The life savers of Cape Cod

by J. W. Dalton

Its approximate position as obtained from the latest coast survey charts is latitude north 42° 02′ 55″, longitude west 70° 04′ 20″. Shoals run parallel with the shores at this station, and many appalling disasters have occurred there since the station has been established. The surfmen exchange checks with the surfmen from the High Head Station on the west patrol, which is about one and three-quarter miles, and with the surfmen from the Pamet River Station on the east patrol, which is about two and one-half miles. On the east patrol the surfmen are unable at times to follow the beach, the tides forcing them to grope their way along the tops of the cliffs, which, in many places, rise one hundred feet above the level of the sea. So steep are the cliffs at points along the east patrol, that the surfmen have ropes extending from the top to the bottom by which they are able to reach the top when driven from the beach by the tides. In attempting to climb one of these steep cliffs on a stormy night a few years ago, Henry Baldwin, a substitute at this station, had the bank break under him, and falling to the beach below, a distance of nearly fifty feet, fractured his hip and received multiple injuries. When the unfortunate surfman did not return to the station at the appointed time, a surfman was sent out to search for him. No trace of him could be found, however, and at four o’clock in the morning Captain Worthen called all hands, and after a search of a few hours, the injured surfman was found on the beach attempting to crawl to the station. This shows one of the perils which confront the surfmen attached to this station. John Francis, a surfman, who, after eighteen years of service at this station, was forced to resign from it on account of injury to his eyesight, had a narrow escape from death while a member of this station crew. Francis was attempting to make his way along the beach to a point where he could climb to the top of the cliffs. The sea was running high, and the great undertow catching Francis, threw him down and carried him far out from the shore. He struggled desperately, and by the merest chance succeeded in making his way out of the surf, when thrown upon the shore by a mountainous wave. He was more dead than alive when he reached the station. Surfman William Paine, of this station, had a fearful experience during a blinding snowstorm. Paine got lost, his eyes becoming frostbitten so that he could not open them. He walked about all night in a little grove of pine woods to keep from freezing, and was found the following day by his comrades.

NEAR THE HIGHLAND STATION.

There are three surf-boats at this station, two for active service, one for drilling the crew, two beach carts with full sets of apparatus, and a life-car. One of the surf-boats and a beach cart are kept in a house near the shore. “Nellie,” a horse owned by Captain Worthen, is employed at the station during the winter months. Cats and dogs are the pets of the surfmen, a number of them living about the station.

Captain Worthen has been keeper of this station since it was placed in commission, a period of over thirty years. During that time there is a record of twenty-seven wrecks within the province of the station. The records as to the number of persons taken ashore is not plain, although it is certain that one hundred and fifty have been rescued by Captain Worthen and his crew.

Only one crew in the whole history of the station has been rescued by means of the breeches-buoy, the crew, ten in number, of the British bark Kate Harding, from Barbadoes, which stranded during a fierce gale and dangerous sea, were thus safely taken ashore. The bark became a total wreck.

CAPT. EDWIN P. WORTHEN.

Capt. Edwin P. Worthen, keeper of the Highland Life-Saving Station, has the distinction of being the oldest keeper in point of years of service, not only on Cape Cod, but in the United States. He has been in the life-saving service for more than thirty years, and has been the keeper of the Highland Station since the station’s establishment. He is a native of Charlestown, Mass., having been born in that city sixty-five years ago, or July 27, 1837, to be exact.

ALONG THE SHORE AT HIGHLAND LIGHT.