[Illustration: _Frontispiece._ THE LIFE SAVERS. _Page 185_] THE LIFE SAVERS A STORY OF THE UNITED STATES LIFE-SAVING SERVICE BY JAMES OTIS AUTHOR OF “AN AMATEUR FIREMAN,” ETC. [Illustration] NEW YORK E. P. DUTTON & COMPANY 31 WEST TWENTY-THIRD STREET COPYRIGHT, 1899 BY E. P. DUTTON & CO. The Knickerbocker Press, New York [Illustration] CONTENTS. CHAPTER. PAGE. I. INTRODUCTORY 1 II. A BOY AND A DOG 9 III. BENNY’S STORY 23 IV. ON PATROL 40 V. FROM THE “AMAZONIA” 60 VI. ROUTINE DUTY 80 VII. SAVING LIFE 98 VIII. FLUFF A HERO 115 IX. OFFICIAL PERMISSION 134 X. THE UNIFORM 155 XI. THE STRANDED STEAMER 172 XII. IN THE SURF 187 XIII. “NUMBER EIGHT” 204 XIV. THE WRECKERS 222 XV. LIVELY WORK 239 XVI. CAST ASHORE 259 XVII. A LETTER 278 XVIII. A CONSULTATION 298 XIX. THE DECISION 313 THE LIFE SAVERS. CHAPTER I. INTRODUCTORY. The development of the American Life-Saving Service covers nearly a century. “... The initiatory movement was the organization by a few benevolent persons of the Massachusetts Humane Society in 1786. In attempting to alleviate the miseries of shipwreck on the Massachusetts coast, small huts were built; and in 1807 the first life-boat station was established at Cohasset. The Society depended upon voluntary crews, but so much was accomplished of value that some pecuniary aid was received, as time wore on, from both State and general governments. “The magnificent work of the Coast Survey, begun in earnest in 1832, absorbed the resources of Congress for a decade and a half, during which period nothing was attempted in the way of life-saving except through voluntary societies. A few public vessels were, indeed, authorized in 1837 to cruise near the coast for the assistance of shipping in distress, but it was through the movement in aid of commerce, which extended to the lighthouse system. “In 1847, five thousand dollars were appropriated by Congress toward furnishing lighthouses on the Atlantic with the facilities for aiding shipwrecked mariners. The money, after remaining in the Treasury two years unused, was permitted to be expended by the Massachusetts society upon Cape Cod.