stations would best subserve the interests of humanity and commerce,
with estimates of the cost. This bill passed, and was approved March
3, 1873. The commission appointed consisted of Mr. Kimball, Captain
John Faunce and Captain J.H. Merryman. Their report is the result
of minute examination into the wrecks and disasters on every mile of
coast for the previous ten years--a research into ghastly horrors for
a practical end unparalleled perhaps in accuracy and patience.
They recommended the erection of twenty-three life-saving stations
complete, twenty-two lifeboat stations and five houses of refuge. The
first class, containing all appliances for saving life on stranded
vessels, and manned by regular crews during the winter months, were
for flat beaches with outlying bars distant from settlements, and were
required on certain points of the shores of the great lakes and on the
Atlantic coast as far south as Hatteras. "Upon the coast of Florida
the shores are so bold," the report states, "that stranded vessels are
usually thrown high enough upon the beach to permit easy escape from
them; therefore the usual apparatus belonging to the complete stations
are not considered necessary. The section of that coast from Indian
River Inlet to Cape Florida is almost destitute of inhabitants, and
persons cast upon its inhospitable shores are liable to perish
from starvation and thirst, from inability to reach the remote
settlements." Upon these coasts it was recommended that houses
of refuge should be built large enough to accommodate twenty-five
persons, supplied with provisions to support them for ten days, and
provided with surfboat, oars and sails. For the majority of points
on the Pacific and lake coasts, where disasters were infrequent,
lifeboats only were considered necessary, these in general to be
manned by volunteer crews. It was proposed that these crews should
be paid for services rendered at each wreck, and a system of rewards
adopted in the shape of medals of honor. The estimated cost of a
life-saving station complete was $5302; of a house of refuge, $2995;
of a lifeboat station, $4790. A bill founded on this report was
prepared by Mr. Kimball, the chief both of the Revenue Marine and
Life-saving Service, and became a law June, 1874. This bill provides
for the protection of the entire lake and sea-coasts of the United
States by a cordon of stations, lifeboats or houses of refuge placed
at all dangerous points. The station