern. a night signal which, when ex ploikd by percussion, emits a red dame that flashes far out over the dark waters and warns the unwary ship. approaching too near the breakers and outlying reefs or shoals, of im pending danger, or assures the shipwrecked that help is close at. hand. The patrol system is a feature that distinguishes the United states service from all others in the world, and ae •unnts largely for its unrivaled success in afford ing relief to seafarers. During the year 1901 231 craft were warned away from dangerous places by the signals of the patrolmen. At sonic stations, where service is likely to be facilitated by the use of horses, and where the shore is suitable. patrolmen on extended beats are per mitted to go monnted.