Copyright USGenNet Inc., 2016 All Rights Reserved USGenNet Data Repository Please read USGenNet Copyright Statement on this page: Transcribed and submitted by Linda Talbott for the USGenNet Data Repository http://www.us-data.org/ =========================================================================== Formatted by USGenNet Data Repository Chief Archivist, Linda Talbott All of the above information must remain when copied or downloaded. =========================================================================== Annual Report of the Lake Carriers' Association, 1909 P. N. Bland Ptg. Co., Detroit, MI., 1910 [97-100] LIFE SAVING SERVICE At the close of the year the Life Saving Service em- braced 281 stations, 61 of which are on the Great Lakes. The great value of this branch of the Government service may be understood and appreciated when it is shown by their report for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1909, that out of a total of 1,376 vessels meeting with disaster within the domain of the service during the year, the Life Saving Service rendered assistance to 1,319. There were on board these vessels 8,900 persons. Out of this large number only 30 lost their lives. Of the 1,376 vessels meeting with disaster 72 were totally lost. The estimated value of the property imperiled was $16,106, 080, of which $13,810,700 was saved. In addition to this 149 steamers and 161 vessels of other classes running into danger were warned of their peril by the signals of the patrol and tower watchmen in time to escape disaster, 246 of these warnings being given at night. The influence of the introduction of power in the life boats and surf-boats of the service, is greatly extending its scope and enhancing its efficiency. So indespensable have these power-boats become that they are being sup- plied as rapidly as possible to all stations at which they can be advantageously used. Especial care has been taken to have them of the very best obtainable material, con- struction, and equipment. Official reports show that in the performance of wreck duty in the worst of weather they have repeatedly accomplished hazardous enterprises, taking the crews far beyond the former limits of their field of work. In no instance has it been shown that they have failed to withstand the severest test. Thirty-two of them were added to the station equipment during the year, and others are now building. As an instance of the great progress in this direction, note the following: The powerful motor lifeboat Victory, built by the Electric Launch Company, of Bayonne, N.J., for the station at Wood End, Provincetown, Mass., has been delivered. This craft is the last word in lifeboat con- struction and cost $8,000. She is 36 feet long and 8 feet 7-1/2 inches beam, has eight watertight compartments, which make her practically unsinkable, and is of the self- righting, self-bailing type. For several years past the secretaries of the treasury have called attention in their annual reports to the disir- ability and justice of a provision for pensioning the keep- ers and crew of the service disabled in the line of duty, and especially for some measure of providing for the retire- ment of those whose usefulness has been more or less im- paired by disease, injury, and the infirmities of age, or who have become entirely disqualified for continuance in the service from these causes. Previous to the passage of the act of March 26, 1908, it was shown that the effi- ciency of the service itself was seriously affected by the lack of able-bodied men, it having been found impossible to enlist suitable surfmen at the compensation then paid. The act referred to has materially improved the situation in this respect. A situation yet remains, however, which compels the injustice, not to say inhumanity, of thrusting out upon the world men who, in devoted service to the Government, have become incapacitated for earning a living in any private vocation - men who have to their credit deeds of heroism and self-sacrifice that have hon- ored the nation and won for this branch of our public service acknowledged preeminence. Such a condition is not in accord with the present-day civilization as shown in the adoption of the pension idea by leading nations abroad, and as manifested in our own country by the action of the most prominent public service and private corporations in providing pensions and re- tirement for those classes of employees who engage in hazardous service. Our Association, through its executive officers, has persistently and insistently at each session of Congress urged the passage of bills to provide pensions for those who have become disabled or incapacitated in the service from earning a living, and although quite a step has been taken in the right direction, it is far from being as just and equitable as it should be toward the men in this service. Knowing the campaign of education that has been going on in this direction, we have every reason to believe that in the near future the whole matter will be so satis- factorily adjusted that it will enable the department to secure and retain able and efficient men to perform these duties and increase the efficiency of the service, and also secure new men which they are sadly in need of. ==========================================================================