The type of boat that is best suited for one locality, however, may be ill adapted for another, and a boat that would be serviceable at one time might be worse than useless at another. On the coast of Cape Cod the boat service at wrecks is generally not very far off from shore, and the chief and greatest danger lurks in the lines of surf which must be crossed, and in the breakers on the outlying shoals.
The self-righting and bailing boat is more unwieldy, not so quickly responsive to the tactics of the steersman, and not so well adapted to the general work on Cape Cod. Where long excursions are apt to be undertaken, and the service is especially hazardous, the men feel safer in a self-righting and bailing boat, one of which has been introduced at the new Monomoy Point Station.
WAITING FOR A GOOD CHANCE TO LAUNCH.
LIFE SAVERS PRACTICING LAUNCHING THROUGH THE SURF.
A GOOD LAUNCHING. CAPTAIN IN THE ACT OF GETTING INTO THE BOAT.
When the surf-boat is used to effect rescue it is taken along the beach to a point as near the wreck as possible, unloaded from the cart, and at a favorable time run into the raging waters. The keeper is the last man to get aboard the surf-boat, climbing in over the stern as she is run into the sea. The life savers who remain ashore to assist in getting the boat off run waist deep into the sea, helping to guide the boat, and to prevent her, if possible, from being capsized in the surf. The keeper steers with a long oar, and with the aid of his trained surfmen, intent upon his every look and command, guides the buoyant craft through the surf with masterly skill. He is usually able to avoid a direct encounter with the heaviest breakers, but if he is obliged to let them strike him, he meets them directly “head on.”
