Report of the United States Life-Saving Service.
Treasury Department,
United States Life-Saving Service,
Washington, D. C., November 30, 1876.
To the Honorable
Lot M. Morrill,
Secretary of the Treasury, Washington, D. C.
Sir:
Awards of Medals.
During the year three life-saving medals of the first class and two of the second class have been awarded under the provisions of the act of June 20, 1874. The medals of the first class were bestowed upon Messrs. Lucien M. Clemons, Hubbard M. Clemons, and A. J. Clemons, of Marblehead, Ohio, three brothers, who displayed the most signal gallantry in saving two men from the wreck of the schooner Consuelo, about two miles north of that place, on May 1, 1875. It appears from the evidence of the transaction that the schooner, which was heavily laden with blocks of stone, was seen by a number of spectators on the shore laboring in apparent distress in the passage between Kelley's Island and Marblehead, the sea at the time being tremendous and the wind blowing a gale from the northeast, when her cargo of stone blocks, which had been left upon rollers, thereby causing the disaster, suddenly shifted, and the vessel at once capsized and went down. Five of her crew immediately perished; but the remaining two succeeded in getting a hold in the cross-trees of the mainmast, which were above water, where they clung for nearly an hour. It was then that the three heroic brothers took a small flat-bottomed skiff, twelve feet long, three feet wide, and fifteen inches deep, the only boat available on the coast, and leaving their weeping wives and children, who formed a part of the watching group of forty or fifty persons on the shore, went out in this frail shell to the rescue. The venture was, in the judgment of the lookers-on, several of them old sailors, hazardous in the extreme, but after nearly an hour's hard struggle with the waves, the Clemons brothers gained the wreck and delivered the two exhausted men from their perilous position in the rigging. With the added burden in their skiff they were then unable to make the shore, but remained for a long time tossing about upon the high sea in momentary danger of destruction, when fortunately they were descried by a steam-tug at Kelley's Island, which came to their assistance. Under these circumstances the medals of honor awarded them must be considered justly due to their self-forgetful heroism.
The medals of the second class were given to Messrs. Otis N. Wheeler and John O. Philbrick, in recognition of their services in saving the lives of two men wrecked on Watts' Ledge, on the coast of Maine, on Tuesday, the 30th of November, 1875. It appears that Mr. Wheeler happened to see at 9 o'clock in the morning, from the window of a house on Richmond Island, a man standing on the ledge, which is about a quarter of a mile distant, waving his hat as a signal of distress, and called on Mr. Philbrick, the only other man on the island, to assist in rescuing him. The wind was blowing a gale from the northwest, the ocean was rough and covered with vapor, and the weather was very cold, being at sunrise 16° below zero. The two life-savers went out in a dory, one rowing and the other making thole-pins for the pull back, there being but one pair. Arrived at the ledge, they found there two men, one lying at length on his side, where he had resigned himself to death, and got them with considerable difficulty into the dory, great care being necessary to prevent the boat being stove on the sharp rocks on account of the dashing of the sea upon the ledge. The return was effected with two pairs of oars, the second set of thole-pins being finished, and involved a hard pull dead to windward.
The men saved were badly frozen. They had been on the ledge since 9 o'clock of the night preceding, and at high tide, which was during the night, had stood in a foot and a half of water, which is the height to which the sea rises at that time over the highest point of the rock. When they were taken off they were almost helpless, and probably could not have survived an hour longer. Their boots had to be cut off; their feet and hands kept for hours in cold water; great blisters which puffed up two and three inches high on their extremities were opened with a knife, and they were put to bed in a forlorn condition. Mr. Wheeler then took the dory and rowed two miles dead to windward with extreme difficulty, the wind blowing very hard, and the sea feather-white with foam, till he reached Cape Elizabeth, where he purchased rum, liniment, corn-meal and coffee. He got back to the island about dark, bringing with him Mr. Andrew J. Wheeler. The rescued men were then in great suffering; and rum, gruel and coffee were administered to them, and their feet, hands, and heads bathed in liniment and rum. They were constantly and tenderly cared for by Messrs. Wheeler and Philbrick, assisted by Mr. Andrew J. Wheeler, until Thursday noon following, when they were taken off the island by the revenue-cutter Dallas.
The active and steadfast humanity of Messrs. Wheeler and Philbrick, involving such marked labors, hardships and sacrifices in the interest of two poor castaways, can only be recognized, not recompensed, by the medals of honor bestowed upon them. It appears that they also, together with Mr. John N. Wheeler, of Cape Elizabeth, were subjected to considerable pecuniary loss on account of supplies and medicaments furnished these unfortunate men, clothing and bedding spoiled by the ichor from their sores, and journeys by team to Portland, to notify the Collector of their situation and necessities; and it is matter for deep regret that there is no appropriation available under the law to satisfy claims so intrinsically just, and arising under such circumstances.
Correspondence has been received from the Honorable the Secretary of State in relation to aid rendered by English life-boat crews to the crew of the American ship Ellen Southard, including a dispatch from the American consul at Liverpool, dated October 16, 1875, recommending recognition of the gallantry of these crews upon that occasion, and suggesting that this might take the form of a medal for each one of the members thereof. It appears that the Ellen Southard was wrecked by stranding on Sunday, the 26th of September, 1875, in a furious gale and frightful sea, at the mouth of the river Mersey. The ship soon began to break up, and unavailing efforts to construct a raft were made by her officers and men, who remained in extreme peril during the whole night. The next morning, news of the disaster having reached Liverpool, the life-boat belonging to the Mersey Docks and Harbor Board, and the life-boat stationed at New Brighton, of the Royal National Life-boat Institution, came to the rescue. The Liverpool boat arrived in advance of the other, and, after much difficulty and danger, succeeded in taking off all the persons on the wreck, seventeen in number, including the pilot. A few moments after, while all on board were congratulating themselves upon the fortunate escape, a terrific wave, which appeared, as averred by the deposition of some of the survivors, to be as high as a house, threw the life-boat entirely over, and eight of those belonging to the ship, including the captain and his wife, the pilot, and three of the fifteen life-boat men, making twelve persons in all, were drowned. The life-boat, which appears not to have been of the self-righting variety, remained bottom upward, and after struggling in the water for a considerable time, the survivors, being twelve of the life-boat crew and eight of the crew of the ship, managed to get on to her, where they clung for about an hour in great peril, when the New Brighton life-boat arrived and took them on board.
This melancholy disaster sets in the strongest relief the gallant devotion of the crews of the two English life-boats, all the members of which risked their lives, while three of them died in the brave effort to save our countrymen. The sorrow that must be felt for those who perished in this manly endeavor is tempered with satisfaction that the terms of the law permit us to bestow upon their living comrades in the enterprise the fitting tokens of our appreciation; and gold medals of the first class have been awarded to the twenty-seven survivors, and will be struck as soon as possible.