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W t i t J J I o r. r Ho Radio and Seaplane Are J Jr Being U Utilized h tze d by vy l. l t the h i 1 United States Coast Guard Guardin Guardi i 1 y yin in Cheating the Ocean r of Its Pr Prey The y-The The Buoy Buoy Ir I C Carried arne d From L Land an d t to toa 0 1 j o a Beleaguered Ship Via theAir t Replacing the Former ormer Method ethod of Shooting a Line 1 x f From a Gun M s p Sf c I t 1 if IMI v j V p S- S r MT t fi iJ By Stanley iley R i 1 HIGH above scream of and 1 y ih thunder of crashing sur surf comes drum J at of many many a and d mighty cylindered engine t V roaring defiant fia t challen challenge e over an abysmal t 1 maelstrom ni of lashed gale sea f Echoing out into the n night where death Is flapping black wings over South JerI Jerseys Jersey's Jer Jer- I sey's grav graveyard yard of ships this engine of the s same me type which carried Colonel 1 Lindbergh on his flight over that same sea is heralding an an errand errand of mercy in which radio and seaplane are being used r. r by lY the United States Coast Guard at the ther r Cape May base in cheating the ocean of its prey Doors of a mammoth hangar swing t open and there emerges like an amphibian 1 ian monster of days when the world was J in in its making one of the great seaplanes which has replaced those heroic crews of ot jacketed cork who risked their own lives in launching a lifeboat through crushing combers on t the beach ach Gnome Gnome- like like figures bend low before sand laden blasts stinging like rock salt sent from the barrel of a shotgun clinging desperately desperately desper desper- to fusel fuselage ge as the hydroplane taxis i to spume hidden runway edging Cold ColdSpring Spring Spi-ing Harbor i In the cockpit high above a heavily t pilot cro crouches ches over overa a radio re receiving reif re- re if set as that tha most compelling message message mes mes- sage known to mankind comes hurtling from the air lanes nes Three staccato dots t three spluttering dashes like tragic little 1 coughing moans and then th the triple dots which complete the SOS irom a vessel rr 5 in in distress oft off Cape May Point ir is the stage f fully lly set at the Coast Guard Base No 9 for a heroic drama of the sea in which a span of life will f be created by literally riding the hurricane hurricane hurri- hurri cane to to drop from the very skies the weighted bight of a lifeline over which those will be hauled to safety In breeches buoy and life The radio itself is playing a major part partin in replacing the rockets which in former years soared over a black horizon as the signal igna of f. f a sl ship p in distress This roc rocket et would be seen een by the vigilant coast coastguardsman guardsman trudging the beach in nightly patrol who would answer with his flaring flar flar- 1 ing Coston light and then make his his' way to the station nearest on the bea beach h for 1 launching of the lifeboat or in attempting attempt attempt- U v ing to send a line line aboard the doomed 0 t vessel el by means of ot the small cannon 5 i or mor mortar art ar t The new method of ot receiving the SOS directly from the cockpit of waiting the hydroplane as well as as other parts of the Coast Guard base eliminates the loss of a second in starting to the rescue while J use of ot the hydroplane permits the carrying carrying carry carry- ing out of the lifeline to a distance many times farther than could ever be at attained attained at- at by surfboat or beach cannon r At t the Cape May base the equipment j. j has been installed and members of he aviation unit are are now standing by in readiness for the SOS which will put it to to practical use At the Gloucester Mass base however the hydroplane ne has already been used in carrying out lifelines in a most successful manner Almost daily Ensign W. W S. S Anderson in charge of aviation at the Cape May base has demonstrated how a lifeline may be dropped over the deck of a cutter anchored far out at sea as a target or I on board one of th the swiftly sailing no nomadic nomadic no- no madic fishing schooners The method will 1 be found especially effective it is belIeved believed be be- in aiding barges baiges sometimes known as boating coffins left helpless and blundering in heavy seas after towlines snap THIS new system the lifeline is IN of ot extremely light weight but of of great strength and flexibility It is looped Inn in inan an n apparently intricate manner over a series of pegs arranged on what appe appears rs a gigantic chess or checker board This is Is the fake box from which the line may be shipped at 70 miles an hour with no no danger of a snarl or tangle V With With the he hydroplane hurtling tow toward rd F TI t. t e r. r Navy seaplane drop dropping ping a line upon a disabled vessel dur during ing one of the tests of the latest lifesaving life life- saving device em employed by the U. U S. S Coast Guard stations the horizon at a speed almost equal to the projectile fired from the gun the same precautions must be taken to guard against possibility of a snarl in the slender slender slen slen- der line or slightest friction which would set it aflame One end of the line is carried from the fake box to the two masts planted on the beach at a distance of feet apart forming a loop which a contrivance contrivance con con- upon the keel of the amphibian plane snatches up as the pilot swoops swoops lowin low lowin in the start on his errand of mercy WILL the wings of a pl plane ne crumple in flying into the very 1 teeth of a gale which is at the moment literally crushing great stanch ships This is the question asked asked- by those who have found thrills Indeed in witnessing Ensign Andersons Anderson's demonstration demonstration demon demon- of carrying and dropping the lifeline to a ship anchored far out at sea one of the base cutters or a nomadic fishing schooner being used as the target Not so long as the hydroplane is moving moving ing faster than the gale explains Ensign Anderson and now with the Governments Governments Government's Govern Govern- ments ment's program of or standardization even the winds have been classified from g gentle zephyr to Wind blowing at the rate of thirty miles per hour for instance is rated at atthe atthe the base hangars as a strong breeze to moderate gale while wind traveling at forty miles an hour is a gale of an Intensity of driving shipping to th the nearest nearest near near- est haven As Ensign Andersons Anderson's plane equipped with the same type of engine which carried Colonel Lindbergh across the sea is capable ot 01 making seventy miles mUes an hour there is scant chance ol of any hurricane its red white and blue striped rudder This is a Chance Chance- Chance bought Vought typo type hydroplane while another in almost constant constant con con- stant flight from the base Is a Loening type amphibian plane Chance Vought ht carries the special p up pick used for making contact with the lifeline suspended between the two masts on the shore Picking up this line during the buffetIng buffeting buffet buffet- ing of a gale and in midnight darkness requires some unusual skill in piloting and in order to avoid the possibility of a a. miss at the moment when a ship may be sinking Ensign Anderson is perfecting under direction of Commander Addison a different form of carrying out the life life- lin line This requires the use of ot an immense aluminum container not unlike a milk can in shape within which the line has been coiled in special manner To the end of the lifeline is attached a mush mush- shaped room weight and this is dropped upon the beach and the line whipped out from the can as the plane answers an SOS So hag hai the radio in a new guise guise demon demon demonstrated its value in saving life and prop prop- erty The new method of bringing out the lifeline to a distressed ship is largely largel dependent upon this means of rapid communication communication com com- for its its' effectiveness In striking contrast is this method of s saving ving lives and ships with conditions which existed two centuries ago at Cape May when instead of offering aid to helpless craft f those holding special li license 11 cense from the King were permitted to seize not only wreckage but any vessel itself which might be beached in a moment moment mo mo- ment of peril There are are num numerous rous' rous traditions whispered on the he cape today cape today today-of of those days when gentlemen adventurers held heid such license and who as human y vultures would erect false beacons at the entrance to Delaware Bay in order that hapless mariners might be lured to destruction and the wreckage gathered from the AMONG A MONG the parchment annals of Cape Island now Cape May there may be found in quaint spelling a document bearing the signature of Edward Viscount Captaine Generall and Governor Gov Gov- emor in Chiefe in and over her Provinces of New Jersey and New York The document under date of April 8 1704 Instructs Jacob Spicer Gentleman Take possession into Custody Custody aU all boates barkes or other Vessels that may be driven ashore or Otherwise Otherwise Other Other- wise on any part of the Shore or Of the bay or River Delaware or on any of the Sll es being within the Same and anda a Long the Sea Coast of the Provinces ol ot New Jersey to the l high gh Sand of ot Never and Sandy hooke and to Secure and save same until such time as ye re receive receive re- re further directions f from om me i The old fashioned throwing line gun which is now replaced by the airplane Peter Bard Nathaniel Jenkins and Aaron were given similar com com- missions There is a note too of tragic mystery to tobe be found in iq a a. copy of the New York Gazette of July 30 1 13 as follows We hear from Cape Cape- May that last week the bodies of three men drove ashore there One of them had good clothes on gold buttons upon his shirt gold rings upon his fingers and gold buckles set with jewels upon his shoes He was shot through the head The other two had their heads cut off About the same time a sloop drove ashore about twenty miles to the northward of Cape May but it is not known who she or themen the themen men are We also hear ear that a brigantine sailed up Delaware Bay as far as Bombay Bombay Bom Bom- bay Hook then tacked about and stood to sea Some think it was the brigantine bound from Bristol with a number of convicts and that they have mutinied and murdered the master and nd men Under date of J January nuary 9 1744 we find finda a more cheerful note In the New York Weekly Post Boy to the effect that the Senecca under command of Captain Was Was- brough from Bristol bound to Philadelphia Philadel pl phia a was drove ashore to the northward of Cape May bilged and filled with water but all the people were saved She had been out fourteen weeks IN THE Pennsylvania Gazette ot February February Feb Feb- 6 1788 there is the following account of how Matthew Hand saved the life Ufe of the gallant Stephen Decatur Sunday lad lait the records Captain Decatur hi in the sloop Nancy got safe into Hereford Inlet twelve Velve miles mUes north ot at Cape May after fter a passage of two ninety days from He has been on the coast since of December December Decem Decem- ber and fifteen times blown bloW off Captain Decatur almost despaired of able to make any port ort when fortunately he fell in with Matthew Hand of Cape May t J Jt i I. I 1 t 1 i i j j 1 I 1 a pilot who made It a rule to go out i fair day in his boat To every this vigilant vig- vig f lant pilot of Cape May Captain Decatur feels himself greatly Indebted for or the present safety of himself and vessel r j Today instead of at that lone pilot cruising cruis ing close to shore in fraU frail craft the sea for fifty miles off the Delaware Capes I is being patrolled by Ensign Anderson 3 and other aviators of the Coast Guard I b base se termed by the United States Treasury Treasury Treas Treas- ury Department the Eyes of the ice Created primarily for the saving of lives there have been added to tho Coast CoastGuard Guard the task of preventing smuggling and the seeking out and destroying of JY derelicts the floating wrecks ever menacing menacing ing navigation Those hose periods when gales lash the coast are confined to certain seasons but out outon r on Rum Row there Is no calendar or W hour eight working day so that th these se of the black fleet ships alone necessitate the constantly Increasing vigilance and adopting of new tactics to halt hal landing of at k contraband cargoes just exactly as police of cities gripped by crime waves must keep pace with the increasing ever cunning cun cun- ning of the underworld 4 Today therefore there exists at Com Commander mander Addison's headquarters at the Cape May base steel filing cabinets containing con con- L probably the most unique rogues rogues' d gallery In existence a photographic gallery of rogue snips ships and their masters mastera many of which have never dared t tP tm to drop P anchor within the milo limit m Ij PHOTOGRAPHING ships under suspicion sus sus- 1 has become an added duty In in which Ensign Anderson takes considerable J l. l and finds little pleasure no amusement I since the radio receiving and sending set I and Browning machine gun carried on the I daily patrols have been augmented by f. f complete equipment for tor while a a. a corner comer of a a. hangar provides a darkroom In which completed prints ol ot ola a a. suspected runner rum will be In the hands of commanders of at tho fleet of ot cutters before the vessel Is In sight of land Such photographs taken recently by Ensign Anderson will be used as evidence at the trials of the master and crew ot at 9 the British schooner Charles and Edward captured at the Delaware Breakwater November No No- ember vember 12 after having been spotted by Ensign Anderson more than fifty milca 1 off the coast Out there on bleak and drab where a sodden fleet of tramp steamships tt with rust caked bows roll rolI at anchor beside f more rakish schooners with sadly pa canvas and decks there Is no r ill feeling evidenced toward the nying ensign or his mates In fact the event ot having their untidy craft photographed for tor official files and then lining up on t t deck to provide ups close of unshaven 1 visages to be added to the maritime rogues rogues' gallery seems to provide a pleasing 1 break In the monotony of the long t l.- l. watches i by lIu Ledger j f t |
