THE SURFMEN:
The story of the U.S. Life-Saving Service on Cape Cod
by David Gallagher
Originally published in Inside Cape Cod, March 2005
“You have to go, but you don’t have to come back.”
– Life-Savers motto
Sailors face the dangers of the sea with cold reality. Most understand that the sea can be a dangerous place to be. For centuries, it was true that many set sail, and that some never returned. Navigating the waters surrounding Cape Cod has always been difficult -- rocky shoals, swift currents, and changing weather have tested the most seasoned captains. Countless ships and many men met their end within sight of our shores. After years of wrecks, the waters off Cape Cod became known as “the Graveyard of the Atlantic.”
As long as there have been sailors, there have been wrecks, and costal communities have a long tradition of helping stricken vessels whenever possible. For centuries, Cape Codders have helped those lucky sailors who survived a wreck by providing shelter and a hot meal.
Maurice Gibbs, the President Emeritus of the Nantucket Life-Saving Museum, explained the history of coastal rescue as a long one.
“When the first Dutch and English ships arrived off the China coast to open trading in the very early 1700’s, they found a fully organized life-saving service, complete with uniquely painted buildings, rescue boats, and rules as to how to perform rescues,” said Gibbs. “Personnel were paid according to the difficulty of the rescue.”
The Dutch formed a Humane Society in 1767 to assist ships in distress, and the British formed one in 1774. The American Revolution seems to have delayed formation in America. Prior to a national life-saving service in the newly-formed United States, many rescues of stranded sailors around Cape Cod were carried out by the Massachusetts Humane Society (MHS), which was founded in 1786. MHS life-saving stations were manned by volunteers, and funded through donations by private citizens.
A MODERN APPROACH
By the 1840’s there was pressure for the federal government to create its own life-saving service. Founded in 1872, the U.S. Life-Saving Service was the first modern search and rescue operation in the United States. Like today’s Coast Guard, the Life-Savers’ duty was to help save lives. During their patrols, Life-Savers would use signal lights to warn unwary ship captains of local dangers, or to guide struggling ships into safe harbors.
It was labor-intensive work. Surfmen patrolled the coast every night for ten months of the year, and trained every day for an eventual rescue. Crews lived at the stations, and kept a constant lookout over their allotted section of coast.
“Schooners and fully rigged ships plied the waters in those early days,” said Gibbs. “There were hundreds of shipwrecks and many remarkable rescues. Literally thousands of wrecks occurred over the centuries”
For each daring rescue that took place – and there were many – surfmen spent much of their time training and watching the sea.
READY FOR DISASTER
In 1872, nine U.S. Life-Saving stations were built on the outer Cape. Later, four more were established, and the 13 stations stretched from Provincetown to Monomoy Point. The stations were simple structures, and organized much like a firehouse today. The first floor was usually dedicated to storing the equipment needed for rescue operations. Large barn doors could be swung open to accommodate the wide surfboats, which were transported on a cart.
The second floor was used for living space: a small mess and a dormitory where the surfmen slept while not on duty. Cooking duties were shared by the men. Some stations took turns by the week, others by the day. Whoever cooked also cleaned the kitchen and dishes. A medicine chest with bandages, ointments, splints, and other basic first-aids was kept for minor injuries or illnesses that would occur, or for the immediate treatment of rescued sailors.
Each station was manned by a keeper and about six surfmen. Each man was given a ranking, with the Captain as number 1, the next senior as number 2, and so on. The ranking crew member on duty was in charge of the station. The stations were fully manned for the winter, and worked with a reduced crew or closed in the summer. Winter storms were the cause of most wrecks, and there were few recreational boaters, so summer months saw few wrecks. The full crews were on duty for ten months out of the year.
Much of the crews’ time was spent drilling. Weekly, they would conduct a boat drill, a breeches buoy drill, and various other drills with different rescue equipment. In addition to learning to use the life-saving equipment, each crew member was also skilled in basic first aid and the most current resuscitation techniques.
Of all of the duties, one of the most important was watch. The daily watch was divided into four-hour shifts. During daylight hours, watch took place from the stations’ cupola or watchtower. At night, surfmen patrolled the beach watching for distressed ships. Two crew members would leave the station and walk in opposite directions along the beach. A “halfway house” was located between life stations, where the surfmen would meet their counterpart from the neighboring station and exchange the patrol check. These huts were also a chance for a bite to eat and to get warm for the long walk back to the station.
These patrols were conducted all night, every night, in what was often bitter cold, and in biting winds. On moonless nights and during storms, the way was illuminated only by the flickering lantern that the watch carried. Many nights must have been a fight either against boredom, or against the natural bite of winter on this harsh stretch of coastline. But often – too often – the surfmen were roused back at the station with bad news: A ship was in distress.
SOUND THE ALARM!
Once the call was raised, the crew worked quickly and efficiently. Before radio communication, a form of semaphore called “wig wag” was used to determine the state of the ship and her crew. If a rescue was needed by a ship near the beach, a Lyle gun was used to shoot a line out to the vessel. Once a rope was secured, a breeches buoy was used to pull the ship’s crew members one-by-one to safety. The Lyle gun had a range of nearly 700 yards. If the ship was out of reach, or a line otherwise could not be secured, the crew often had to row out to the stricken ship. This was a dangerous affair, as the wind-whipped sea could easily swamp a small boat. Timing was crucial. Here was where all the drilling paid off.
By the water’s edge, the boat was taken from the cart and pulled to the edge of the breakers. The rudder was attached, the crew donned life jackets and stood next to the boat, oars raised and prepared to launch. At the Captain’s order, the crew would enter the boat in sequence and immediately start rowing. Confusion at this point could prove disastrous, as the boat need to get away from the breaking waves a quickly as possible. One crew member was always left on shore to assist the surfboat when it returned.
In the book East of Cape Cod, Asa Lombard described the rescue of the crew of the Daniel B. Fearing, which had run aground on the outer bars near the Cahoons Hollow Life-Saving Station in Wellfleet in December 1891. The ship was too far from shore to be reached by Lyle gun, so a surfboat was launched. The crew rowed through rough seas and what appeared to be a large part of the Daniel B. Fearing’s cargo: cut lumber from Vancouver that had been destined for Boston before the ship had run aground. The floating timber made the journey treacherous. Any one of the large planks, if driven by the wrong wave, could have crashed into the surfboat and killed the crew. Through the surfmen’s skill, they reached the ship and rescued all aboard, including the ship cat.
It was dangerous work, and many crews had felt the tragedy of losing a fellow surfman. One of the worst disasters to strike the U.S. Life-Saving Service occurred at Monomoy on March 17, 1902. The call was raised to help the barge Wadena, which had run aground on Shovelful Shoal. While rescuing the crew of the stranded barge, the victims panicked and capsized the surfboat in stormy seas. The barge’s crew members and all but one life saver were lost. A monument now stands near the Chatham Coast Guard Station commemorating the surfmen’s bravery.
There were many great rescues, and the Service developed a reputation of great bravery, said Gibbs.
“On Nantucket in January 1892, the crew of the Nantucket Coskata Station went all the way out to Rose and Crown Shoals in spitting snow to rescue the crew of the H. P. Kirkham,” said Gibbs. “That’s 15 miles as the crow flies. The trip took 26 hours, but they brought back all seven victims. After the rescue, one of their own, Surfman Roland Perkins, died as a result of the conditions.”
In the end, the bravery of the surfmen saved thousands of lives and countless dollars of property. But the need for the Life-Saving Service was, fortunately, in decline. Wooden sailing vessels were giving way to steel and steam. At the time of the Monomoy disaster, radio pioneer Guglielmo Marconi was setting up his wireless telegraph station in Wellfleet, and would successfully transmit a transatlantic message less than a year later. With better communication came fewer wrecks, and little need for manned beach patrols.
In 1915, the U.S. Life-Saving Service and the U. S. Revenue Cutter Service were merged into what is now the U. S. Coast Guard, continuing a tradition of heroism that is alive today.
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Sidebar:
Former Cape and Islands Life-Saving Stations open to the Public
Nantucket Lifesaving Station
Location: Nantucket Island
Owner: Nantucket Lifesaving Museum
Current Use: Museum
Open: Mid-June through Columbus Day
Public Phone: 508-228-1885
Access: 158 Polpis Road
Old Harbor Lifesaving Station
Location: Race Point Beach, Provincetown
Owner: National Park Service
Current Use: Park Exhibit
Public Phone: 508-349-3785
Access: Cape Cod National Seashore
Pamet River Lifeboat Station
Location: Truro
Owner: American Youth Hostel
Current Use: American Youth Hostel
Open: July/August
Public Phone: 508-349-3889
Access: North Pamet Road
Surfside Lifesaving Station
Location: Southern Tip Nantucket Island
Owner: Hostelling International - Nantucket
Current Use: Youth Hostel
Open: May - September
Public Phone: 503-228-0433
Access: Paved Bike Path
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© David Gallagher 2005.
May not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, displayed, published or broadcast without written permission of the author. For reprint inquiries, please contact the author. He won't bite.
