PICTURESQUE WORLD’S FAIR. AN ELABORATE COLLECTION OF COLORED VIEWS
Page 76 – THE LIFE SAVING STATION
THE LIFE SAVING STATION —The Life Saving Station was a popular institution at the World’s Fair. At a certain hour every afternoon the crowd assembled on the lake shore and gazed out over the water, out of which, at a considerable distance, rose a mast, theoretically, that of a vessel submerged beneath. To the mast clung one or more supposedly shipwrecked people awaiting help from land. The help soon came. From the Life Saving Station dashed down the rescuers. A mortar was fired seaward, to the projectile of which lines were attached, and these lines fell so that they could be seized by those on the mast and fastened, and then the “breeches buoy ” was drawn out, they got in and were brought, one by one, to land and safety, unharmed by the raging waves beneath. Practically, the waves were very seldom raging, but that did not impair the efficiency of the object lesson taught, nor lessen the proof afforded of the merits of the service The Life Saving Station was established near an arm of the North Inlet, a portion of the building and some of its boats with the launch-way appearing in the illustration. The building was of two stories and had the usual force of men under command of an officer of the service. Exhibition drills were given daily, the shore was regularly patrolled and all the discipline of an ordinary station was maintained. The exhibit, as already said, was very popular and was a most instructive one, familiarizing hundreds of thousands, as it did, with the work of the men engaged in one of the most hazardous of public services.
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