The localities of the stations and houses of refuge now legally authorized are—
| Districts. | Location. | Stations. |
| 1st. | Coasts of Maine and New Hampshire, | 6 |
| 2d. | Coast of Massachusetts, | 14 |
| 3d. | Coasts of Long Island and Rhode Island, | 36 |
| 4th. | Coast of New Jersey, | 39 |
| 5th. | Coasts of Delaware, Maryland and Virginia, | 8 |
| 6th. | Coasts of Virginia and North Carolina, | 10 |
| 7th. | Eastern coast of Florida, | 5[2] |
| 8th. | Coasts of Lakes Ontario and Erie, | 9 |
| 9th. | Coasts of Lakes Huron and Superior, | 9 |
| 10th. | Coast of Lake Michigan, | 12 |
| 11th. | Pacific coast, | 8 |
While we have been looking into these facts and figures the exploring party in the house on the beach have told many a terrible tale of shipwreck and half-hinted horrors, among others that of the ill-fated Giovanni.
"Suppose that a ship should be driven on this bar in the middle of the night, a storm raging," said one of the party, "what would then be the keeper's duty?"
The captain threw open the door of the larger room, which in the fading light looked full, but for a moment only, of ghostly shadows. There we saw boats suspended halfway from the ceiling, other mysterious apparatus ranged on either side, anchors, great cables coiled accurately in heaps, and all in as exact neatness as though upon the deck of a man-of-war.
"When a wrack is sighted," said the captain, "the signal-officer up stairs telegraphs to the other near stations, whose keepers at once send their lifeboats, cars and surfmen here. The ship is signaled—by flags in daytime, by rockets at night." He opened a closet in which were arranged the cases of lights, with books of instruction for their use. "The keepers ought to understand these as well as all other apparatus in the station, and under the new management they usually do. The keeper here is an old wracker, and has 'good judgment of the sea,' as Jacob would say. He never made harness or friends in Congress," the captain threw in with fine satire. "If the ship can be reached by a boat, this lifeboat is run into the surf. It moves on wheels, you see, and in two minutes ought to be launched and the men aboard. This ridge on the outside is an air-tight chamber for giving buoyancy. Here are the oars swung in place and the buckets for bailing, as you see."
"Is this the English lifeboat?"
"No, sir. Two years ago the service imported a lifeboat and rocket apparatus from England to test them here. The lifeboat was found to be nearly perfect, but too heavy for launching on our flat beaches with light crews: she weighed four thousand pounds. This boat was invented by Lieutenant Stodder."
"But if the sea be too heavy for the lifeboat to live in it?"
"Then we give the ship a line: the ball is fired from this mortar, the line being fastened to the shot by a spiral wire. Mortar, powder and matches are set, you see, ready for instantaneous use. The ball must be shot so that the line falls over the ship. Not an easy mark to hit in the night and the storm driving. Sometimes it is not done until after many trials: sometimes, as in the case of the Giovanni, it cannot be reached at all. I saw the Argyle go down eight years ago with all on board, after we had tried all night to reach her. One man was washed ashore, and we made a rope of hands out beyond the first breaker, and so got him in."