CAPTAIN COOK. PEAKED HILL BARS.
CAPT. WILLIAM W. COOK, KEEPER OF PEAKED HILL BARS STATION.
Capt. William W. Cook, keeper of the Peaked Hill Bars Station, one of the most dangerous of all, was born in Provincetown, within sight of his station, Nov. 3, 1852. He has been in the life-saving service for twenty years, fourteen years as a surfman and six as keeper at this station. When a boy he evidenced great love for boats, and after leaving school, until he entered the life-saving service, he spent nearly all his time at sea. He was first in the merchant service, but later joined the fleet of whaling vessels that cruised on the north and south Atlantic grounds, gaining a wide experience as a whaleman, and becoming thoroughly familiar with the handling of boats under the most trying conditions and roughest weather. When he decided to enter the life-saving service the department was glad to secure him, and as an evidence of their faith in his ability, they assigned him to the dangerous Peaked Hill Bars Station, under the late Capt. Isaac G. Fisher.
For fourteen years Captain Cook patrolled the beaches and faithfully performed the duties of a surfman, and then succeeded Captain Fisher as keeper, when the latter was transferred to the Wood End Station. In all his years of experience, both as a surfman and keeper of this station, Captain Cook has never had his boat capsized, has never been overboard from his boat, and has never lost or had a member of his crew seriously injured in the performance of duty.
Of all the wrecks which Captain Cook and his crew have gone to, one of the most hazardous undertakings was at the wreck of the three-masted schooner Willie H. Higgins, in March, 1898, from which they rescued seven men and one woman in the surf-boat. At the wreck of the schooner Theta, Captain Cook and his crew made a most daring rescue of her crew of seven, and the captain’s wife. The rescue was made in the surf-boat in a riotous sea that threatened to engulf the boat and drown both rescued and rescuers. The thrilling rescue was witnessed by a vast multitude that had assembled on the beach, and a mighty cheer was sent up as willing hands pulled the surf-boat out of the maddened waters onto the beach.
Captain Cook uses a twenty-one foot steering oar when going to a wreck in the surf boat, and to this he attributes his great success in handling the craft under the worst conditions of wind or wave. The steering oar is the same kind as he used when a whaleman. That he is skilled in the use of it is evidenced by the enviable record he has made since he has been keeper of the station. He is a warrior of the sea who knows no fear when duty calls, and who is ever ready to put off from the beach to aid distressed seafarers, when it is possible for a boat to live. He married Annie Young Snow, and is the father of a daughter.