CAPT. BENJAMIN C. SPARROW.
Capt. Benjamin C. Sparrow, superintendent of the second life-saving district, was born in Orleans, Oct. 9, 1839. He is a lineal descendant of Richard Sparrow, who came over in the ship Ann, landing at Plymouth. When a boy he always accompanied his father, a well-known life saver and wrecker, to the shipwrecks that occurred along the coast, and at an early age became familiar with the scenes of disaster from which the shores of Cape Cod have become noted.
In those early days, long before the establishment of United States life-saving stations on Cape Cod, volunteer crews responded to the calls for assistance when there was a wreck along the coast. There were others who engaged in the work of saving lives and of wrecking, or assisting distressed vessels, and they were known as “beach combers.”
Captain Sparrow was a “beach comber” for many years, and relates thrilling and interesting incidents that occurred during his experience. After finishing his education in the public schools of his native town, he taught in the public schools in the adjoining town of Eastham.
He entered Phillips Academy to prepare himself for the legal profession, and was a student there at the outbreak of the Civil War. The war had hardly begun, however, before he left college, and enlisted in the regular army, in the engineer battalion attached to the headquarters of the Army of the Potomac, serving in this capacity until 1864. During his term of service he endured much hardship, being a prisoner at Belle Isle in the summer of 1862.
At the close of the war he returned to his home in East Orleans, where he has since resided. On Dec. 25, 1866, he married Miss Eunice S. Felton, of Shutesbury, Mass.
He has been connected with the United States Life-Saving Service for thirty years, or since the time of its reorganization, his appointment as district superintendent being a part of the plan adopted by the government to stamp out the evils which existed in the service at the time.
Captain Sparrow in the thirty years in which he has been superintendent of the second district has been actively engaged in the arduous duties of his calling, and to his efforts is due the success in securing the discipline and efficiency in this hazardous service in the district under his charge.
CAPT. B. C. SPARROW, DISTRICT SUPERINTENDENT UNITED STATES LIFE-SAVING STATION.
His home is connected by telephone with all the stations along the shores of the Cape, and the moment a wreck is reported to him he is away to the scene.
Ofttimes he has been obliged to travel many miles on foot in the teeth of a raging gale and driving storm to reach the scene of a disaster, yet he has attended nearly every wreck that has taken place along the shores of Cape Cod during the past thirty years.
The veteran captain has often shared the hardships and braved the perils with the life savers in their work along the beaches, and the hardships of thirty years have left their deep imprint upon him. The night that the schooner Calvin B. Orcutt was wrecked on Chatham bars, Captain Sparrow suffered such hardship going to the scene that his eyesight has since been seriously impaired.
The life-saving department recognized Captain Sparrow’s ability from the first by appointing him on the board of experts to examine new appliances and methods proposed for use by the department.
This position he has filled with great credit to himself and to the betterment of the department to the present.
A DERELICT CAST ASHORE.
Captain Sparrow has always taken an active interest in the affairs of his town, and his fellow-citizens have honored him from time to time with public offices within their gift. To the life savers of Cape Cod Captain Sparrow has ever been a staunch friend.