USA > New Jersey > The New Jersey coast in three centuries; history of the New Jersey coast with genealogical and historic-biographical appendix, Vol. I > Part 51
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In the Fifth Life Saving District arc forty-two life saving stations, at an average distance of three miles apart, at points where wrecks are liable to occur periodically, and in many instances at desolate and other- wise uninhabited points. The stations are located as follows.
1. Sandy Hook. 22. Bonds.
2. Spermaceti Cove.
23. Little Egg Harbor.
3. Seabright.
24. Little Beach.
4. Monmouth Beach.
25. Brigantine.
5. Long Branch.
26. South Brigantine.
6. Deal.
27. Atlantic City.
7. Shark River.
28. Absecon.
8. Spring Lake.
29. Great Egg Harbor.
30. Ocean City.
IO. Bayhead.
32. Corson's Inlet.
33. Sea Isle City.
34. Townsend's Inlet.
35. Avalon.
36. Tatham's.
37. Hereford Inlet.
38. Holly Beach.
39. Turtle Gut.
40. Cold Spring.
20. Ship Bottom.
41. Cape May.
21. Long Beach.
42. Bay Shore.
Each station is in charge of a keeper who has direct control of all
13. Toms River.
14. Island Beach.
15. Cedar Creek.
16. Forked River.
17. Barnegat.
18. Loveladies Island.
19. Harvey Cedars.
9. Squan Beach.
31. Peck's Beach.
II. Mantoloking.
12. Chadwick.
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HISTORY OF THE NEW JERSEY COAST.
its affairs, and the position held by this officer will be recognized at once as one of the most important in the Service. He is, therefore, selected with the greatest care. The indispensable qualifications for appointment are that he shall be of good character and habits, not less than twenty- one nor more than forty-five years of age; have sufficient education to be able to transact the station business; be able-bodied, physically sound, and a master of boat-craft and surfing. He keeps a daily log or journal, a weekly transcript of which he sends through the district superintendent to the General Superintendent, who is thus kept advised of all that trans- pires. Immediately after the occurrence of a wreck he furnishes a com- plete report of every detail of interest concerning the disaster, and from time to time various other reports are required of him. His compensation is not to exceed $700 per annum.
The crews are selected by the keepers from able-bodied and experi- enced surfmen residing in the vicinity of the respective stations. A surf- man, upon original entry, must not be over forty-five years of age, and must undergo a stringent examination as to physical condition, character for courage and endurance, and seamanlike qualifications, and it is all but impossible for an unfit or unworthy man to secure entrance to the service. His compensation is fifty dollars per month during the active season, and three dollars for each occasion of service at other times. He cannot be discharged from the Service without good and sufficient reason. For well proven neglect of patrol duty, or for disobedience or insubordina- tion at a wreck, the keeper may instantly dismiss him; in all other cases special authority must first be obtained from the General Superintendent.
In case a keeper or surfman becomes disabled by injury received or disease contracted in the line of duty, he is entitled to receive his full pay during the continuance of the disability, if it does not exceed one year, and upon the recommendation of the General Superintendent the Secre- tary of the Treasury may extend the time for a second year, or a part thereof, but no longer in any case. If any keeper or surfman loses his life by reason of injury or disease incurred in the line of his duty, his widow or children under sixteen years of age may receive for two years the pay that the deceased would have if alive and in the Service. If the widow remarries or a child survives at the age of sixteen, the amount that would have been paid to the one or the other is paid to the remaining beneficiaries, if any.
The labors of the life-savers do not end with landing those imperilled. After rescue the shipwrecked people are taken to the station and provided with every comfort it affords. They find hot coffee and dry clothing await- ing them, with cots for those who need rest and sleep. If any are sick of
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HISTORY OF THE NEW JERSEY COAST.
maimed, as is frequently the case, they are nursed and cared for until suf- ficiently recovered to safely leave; in the meantime medical aid is called in if practicable. For wounds and ailments requiring only simple and well- known remedies, resource is had to the medicine chest, which is stocked with restoratives and medicines that can be safely used according to a hand- book of directions. Dry clothing is provided from a supply constantly kept on hand at each station by the Woman's National Relief Association, an organization established to afford relief to sufferers from disasters of every kind. Libraries are provided by the Seaman's Friend Society and by benevolent individuals. Several newspaper publishers send their papers regularly to many of the stations. The food is prepared by the station keepers or the messes, who are reimbursed by the recipients if they are financially able, and otherwise by the government. In one year there were thus provided for eight men from the sloop "Eagle Wing," at Spermaceti Cove; five men from the sloop "Aji," at Cedar Creek; four men from the schooner "Sudie Wayman," at Atlantic City; two men from a fishing boat at Deal; twenty men from the ship "County of Edinburgh," at Bayhead ; three men from the yacht "Edith." at Corson's Inlet ; and eight men fromn the ship "Ivydene," at Sandy Hook. In the year ending July 1, 1900, sixty-four people were thus succored.
Occasionally unfortunate victims of the sea who are to all appearances dead are brought to the shore. In such cases the life-saving crews attempt their restoration, according to methods for restoring the apparently drowned, in which they have been thoroughly drilled. During a given period, in one hundred and eighteen attempts at resuscitation, sixty were suc- cessful, very nearly fifty per cent. In some of the successful instances, after the patient was taken from the water, several hours elapsed before natural respiration was induced. Success has followed even after reputable physi- cians had pronounced the patient actually dead. In the saving of property, the work of the service is conspicuously useful. This is accomplished by getting vessels afloat when stranded, a task in which the surfmen are par- ticularly expert ; in extricating theni from dangerous situations ; in pump- ing them out when leaking; in running lines between wrecked vessels and tugs when it can not be done with ordinary boats ; in rendering assistance in various ways, and in warning off vessels standing into danger. In the majority of casualties the surfmen succeed in saving the vessels and car- goes without any other aid than that afforded by the ship's crew. When this is impracticable, they act in conjunction with the revenue cutters- which are equipped for rendering assistance in such cases-if these vessels are available, or assist, when necessary, when other relief appears.
The men are granted leave of absence once in two weeks. to enable
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HISTORY OF THE NEW JERSEY COAST.
them to visit their families, and during the remainder of the time they are kept closely confined to their stations and to the shore beats assigned then to patrol. This fact suggested the desirability of providing for religious services at the stations at designated times, and the first organized effort to make provision for them originated with the Christian Endeavor So- cieties of Asbury Park.
The headquarters of the superintendent of the Life Saving District are at Point Pleasant, on the Manasquan river. His office contains a museum of all sorts of relics taken from wrecked vessels or washed ashore by the waves, all of which have been sent here by the life-savers finding them. The collection, comprising several hundred articles, is regarded as the largest and most varied in the country, and is of priceless value, representing almost every nation floating an ocean-going craft.
Some of the largest and most remarkable specimens are kept on the first floor of the Havens Building, and for the convenience of the thousands of lovers of curiosities who visit the rooms, an electric light is kept burning night and day all the year. The museum is the personal property of its collector, Superintendent Havens, but it is of so great value that it should be purchased by the government and made a permanent exhibit, placed beyond the possibility of dispersion.
The first district superintendent was William A. Ware, of Cape May City, who was a sea captain of considerable note, and rendered efficient service during a term of about three years. In 1875 he was succeeded by John G. W. Havens, of Ocean county, the present superintendent, who dur- ing the long period of twenty-seven years has accomplished very much toward increasing the efficiency of the service, and has made many notable rescues.
A Life Saving Medal of Honor was provided for by act of Congress, in 1876, to be bestowed upon such persons as had performed conspicuous service in life saving on the ocean and inland waters, and it has been be- stowed upon various members of the Life Saving Service of the Fourth (now Fifth) District, and upon others whose conspicuous effort has merited this great distinction.
February 3, 1880, was a date marked by many unusually severe dis- asters along the New Jersey and New York coasts, where met two distinct storms, the one coming from the northwest and the other from the south- west. The disturbances began with snow and sleet and ended with rain. The wind was a veritable hurricane, attaining a velocity of eighty-four miles miles an hour, and so tempestuous a surf was seldom known. During a period of twelve hours there were five wrecks ashore within the field of four consecutive life-saving stations, and another a few miles beyond, and
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HISTORY OF THE NEW JERSEY COAST.
all imperilled lives with the exception of two were saved. During the year which witnessed this destructive storm, there were forty-nine wrecks on the New Jersey coast. But two lives were lost out of two hundred and seventy- three persons in imminent jeopardy, and nearly one-half the money value of the wrecked vessels and their cargoes was saved.
An hour after midnight, during this dreadful storm, the schooner "E. C. Babcock," laden with wood, was driven ashore one hundred yards from the beach, near Station No. 4. She was immediately discovered by Patrolman John Van Brunt. In response to the alarm, the Station Keeper, Captain Charles H. Valentine, who was ill at the time, repaired to the scene, and in ten minutes less than two hours the eight people on board the vessel were safely landed.
After accomplishing this rescue, Captain Valentine and his crew re- loaded their cart, and reached their station at five o'clock in the morning. They had barely breakfasted and cleaned their equipment when the Spanish brig "Angustina," bound from Havana to New York, manned by eight sailors, came ashore near by. The mortar was fired at the vessel, but the line broke. Surfman Garrett H. White went into the water, following a receding breaker, and by a wonderful effort succeeded in throwing a line aboard. The Spanish sailors failed to understand the directions shouted to them by the life-savers, and several of them plunged into the water. Mem- bers of the Life Saving crew plunged in and rescued them, after tremendous struggles, and at the imminent risk of their lives, and several of their number suffered severe bruises from contact with the floating cargo and wreckage from the "E. C. Babcock," which had been borne down upon them by the tempestuous waves and driving wind.
For their splendid behavior in these two instances, the gold Life Sav- ing Service Medal of Honor was awarded to Captain Charles H. Valentine, and silver medals were bestowed upon Surfmen Garrett H. White, Nelson Lockwood, Benjamin C. Potter, William H. Ferguson and John Van Brunt.
On the night of December 4, 1886, the schooner "D. H. Ingraham" stranded and burned off Hereford Inlet. The crew of five men were rescued by the Life Saving Crew of the station adjoining the scene, and the gold medal of the Life Saving Service was bestowed upon the Keeper, Captain Christopher Ludlum, and silver medals upon Surfmen Jason Buck, Henry W. Hildreth, Willard F. Ware, Somers C. Godfrey, Smith S. Hand and Providence S. Ludlum.
August IS, 1879, the Atlantic City Life Guard effected the rescue of the crew of the schooner "Flora Curtis," and for their heroic services upon
-
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HISTORY OF THE NEW JERSEY COAST.
this occasion the gold medal of the Life Saving Service was awarded to Michael J. Bradford, and silver medals to Jesse B. Bean and E. Owens.
The beneficent work performed by the Life Saving Service may be measured in some degree, but so inadequately as to fail to afford an accurate idea of its magnitude, owing to the meagreness of statistics prior to its establishment. Almost from its beginning, and even in its crudity, the system attracted the admiring attention of the world. The rescue of the passengers and crew of the "Ayrshire" has been previously described. Dur- ing the same dreadful storm in which that vessel came to destruction the Life Service saved ninety other souls on the New Jersey coast, besides many more lives and much property of which no record is to be found.
According to the official report for 1877, covering the first six years of the fully organized Life Saving Service, there were three hundred and thirty-two disasters on the waters of the Fourth (now Fifth ) District, and, of the six thousand, three hundred and twenty-seven souls imperilled, but fifty-five were lost, and many of these came to their deaths through their own recklessness or through disregarding the instructions of those who were intent upon saving them. The wrecked vessels were valued at $4.786.925 and their cargoes at $2,288,775, a total valuation of $7,075,925. Of this amount, property to the value of $5.788,820 was saved, and the loss was $1,286,880. The number of stranded vessels floated off or otherwise aided by life station crews was three hundred and ninety-three. In this heroic service of life-saving, eight men of the Life Service nobly died in the line of duty. In 1890 the disasters were sixty-two, the number of lives imperilled was three hundred and fourteen, and of these not a soul was lost. The value of the vessels was $363,780, and of the cargoes $139.525, a total of $503,305, and of this aggregate the loss was but $23,410. In 1901 the number of disasters was eighty-two, and six of the vessels were totally lost. The number of persons on board wrecked vessels was three hundred and forty-six, and of this number but two were lost. The value of property, vessels and cargo, was $409,235, and of this amount property to the value of $265,365 was saved.
Aside from the immediate personal danger incurred at the actual scene of the wreck, the life-saving crew, in many instances, performed remark- ably arduous labor and endured the severest exposures in reaching the spot where their service was needed. On occasion, they were obliged to travel distances of ten and even twenty miles, in part by boat, and in part by land, dragging the carts containing their apparatus and arriving at their des- tination in such exhausted physical condition that only the most supreme courage and devotion could inspire them to their final humane effort. A volume would be needed to relate these achievements, and but one may be
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here cited as illustrative of the work accomplished every year. Other in- stances are given with less particularity in the chapter on "Wrecks off the Coast."
The French steamer "L'Amerique," 3,033 tons, Captain Alfred Pon- zolz, bound from Havre to New York, was cast ashore at three o'clock in the morning of January II, 1877. The vessel was valued at $200,000 and the cargo at $400,000. She struck the sand about one hundred and fifty yards from the shore, off Seabright, about one and one-half miles from Life Saving Station No. 3, and about three-quarters of a mile from Station No. 4. The darkness was intense, there was a fierce beating rain, a boiling surf bore immense ice cakes, and the beach was walled with an ice barrier more than three feet in height. Fifteen minutes after the ship struck, the crew of Station No. 4 were on their way to the scene, dragging their boat and apparatus. While these preparations were being made, the crew of the vessel began to drop a boat from the davits. The life-savers on shore shouted their warning that the frail craft could not live in such a sea, but their pro- testations were disregarded. The boat put off with twelve sailors, and was capsized before it was halfway to the shore. Four of the heroic life-savers dashed into the waters, filled with surging ice cakes, and brought ashore four of the drowning men, and then made a second dash, rescuing as many more. The drowning men were so exhausted as to be utterly helpless, and their saviors, with almost superhuman effort, dragged them ashore and over the formidable ice barrier which fringed the beach. The others of the boat's crew were drowned, and the vigilance of the life-saving patrol is at- tested by the fact that the bodies of three of the number were discovered and brought ashore at Station No. I, later the same day. Meantime, while the crew of Station 3 were engaged as has been described, the crew of Station No. 4 were bringing up their mortar and its accessories and this necessi- tated two trips with a dragcart. At five o'clock the gun was in position .. At the first shot, the line-attaching wire broke loose from the projectile. The second shot landed the line between the main and mizzen masts, and the hawser and hauling lines were sent aboard the vessel, with a bottle contain- ing directions for their use, which the Frenchmen failed to comprehend. involving some delay. The life-car was finally attached, and by noon all souls aboard the vessel had been safely landed, numbering fifty-four pas- sengers, among whom were several women and children, and the crew num- bering forty-six men.
It is pleasant to record that the eminent services of the Hon. William A. Newell, in the founding of the Life Saving Service, found proper recog- nition during his lifetime. Mr. Newell had in his possession a copy of
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HISTORY OF THE NEW JERSEY COAST.
the "Revised Regulations for the Government of the Life Saving Service of the United States," bearing upon the fly-leaf the autograph inscription, "To Honorable William A. Newell, the Father of the Life Saving Ser- vice of the United States, with the regards of S. I. Kimball, Gen. Supt., L. S. S."
William D. O'Connor, Assistant General Superintendent of the Life Saving Service, in Johnson's Encyclopedia, Vol. 4. page 815, pays this trib- ute to Mr. Newell's work: "In 1848, following some grievous distress, the Honorable William A. Newell, of New Jersey, secured an appropriation of ten thousand dollars with which eight buildings were erected on the coast of New Jersey and equipped with boats and other life-saving appliances." He had also possession of letters from Hon. Thomas E. Ewing, of Ohio; from Dr. Robert Laird, of Manasquan, N. J., ex-State Senator and mem- ber of the Constitutional Convention, and from Hon. James A. Bradley, founder of Asbury Park, as well as of resolutions presented by the State Board of Pilot Commissioners of New Jersey, and from the Legislature of New Jersey, all of which recognize his instrumentality in originating the United States Life Saving Service. and commending him for his zeal in its behalf. In 1896 the Legislature of New Jersey, by unanimous . vote, adopted resolutions recognizing his instrumentality in originating the service, and requesting congress to make suitable recognition thereof. In substance, the resolutions were also adopted by the Legislature of Wash- ington, and their recommendation was urged by the representatives of that State in congress.
During the decadence of the Life Saving Service, and prior to its inore adequate re-establishment, occurred the dreadful wreck of the packet ship "New Era," November 13, 1854. The vessel was bound fromi Bre- merhaven, Germany, to New York, and went ashore near Great Pond, now Asbury Park. It bore 484 immigrants, of whom more than three hundred perished. A large number were buried upon the seashore near that place, and Hon. James A. Bradley erected a granite monument upon which he placed a placard bearing the following inscription, which is soon to be cut into the stone :
"Near this spot the large packet ship 'New Era' was wrecked in 1854. Over three hundred persons lost their lives. This monument is erected to commemorate the zeal and energy of Governor William A. Newell, oi New Jersey, who as Congressman succeeded in getting a law passed estab- lishing the United States Life Saving Service. Also to commemorate the fidelity of the Life Saving Crews whose efficiency renders such a dis- aster at this day almost impossible."
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HISTORY OF THE NEW JERSEY COAST.
The United States Volunteer Life Saving Corps maintains life-saving stations on New Jersey shores from Hoboken by Bergen Point to New- ark and Elizabeth, and thence along the Atlantic coast to Cape May, and to Camden and Trenton on the Delaware. These crews are on duty during the sunmmer months, when the sea shore resorts are thronged with visitors, at all the watering places and at hotels frequented for boating and bathing. They are provided with metallic buoys, air-chambered cork life-preservers and long life-lines, and also with chests containing such medicines as are needed for the restoration of persons recovered from the surf in condition of exhaustion or apparently drowned. Life-boats are provided at partic- ularly dangerous points where there is no life-saving station under the national establishment. Various yacht clubs and crewsmen of coasting craft have been enrolled as members of the crops. A medal of honor is awarded to life-savers for heroic rescues. The organization is maintained by the contributions of humanely disposed people.
The number of life-saving stations in the Department of New Jersey is 155, and the number of members enrolled is 935. The Department trustees are J. Wesley Jones, James Wentworth White, Charles W. Dis- brow, Frederick Leopold and William Disbrow, and the officers of the board are J. Wesley Jones, President and General Superintendent, and James Wentworth White, Treasurer. The general offices of the Corps are in the Pulitzer Building, New York City. The supplies distributed in the Department since 1896 amount in value to $2,890.40. In the year 1901, $1, 152.05 was expended in the maintenance of the service, and of this amount a very moderate portion was contributed by citizens of the State. In the course of eight years 3,474 persons have been rescued from drown- ing. During the same period sixty Honor Medals were awarded for heroic rescues of drowning persons on the waters of New Jersey, and among these the following awards were made in 1901 :
Edward H. Manin, of Fort Hancock, Sandy Hook, for rescue of Miss Alma Simpson, who fell from the long dock at the place named, May 2, 1900.
Lawrence C. Fuller, of Philadelphia, for rescue of Leopold VanDurk, at Atlantic City, June 9, 1900. Van Durk was swimming to the rescue of a friend when he became exhausted and was on the point of drowning.
Captain Heinrich Wilhelm Engelbart, of the steamship "Kaiser Wil- helm der Grosse," for rescuing one hundred visitors at the time of the great Hoboken fire, June 30, 1900.
C. B. Simmons, of New York, for rescue of Peter J. Poppinger, Jr., at Seabright, August 5, 1900.
Edward H. Berke, of Atlantic City. for rescue of Johnson Willetts, who' was tossed over by a heavy sea and lost consciousness from ex- haustion, at the place named, July 2, 1901.
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HISTORY OF THE NEW JERSEY COAST.
Jury Castro, of Atlantic City, for rescue of Mary Edwards, of Phila- delphia, at the former named place, July 2, 1901.
Captain Clark, of Young's Pier, Atlantic City, for rescue of William Thompson, of Philadelphia, at the place first named, July 14, 1901.
Jacob Johansen, for rescue of four seamen from a sailing vessel, at Bayonne, August 2, 1901.
Albert Boyer and Howard Woodruff, of Atlantic City, for rescue of Richard Adams, at that place, August 3, 1901.
E. Edward Meissner, of Hoboken, for rescue of Emil Mader, at that place, August 29, 1901.
Thomas Murphy, of West Hoboken, for rescue of Dan Murphy, at White Star Line Dock, in that place, November 16, 1901.
A special notable event was the presentation of medals to Frank Rada- macher and Philip Heckel, of Hoboken, for gallant rescues from the fear- ful fire which swept away so completely every vestige of what had been the North German Lloyd ( Bremen) Company's great piers at Jersey City, June 30, 1900. At the time of the fire, the members of the Valencia Boat Club were absent attending the annual regatta. Rademacher and Heckel were in a boat belonging to the Club, and drew up to the Club's float. Rademacher, seeing that the clubhouse was threatened, broke down the doors and dragged the valuable boats to safety and rescued other prop- erty. Then, seeing the terrified people jumping into the water, from the "Bremen" and the "Maine," blinded by the smoke and bewildered by the suddenness of the danger, he rowed out and picked up two women steward- esses of the "Maine," the only women he saw in the water. He then busied himself in other rescues, and in all he saved the lives of more than two score people. Heckel saved at least ten men by swimming out to the water and bearing them to the float on his back.
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