United States Life-Saving Service Life-Saving before the

United States Life-Saving Service

Life-Saving before the USLSS • Danger • Lighthouse keepers and volunteers • Insufficient

Massachusetts Humane Society • Founded in 1785 • Structures for shipwrecked mariners • 1787 - “Houses of Refuge” • Small sheds • First on Lovell’s Island Dr. John Warren One of the Founders and Initial Trustees of the Massachusetts Humane Society

Problems • Stations only near busy ports • large gaps of coastline • structures not manned nor maintained • Vulnerable to theft and vandalism • No Boats House of Refuge

Making Improvements Boston, 1800 • • • Society began looking into using small boats British developed “lifeboats” William Raymond 30 -feet long, 11 crewmen First lifeboat station at Cohasset, MA

Additional Measures • 1831 – Gallatin • First government directive • 1837 – Congressional authorization to search • Rescue on the high seas • Need for Responsibility and Means USRC Gallatin

William A. Newell • Congressman from New Jersey • Physician • 14 August 1848 -Congress appropriated $10, 000 • “surfboats, rockets, carronades…” • Limited to New Jersey coast

Douglass Ottinger • Captain in the Revenue Marine • Interested in lifesaving • Established 8 stations with equipment • 12 January 1850 Ayrshire rescue

Problems Continue • Elizabeth wreck • Stations added • Systemic problems – small – voluntary crews – neglect and theft – no standardization • 1848 legislation was inadequate.

• • • Steps toward a National Life-Saving Service Winter of 1870 -71 - Public Outcry 20 April 1871 Paid surfmen and new stations Captain John Faunce Report on the state of life-saving Captain John Faunce

Sumner Increase Kimball • Born on 2 September 1834 • Attended Bowdoin College • A lawyer • Appointed to Treasury Department • 1871 -- appointed to head Revenue Marine Bureau

Founding of the U. S. Life-Saving Service • 4 June 1878 -Representative Samuel S. Cox • 18 June 1878 -Congress passed the legislation creating the USLSS • President Hayes nominated Kimball • Congress approved President Rutherford B. Hayes

Garnering Public Support • William D. O’Conner – Journalist – Authored rescue accounts in the annual reports – Vivid and Eloquent – Accounts disseminated to the general public • His reports ensured support for the USLSS Title Page from an Annual Report

Life-Saving Equipment • Beach Cart • Boats – Lifeboat – Surfboat • • Cork Lifebelt Heaving Stick and Line Beach Apparatus Lyle Gun & Faking Box Breeches Buoy Lifecar Coston Flare

Beach Cart

Boats • Lifeboat • Surfboat

Launching Lifeboats • Ramp. Launched

Launching Surfboats • From the Beach

Cork Lifebelt

Coston Flare • Benjamin Franklin Coston • Martha Coston • Adopted by the US Navy • Adopted by USLSS-every station equipped • Helped save thousands

Heaving Stick and Line • Short-stick with oval weight • Surfman threw it • Inadequate for shore-based rescues • An alternative was needed

Beach Apparatus • Used to get rescue lines to the wrecks • Beach Cart Beach Apparatus all laid out

Lyle Gun • David A. Lyle, US Army. • Improved design

Firing Lyle Gun

Faking Box • Shotline Surfmen Stringing the Shotline in the Faking Box Completed Faking Box

Breeches Buoy Breeches Bouy in Action Crewmen Training with the Breeches Buoy

Lifecar • Joseph Francis • Carried 2 to 4 people • Used until 1899

Organization of the Service • Agency within the Treasury Department • Headed by Sumner I. Kimball • Inspected by the Revenue Cutter Service • Districts with Superintendents • Each station named and numbered

Life-Saving Stations Equipment Storage Area of an Unidentified Station Surfmen entertaining themselves at their station

Life-Saving Stations in New England Cape Elizabeth, Maine Salisbury Beach, Massachusetts Fletcher’s Neck, Maine

Life-Saving Stations in New England Different Views of the Life-Saving Station at Narragansett, Rhode Island

Life-Saving Stations in the Mid-Atlantic Quogue, New York Point of Woods, New York

Life-Saving Stations in the Mid-Atlantic Indian River, Delaware Deal, New Jersey

Life-Saving Stations in the Carolinas Bogue Inlet, North Carolina Currituck, North Carolina

House of Refuge in Florida House of Refuge at Indian River Inlet, Florida

Life-Saving Stations on the Gulf Coast of Texas Sabine Pass, Texas San Luis, Texas

Life-Saving Stations on the Great Lakes Ashtabula, Ohio Evanston, Illinois

Life-Saving Stations on the Great Lakes Two Rivers, Wisconsin Racine, Wisconsin Jackson Park, Illinois

Floating Life-Saving Station Louisville, Kentucky

Life-Saving Stations on the Pacific Coast Gray’s Harbor, Washington Baaddah Point, Washington Golden Gate Park, California

Uniforms of the Life-Saving Service Station Keeper Surfman

Foul-Weather Gear for conducting rescues On Beach Patrol

Uniform Variations

Lifesaving Medals • Gold Lifesaving Medal • Silver Lifesaving Medal

Some Heroes of the U. S. Life-Saving Service • • Joshua James Rasmus S. Midgett Frederick T. Hatch Crew of the Pea Island (NC) Station • Crew of the Evanston (IL) Station

Joshua James • Massachusetts Humane Society • Keeper of Point Allerton Station • Gold Lifesaving Medal

Rasmus S. Midgett • Gull Island Life-Saving Station • 18 August 1899 -- singlehandedly rescued ten people • Awarded the Gold Lifesaving Medal

Frederick T. Hatch • Two-time recipient of the Gold Lifesaving Medal • 31 October-1 November 1883 Sophia Minch • 26 October 1891 Wahnapitae

Pea Island crew • Pea Island LS was on the Outer Banks • All African. American crew. • 11 October 1896 E. S. Newman • 5 March 1996 Gold Lifesaving Medal awarded to the Pea Island crew

Evanston Crew • Outside of Chicago • Northwestern University • 28 November 1889 - Calumet foundered in a blizzard • 17 October 1890 Gold Lifesaving Medal awarded

USLSS & the Wright Brothers at Kitty Hawk • Kill Devil Hills LSS assisted Orville and Wilbur Wright • Surfman J. T. Daniels • Crew assisted with subsequent flights Kill Devil Hills Station crewmen First Flight of the Wright Brothers’ Flyer

End of the USLSS • 20 January 1915 -- "Act to Create the Coast Guard" • Combined the U. S. Life-Saving Service and the Revenue Cutter Service • 28 January 1915 -- President Wilson signed into law • US Coast Guard created