Copyright USGenNet Inc., 2013, All Rights Reserved U.S. Data Repository Please read U.S. Data Repository Copyright Statement on this page: Transcribed and submitted by Linda Talbott for the US Data Repository http://www.us-data.org/ ========================================================================= U.S. Data Repository NOTICE: These electronic pages may NOT be reproduced in any format for profit or presentation by any other organization. Non-commercial organizations desiring to use this material must obtain the consent of the transcriber prior to use. Individuals desiring to use this material in their own research may do so. ========================================================================= Formatted by U.S. Data Repository Chief Archivist, Linda Talbott All of the above information must remain when copied or downloaded. ========================================================================= (Extracted records pertaining to the Great Lakes region) ANNUAL REPORT OF THE UNITED STATES LIFE-SAVING SERVICE 1914 (Fiscal year ending June 30, 1913) [p. 53] CAPSIZE OF ROWBOAT, AUGUST 11, 1912 BUFFALO STATION It is the custom of a number of persons variously employed during the day in the city of Buffalo, N.Y., to fish at night in the month of August from the end of the Government slip in the harbor of the place named. On the night of August 11, 1912, about a dozen persons were engaged in the sport referred to, handling their lines from the piers, while three others were fishing from a rowboat anchored a hundred feet or so off one of the pier ends. Shortly after midnight the look- out of the Buffalo Life-Saving Station heard cries for help comiing from the direction of the piers. As the station watches were changing at the time, four surfmen were dressed and ready for action. Under command of the keeper, these at once launched the power surfboat. Three minutes later they had covered the half-mile to the piers, where they found a man plainly under the influence of liquor sitting in a boat nearly full of water and screaming at the top of his voice. They took him on board and soon learned from him that the boat had contained two other men, both of whom had tumbled into the water while trying to change seats. According to the story of the survivor, both of them had tried to swim ashore. They were evidently soon drowned, as none of those fishing from the pier saw or heard them in the water. After taking the rescued man to the station the keeper returned to the scene with grappling irons and dragged for the bodies. Both were recovered within an hour. Judging from the place where they were found, it would seem that they had swum away from instead of toward the shore. The names of the drowned men were George Leavrczyk and John Walkawak. [p. 61] LOSS OF FISH BOAT "TWO BROTHERS," NOVEMBER 23, 1912 PENTWATER STATION On the afternoon of November 23, 1912, the fish boat Two Brothers struck the end of the south pier at Pentwater, Mich., while trying to make harbor during a gale, and sank, drowning her crew of three persons, namely: August Christensen, Ole Ellehammer, and Tony Johnson. When the fish boats of Pentwater left harbor on the morning of the day mentioned to visit their nets on the offshore fishing grounds, wind and sky presaged a storm. About 1 p.m. the wind began to blow from the northwest and soon attained the force of a gale. By 2 o'clock the sea was running high, with heavy breakers extending 150 feet off- shore from the harbor entrance and very rough water in the entrance channel. Indeed, the waves were soon making a clean breach over the outer portion of the north pier, the strong wind sending the spray from their crests 50 feet in the air. The seas broke over the south pier also at intervals, but not in such volume, owing to the lee afforded by the structure on the north side, which extended 100 feet farther out into the lake. Along about 2 o'clock the surfman of the Pentwater Life-Saving Station on duty in the lookout, situated on the north pier, 750 feet from its outer end, called the station keeper into the tower to take a look at the returning fish boats then in the offing, which were making heavy weather of it and in danger of broaching to in the breakers at the harbor entrance. Having satisfied himself that the vessels were exposed to danger, the keeper returned to the station, launched the Beebe-McLellan surfboat, and proceeded down to the harbor entrance to within 300 or 400 feet of the pierheads. It was his plan to remain in- side near the entrance ready to rush to the aid of any boat finding it- self in trouble outside. [p. 62] While the boat's crew were waiting there until their services should be in demand, the Two Brothers was seen to shoot out from behind the end of the north pier on the crest of a high comber, head south across the entrance, pass the end of the south pier a short distance to the south and west, and then square up for the harbor. Their view of her was obstructed for the moment by the south pier. When they beheld her again it was to see her fling herself like a living thing on top of the pier end, rest there for a moment poised, then lose her balance as a sea struck her, and tumble backward into the lake. When this spec- tacular event took place the life-saving crew were at a distance of perhaps 400 feet from the unfortunate boat. They landed upon the pier as quickly as possible with heaving lines, but by the time they reached the end of the structure the boat with its crew of three was nowhere to be seen. It appears that a man named Maynard was standing on the north pier when the Two Brothers met with disaster. Being at a point abreast of the end of the south pier, he had a good view of the occurrence. Re- ferring to the sea that carried the boat to destruction and to the events immediately following, Maynard says: It was the biggest sea I have seen in a good many days. The wind was blowing almost a hurricane from the north- west. When the TWO BROTHERS got abreast of the north pier she turned and started in. When she came to about 100 or 150 feet out from the north pier she rose on a large wave, and it looked as though her wheel and rudder were both out of the water. It was just like a person going ashore on a comber. The boat was carried toward the south pier at railroad speed. As she neared the pier she slipped back on the wave, and the rudder and wheel taking effect sent her broadside to the end of the pier. A second wave lifted her up on top. She hung there until another wave swung her off. Then she dropped down into the water again. Christensen and Johnson came out at the stern and jumped into the lake, but Ellehammer, who came out at the bow, hung on to the top of the cabin until the boat went down. The strong undertow rapidly carried Christensen and Johnson out into the lake, where the soon sank in the cold water. Ellehammer went down with the boat. It appears from the evidence in this case that not more than two minutes elapsed between the time the fish boat struck the pier and the time her crew disappeared beneath the waves. In the circumstances, neither the life-saving crew nor anyone else could have done anything to save or even attempt to save the victims of the disaster. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- [p. 84] EXPLOSION ON STEAMER "E. M. PECK," JUNE 11, 1913 RACINE STATION The year's lamentable record of loss of life withint he field of the operations of the service corps ended with the explosion, on the fore- noon of June 11, 1913, at Racine, Wis., of the starboard boiler of the 1,809-ton steamer E. M. PECK. The disaster, which took place 300 yards west of the Racine Life-Saving Station while the steamer was proceeding up the Racine River to a dock to discharge a cargo of coal, claimed the lives of 7 of the 18 persons composing her crew. Of the 11 survivors, 2 (including the master) were ashore at the time of the disaster; 4 [p. 85] were on the port side of the vessel, forward; and 5 on the stern. It is supposed that the 4 who were forward left the vessel unaided when she drifted in near a dock. The 5 last referred to were taken off by the life-saving crew, as hereinafter stated. The names of the victims were W. E. Andrews, chief engineer; B. H. Schwensen, second engineer; Edward Young, oiler; and Adam Kriegy, Gus Gunderson, M. Downs, and Geo. Turche, of the engineroom and fireroom forces. No reason can be assigned for the casualty. The force of the explosion was such as to throw the boiler upward and toward the bow of the vessel, tearing out her steel deck beams, de- molishing the boiler house, mainmast, funnel, and deckhouse, and ripping wide open her starboard side. The boiler in its flight struck the chart house a glancing blow, which deflected it almost at right angles. It thereupon hurtled through the air a distance of several hundred feet toward the north side of the river and alighted on a coal dock. All hands in the engine room and the fireroom were killed out- right - some of them being blown to pieces - and those who were after- wards taken from the wreckage alive soon died of their injuries. Keeper Lofberg, of the Racine Station, witnessed the explosion. His attention had been attracted to the steamer a short time previously as the result of a wrong signal made by her in blowing her whistle for the Main Street bridge, which she would have to pass to get to her dock. So urgent was the necessity for haste that he did not wait for his full crew to respond to the alarm sounded by the station lookout, but ran at once to the boat room of the station and with the assistance of Surfmen Carlsen, Jacobson, and Oldenberg launched the Beebe-McLellan power surfboat to the rescue. As the boat sped down the ways the keeper of the light station sprang aboard to accompany the keeper and surfmen to the vessel. Although the remainder of the station crew were not in the boat when it made its first trip, they nevertheless took part in the work of caring for the injured and dead. Arriving alongside, the boat's crew first picked up a man found clinging to some floating debris. As he was seriously injured, they at once carried him ashore and sent him to a hospital. Returning to the steamer, they continued their search in the wreckage, with which the river was strewn. Failing to discover any more victims in the water, they next turned their attention to the vessel, and found 4 men and a woman, none of them apparently injured, huddled together on her stern. These they landed on the dock. Boarding the steamer again, they found an injured man in the wreckage of the deckhouse. As in the case of the man taken from the river, they sent him to the hospital. By this time the PECK had drifted alongside the dock. Renewing their quest, the life-savers found two apparently lifeless men, one in the wreckage of the boiler house, the other in the forehold. Both were carried to the dock. Two more bodies were discovered abaft of the engine room, buried under 2 feet of coal. They were so mutilated that it was impossible to identify them, except by their clothing. After removing them to the dock Keeper Lofberg sought out the master of the steamer, who told him that he thought the entire crew had been accounted for. It was reported soon afterwards, however, that one man - supposed to be either Kriegy or Downs - was still missing. The river was dragged three days in a futile search for the body of this man. It was recovered on June 23. [p. 86] It appears that practically all of the assistance afforded in this case was rendered by the life-saving crew, who, the investigating officer takes occasion to note, boarded the steamer entirely unmindful of all danger to themselves. Their hardihood may be appreciated when one considers that the vessel's port boiler was still intact and, for all they knew, likely at any moment to add to the work of destruction wrought by its mate. On June 12, members of the station crew helped to repair some of the steamer's leaks, so that a tug with a steam siphon was able to keep her afloat while she was towed to a dock to have her cargo unloaded. She sustained damage to the amount of $5,000. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ [p. 90] August 9. - About 8:30 p.m. the surfman covering the south patrol from the Baileys Harbor (Wis.) Station discovered the lights of a [p 91] steamer heading straight for the shore. He burned a Coston light to warn her away and heard an answering signal immediately sounded. As the vessel was going at a rate of about 12 miles an hour, however, she was unable to check her speed in time to prevent striking. She ran on a reef 2 miles south of the station and half a mile from the land. Forty minutes later the life-saving crew were alongside. The found her to be the 6,530-ton steamer CHESTER A. CONGDON, bound, light, from South Chicago, Ill., to Escanaba, Mich. She carried a crew of 26 men and 1 passenger. She had run off her course in a fog. The service crew took soundings, and she succeeded in backing off the reef when she had been relieved of her water ballast. Her master expressed the opinion that had it not been for the patrolman's signal she would have gone high and dry on the rocks and suffered much greater damage than she did. As it was, she was injured to the extent of $20,000. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ [p. 92] August 26. - The 56-ton British schooner JULIA LARSEN, crossing Lake Huron en route from Spanish River to Sarnia, Ontario, with a cargo of lumber, encountered a strong northwest gale on the night of the 25th and was so severely buffeted that she started to leak on the following morn- ing. Her crew consisted of two men, who were her owners. The wife and two small children of one of the men were also on board. Notwithstanding the most exhausting efforts made by the two men to keep down the water in the vessel's hold, she filled rapidly and in a short time was driving before the wind, water-logged and unmanageable. She continued to drift helplessly throughout the day, and at 9:45 p.m. ran hard and fast on a reef at the southeast end of Thunder Bay Island (Mich.), at a point three-fourths of a mile east-southeast of the Thunder Bay Island Life- Saving Station. She struck 100 yards off a rugged, precipitous coast in a spot nearly inaccessible by boat, the water around her being studded by rocks, submerged and exposed. As she lay upon the reef there was a depth at her stern of fully 6 fathoms, while at other places about her the water was as shallow as 6 inches. The locality was a dangerous one even in daylight and calm weather. Therefore the darkness and the state of the surf at the time of the stranding combined to make the situation of those aboard the schooner perilous in the extreme. When the vessel put her nose upon the rock her stern quickly settled, causing the water she had on board to surge aft, fill the cabin, and drive the woman and her little ones out upon the wave-swept deck, where they were able to save themselves only by holding onto the stanchions. The schooner was discovered by the beach patrol as soon as she struck, and half an hour afterwards the life-saving crew were on the scene of the casualty. Describing in his report the state of affairs on board and the work of rescue, the station keeper says: While we were trying to cross the reef to get under the schooner's quarter we could hear the woman and children crying most pitifully. The night was so dark the men did not see us until we were right alongside. Then they were frantic in their efforts to signal us, as the lumber was working off the deck and the spars were likely to fall at any moment. When we go in to the vessel the woman cast herself aboard us and fell full length in the bottom of the boat, so frightened that nothing could induce her to get up. Our great danger after taking everybody off was the chance that we would go on the rocks where the water was not deep enough to float us. Had this happened we would have been capsized. I kept the boat head to the surf while going out, and trusted to the current to sweep us past the shoal places, which it did. [p. 93] The following day the life-saving crew saved $800 worth of lumber from the schooner; also, some sails and rigging. The vessel was totally lost. It appears that the lighthouse steamer AMARANTH subsequently pulled on her for four hours in an unsuccessful effort to haul her off. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ [p. 93] September 8. - About 7 p.m. a telephone message was received at the Milwaukee (Wis.) Station stating that a gasoline launch named the Olympia was on fire in Whitefish Bay. The station crew covered the 8 miles to the scene of the disaster in their power lifeboat in quick time, and found the launch completely enveloped in flames and within 100 feet of a pier. The sparks were flying from her toward the pier - a long, high, wooden structure with a pine covering, thronged at the time by persons who were watching the conflagration. With great difficulty and at much risk to themselves and their boat, the life-savers put a line aboard the launch, towed her to leeward of the pier and beached her. Their timely arrival and prompt action saved the pier from destruction and doubtless prevented a still more serious calamity, for had it taken fire the multitude of people upon it would have been thrown in a panic and many of them would have been unable to reach the safety of the shore. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ [p. 94] October 5. - Near the hour of midnight the 5,667-ton steamer DAVID Z. NORTON, from Buffalo to Milwaukee with 9,200 tons of hard coal, ran upon a submerged rock a mile offshore from Sleeping Bear Point, Lake Michi- gan, and sank 10 minutes later in 30 feet of water. Half a hour after she struck the crew of the Sleeping Bear Point Life-Saving Station, situated 2-1/2 miles to the east, were alongside in response to the frantic blasts of her whistle. The life-saving crew stood by her all day of the 6th, carrying messages to and from shore and performing such other service for her master as lay in their power. Late in the after- noon, the wind having risen and the sea having begun to wash over the vessel, some of the ship's crew of 24 persons expressed a desire to go ashore. Eleven of them were accordingly taken off and landed in Sleep- ing Bear Bay. When the life-savers returned for the rest of the crew they found the master unwilling to leave his vessel. They therefore stood by him during the night. By the afternoon of the 7th, the wind, which had been blowing a full gale for a number of hours, moderated sufficiently to permit a wrecking company to put air and water pumps on board. The steamer came off the reef at 7 a.m. of the 8th, and two steamers took her in tow for South Manitou Island. The South Manitou Island life-saving crew also rendered assistance upon this occasion, having come to the steamer on the forenoon of the 7th to relieve the Sleeping Bear Point station crew, who were much in need of rest and sleep. This disaster is attributed to darkness and smoky weather. When it occurred the steamer was proceeding under moderate speed. The collision with the reef opened up three of her water-tight compartments, which explains why she sank so quickly. She suffered damage to the amount of $35,000. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ [p. 99] November 24. - On the morning of the 23d the 73-ton steamer SOUTH SHORE, carrying a crew of 10 men and 4 passengers, cleared from Sault Ste. Marie, Mich., for Grand Marais, in the same State, with a cargo of merchandise. Heading up into the open waters of Lake Superior after passing Whitefish Point, she was overtaken by a heavy northeast gale and thick snowstorm, which drove her to head for shelter at Caribou Island, some 45 miles distant. By midnight, when she was probably 25 miles northeast of Grand Marais, the ceaseless pounding of boarding seas had partially wrecked her wheelhouse, stove in her after cabin, and extinguished her fires, leaving her practically a water-logged wreck. Thus crippled, she drifted before the gale until about midforenoon of the 24th with her crew working desperately at the pumps. Shortly afer 8 a.m., of the last-mentioned date, the weather having cleared, the helpless steamer was discovered by the lookout of the Grand Marais Station, 10 miles offshore toward the northeast. No distress signal could be observed aboard her, but the station keeper decided nevertheless that she was in trouble, and put off to her with his crew in the power lifeboat. On their arrival alongside after a hard fight against wind and sea, five members of the boat's crew went on board and took a hand in jettisoning the cargo, working the pumps, and assisting in other labor being put forth by the exhausted sailors in their efforts to save the vessel. As the endeavors of the additional force from the powerboat did not materially improve the outlook for getting the steamer into a harbor, all hands were finally taken off and brought ashore. After the steamer was abandoned she drifted to within 300 feet of the beach several miles west of the station and sank in 12 feet of water. On the 25th, and again on December 5, the life-saving crew visited her, recovering two small yawlboats, a life raft, a number of cork jackets, and some of her cargo, having a value all told of about $200. ------------------------------------------------------------------------- [p. 100] December 10. - On the morning of the 9th the steamer H. S. PICKANDS towing the lumber-laden barges C. G. KING and DONALDSON from Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario, to Cleveland, Ohio, put into Tawas Bay, on the west shore of Lake Huron, for shelter during a heavy southwest gale. On the morn- ing of the 10th a signal was displayed from one of the vessels, evidently to summon assistance from the Tawas (Mich.) Life-Saving Station, about 4 miles to the east. There was too much ice in the bay to permit the use of the power surf- boat. The service crew therefore launched their Beebe-McLellan surfboat. As it was out of the question to get around Tawas Point under oars in the gale and sea that prevailed, they fastened a long line to their boat and, some lighthouse employees and fishermen assisting, hauled it along inside the bar to the point, with the keeper and a surfman on board to keep it off the beach. Arriving at the point, they proceeded in their boat across the bay to where the steamer and her barges lay. All three vessels were found to be leaking. The PICKANDS and the KING were in no immediate danger, as their pumps were in good working order. The DONALDSON, however, had 9 feet of water in her hold, her pumps being out of repair. An engineer, transferred from the PICKANDS, soon repaired the barge's disabled pumps. The station crew then went aboard and operated them for 6 hours, lowering the water 7 feet. On the morning of the 13th distress signals called the life-saving crew again to the vessels. This time the keeper had to engage a team to haul the surfboat to Tawas City, a distance of 7 miles, it being impossible, on account of ice, to launch anywhere nearer the station. The barges were still aleak and their masters declined to venture out into the open lake in tow of the PICKANDS. They insisted on having a wrecking tug called to take them to their destination. They and the master of the steamer were accordingly carried ashore to communicate with the owners. [p. 101] The wrecking tug REID appeared on the 14th and took the barges away. ------------------------ December 10. - At 2 a.m. a telephone message was received at the South Chicago (Ill.) Station saying that the tug WILLIAM H. was ashore at Whiting, Ind., about 6 miles southeast of the station, with a line in her wheel. The life-saving crew promptly responded in their power lifeboat. On reaching the vessel they went alongside in their surfboat, which they had taken along in tow, and were informed by the master that he wanted the services of a tug. They went ashore to procure the assistance de- sired, but could find nobody willing to undertake the work of releasing the vessel in the darkness and the heavy surf that prevailed. On their return to the tug after their fruitless quest for help they tried un- successfully to induce the three men on board to leave. As nothing more could be done for the present they returned to their station. The wind having increased and the surf become heavier by daylight, they put off to the tug again at 8 a.m. Anchoring the power boat outside as before, they ran in and brought away two men - all that were on board. It appears that the master landed in a yawl boat sometime between the two visits of the life-saving crew. The tug was totally lost. ------------------------------------------------------------------------- [p. 111] March 21. (1913) - In the early morning of this date four fishermen in a launch put out fron Sandusky, Ohio, to lift their nets. While they were at their work a fierce gale rose and drove them rapidly offshore. Their perilous situation was discovered by a resident of Kelleys Island, who telephoned the news to the Marblehead (Ohio) Station, giving the approximate position of the launch. As the force of the gale was such as to prevent the launching of a boat from the station, the keeper sought the services of a tug to carry him and a crew to the rescue. After some delay he found a man in Sandusky - [p. 112] - Capt. Tyre, of the tug OLCOTT - willing to venture out in quest of the imperiled men. The OLCOTT picked up the life-saving crew at Marblehead at 2 p.m. The rescuing party overhauled the launch 10 miles northeast of the life-saving station, finding the fishermen thoroughly exhausted from their efforts to keep afloat and in despair of being saved. The OLCOTT towed the launch back to Sandusky. Twice on the way in the towline parted, but each time the launch was recovered. The keeper praises the self-sacrificing spirit shown by Capt. Tyre in answering, in the height of a storm so severe, the call made upon him for assistance. ------------------------------------------------------------------------- [p. 115] May 19. - About 4:30 p.m. a hydro-aeroplane operated by Weldon B. Cook, bound from Sandusky to Put in Bay, Ohio, had trouble with her engine [p. 116] and was compelled to alight in Lake Erie, 2-1/2 miles southeast of the Marblehead (Ohio) Station and half a mile offshore. The keeper of the Marblehead light station saw the craft settle, and, when she failed to rise again after an interval, communicated with the life-saving station. The service crew put out in their power surfboat. The aeroplane had in the meantime drifted ashore, and they found her lying near a pier and in imminent danger of striking against it. As the aviator could not set his engine going, the life-saving crew passed him a line and towed the machine to Sandusky. ------------------------------------------------------------------------- [p. 122] LETTERS OF ACKNOWLEDGMENT 1913 The American Shipbuilding Co., Cleveland, Ohio, October 8, 1912 Dear Sir: We have this morning just learned of the service rendered by you to our employees on Saturday night last. It seems that four men in our employ took our launch OLIVE D. No. 1 for a pleasure ride in the lake without the knowledge of any of our officials. The boat later became disabled and was brought in by yourself and crew. On behalf of this company I want to thank you for your opportune and most efficient service. Yours, very truly, O. J. Fish, Secretary. Keeper Hans J. Hansen, Cleveland Life-Saving Station ------------------------------------------------------------------------- [p. 124] ALPENA, MICH., November 19, 1912. DEAR SIR: In behalf of my immediate family and other relatives and friends at my home town, Detroit, Mich., I wish to thank you for locating on this date at the Huron cement slip the body of my brother, Charles Cobo, who was drowned on the 17th from the steamer WYANDOTTE. Our appreciation can not be expressed in words, but we offer it to you in the best way we can. If at any time we can be of assistance to you we will do so to the best of our ability. Yours, truly, Edward Cobo Capt. John D. Persons, Keeper, Thunder Bay Island Life-Saving Station, Alpena, Mich. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- GRAND MARAIS, Mich., November 26, 1912 We, the undersigned persons, who were passengers and members of the crew on the steamer SOUTH SHORE during the storm on Lake Superior on November 23-24, wish to express our gratitude to you for the efficient and kind service rendered us by the Grand Marais life-saving crew, who rescued us from the sinking steamer. During the transferring of the passengers and crew from the steamer to the lifeboat the unexcelled seamanship of Capt. Truedell of the lifeboat AUDACITY was very evident, as he made the transfer without accident when the decks were covered with ice and with the worst gale in 20 years blowing over the lake. We think there could not have a more daring rescue on the Atlantic seaboard than this. Passengers: Arthur L. Norton, Harvey K. Anthony, Mrs. Dinnie Stites, Miss Myrtle Duval. Crew: Ora Endress, Master, D. B. Smith, Chief Engineer, C. B. Kennedy, Purser. Life-Saving Service Washington, D. C. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- [p. 132] SALVAGE ASSOCIATION, LONDON AMERICAN LAKE DEPARTMENT Milwaukee, Wis., July 3, 1913 DEAR SIR: Allow me to take this opportunity to thank you for the ready assistance you and your crew gave us when temporary repairs were made to the steamer E. M. PECK, which blew up June 11, 1913, at Racine, Wis.; also for services rendered at other times before I arrived on the scene. I can assure you that I would just as soon have an accident happen in your district as in the vicinity of any other port I know of on the Great Lakes, for I feel confident that in you we would always have a good friend. Very truly, yours, T. C. WARKMAN, Surveyors for Underwriters. Capt. GUS B. LOFBERG, Keeper, Racine Life-Saving Station, Racine, Wis. -------------------------------------- TRINITY CHURCH Chicago, Ill., June 19, 1913. MY DEAR SIR: I notice from a newspaper article relative to the rescue of the sloop WIND-O-BLIND by your men last Tuesday, the 17th, that you thought the names given by those rescued were fictitious. As I was the one who furnished the names to you I write this letter to say that they were not fictitious. Mrs. Redles, one of those aboard the sloop, and who has had many sea experiences, was especially pleased with your prompt appearance upon said occasion. My friends and I wish to extend to you and your men our hearty thanks. Your prompt action saved the sloop and perhaps our lives. I beg to remain, respectfully, yours, HOWARD ADAMS LEPPER, Rector. Capt. HENRY SINNIGEN, Commanding, Jackson Park Life-Saving Station, Chicago, Ill. ===========================================================================