United States Life-Saving Service

1. United StatesLife-Saving Service

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

3. 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

4. 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

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

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

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

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

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

10. 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

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

12. 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

13. 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

14. 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

15. Beach Cart

16. Boats • Lifeboat • Surfboat

17. Launching Lifeboats • Ramp-Launched

18. Launching Surfboats • From the Beach

19. Cork Lifebelt

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

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

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

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

24. Firing Lyle Gun

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

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

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

28. 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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

36. Life-Saving Stations on theGulf Coast of Texas Sabine Pass, Texas San Luis, Texas

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

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

39. Floating Life-Saving Station Louisville, Kentucky

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

41. Uniforms of the Life-Saving Service Station Keeper Surfman

42. Foul-Weather Gear Gear for conducting rescues On Beach Patrol

43. Uniform Variations

44. Lifesaving Medals • Gold Lifesaving Medal • Silver Lifesaving Medal

45. 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

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

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

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

49. 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

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