[Congressional Record Volume 162, Number 135 (Thursday, September 8, 2016)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E1226-E1227]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                    CAPE LOOKOUT LIFE SAVING STATION

                                 ______
                                 

                          HON. WALTER B. JONES

                           of north carolina

                    in the house of representatives

                      Thursday, September 8, 2016

  Mr. JONES. Mr. Speaker, commencing first in 1848, the United States 
Life Saving Service was a federal government agency that grew out of 
private and local humanitarian efforts to create and man rescue 
stations along the coast. These outposts were often remote. The men 
stationed there took great pride in their deep commitment to save the 
lives of shipwrecked mariners and passengers, often against 
overwhelming odds. In 1874, life saving stations were added along the 
coast of Maine, Cape Cod, and the famed Outer Banks of North Carolina. 
In 1878, this network of stations was formally organized as a separate 
agency of the United States Department of the Treasury. In 1915, the 
Service formally merged with the Revenue Cutter Service to form the 
United States Coast Guard. These lonely, isolated outposts were always 
manned by the bravest of men who knew no fear, and who were dedicated 
to their sworn duty of rescuing seamen in distress. Their motto was 
``to always go, but not always return''. Even now, many stories are 
told about the daring rescues by such men, some admittedly embellished 
a bit for literary interest. Proudly beat the hearts today of all who 
can call themselves their descendants.
  One of the most notable of these rescues occurred on a cold, blustery 
winter's night in February of 1905. The three-masted schooner, Sarah D. 
J. Rawson, was two days out of Georgetown, South Carolina and bound for 
New York with a full cargo of lumber. While running under reefed sails 
in a heavy winter squall on February 8, she ran up hard aground on Cape 
Lookout Shoals at approximately 5:00 PM. Managing as best he could 
under extreme conditions, the captain gave orders to take in all canvas 
and prepare for the worst. While the brave crew performed its work, a 
Norwegian seaman--Jacob Hansen--was swept overboard to his death, his 
body given up to the shoals. The violent onslaughts of the treacherous 
waves continually broke over the ship eventually carrying away her 
spars, deckhouses, running rigging, and life boat, her cargo of lumber 
likewise being scattered like match sticks among the unforgiving seas. 
Positioning themselves among the highest points of her masts, the 
crewmen did the best they could to preserve their lives while hoping 
and praying throughout the night that help would soon arrive, but no 
doubt fearful of a bad ending to their ordeal.
  The following morning broke with a thick mantle of fog enshrouding 
the sea. While scanning the ocean at approximately noon of the 9th, the 
duty watchman of the Cape Lookout life saving crew who was posted atop 
the watch tower spotted the uppermost mast heads of the Rawson through 
the fog bank. Realizing the ship was in dire distress, he immediately 
called forth his fellow life savers from their barracks. Though many 
had high fevers and suffering from the flu, all leapt into action 
according to their rigorous training and hastened to the shore with 
their mule drawn wagon and such other equipment as they knew would be 
required. The surf boat was then launched through breaking seas, and 
with all hands aboard, they began to row the nine mile journey through 
the shoal waters to the stricken ship. Arriving on the scene about 4 
PM, the life savers found themselves seriously surrounded and 
endangered by floating wreckage and lumber being cast about in the 
waves. As night was setting in, orders were given to stand away a bit 
and wait for more favorable sea conditions. With anchor set, these 
crewmen spent the entire night in the freezing cold huddled together in 
their little boat, awaiting the morning hour when seas would subside 
and be more in their favor for a rescue attempt. Throughout the night, 
the surf men suffered greatly from exposure, fatigue, and hunger, but 
none failed or faltered to perform their sworn duty as life savers.
  At about 1 PM of the 10th, and with their hopes encouraged and 
renewed, the life savers were able to commence a rescue attempt due to 
better conditions of wind and tide, and so they approached the Rawson 
close enough to lay in amongst the nearby wave troughs and cast over 
their ``heaving line'' to the deck of the ship. With the first attempt 
successful, the first fortunate seaman tied the rope around his waist, 
jumped into the sea, and was pulled to the safety of the life boat. His 
companions followed his example, and one by one in turn, all hands were 
rescued in like fashion. Once all were brought aboard, the life savers 
began the long, exhausting pull back to the shore, now loaded with the 
weight of fourteen men--eight life savers and the six rescued seamen. 
The savers gave up their oil skins and wrapped those and other garments 
about the huddled, suffering seamen so they could better endure the 
perils of the freezing weather.
  The crew of the Rawson had been forty-eight hours without food or 
water. The life savers had spent twenty-eight hours in their cramped, 
open boat being cast about in the treacherous seas without food or 
sufficient warmth, uncertain whether a successful rescue could even be 
achieved, given the perilous conditions. Upon their return to the 
shore, the Rawson seamen were given food and shelter at the station and 
eventually returned to their families and employers through 
intermediary assistance. The fate of the Sarah D. J. Rawson and her 
crew would never have been known but for the unflinching heroism of the 
crew of the Cape Lookout Life Saving Station. Each member was 
subsequently awarded the Gold Lifesaving Medal for extreme and selfless 
service in this famous rescue. All had admirably performed their sworn 
duty in the face of incredible obstacles and in the highest traditions 
of the Life Saving Service. A more complete report of the Rawson rescue 
appears at: http://www.coastalguide.com/helmsman/rawsonrescue.shtml.
  The names of the members who were attached to the Cape Lookout 
Station and participated in this rescue are: William H. Gaskill (the 
``Keeper''), Kilby Guthrie, Walter M. Yeomans, Tyre Moore, James W. 
Fulcher, John E. Kirkman, Calupt T. Jarvis, and Joseph L. Lewis, some 
of the bravest ``Tar Heel'' sons ever hatched out of Carteret County 
homes. During World War II, the U.S. Government made a request of these 
men to return their gold medals to support the war effort. The

[[Page E1227]]

medals have never been returned to the men or their families.
  I thank the United States Coast Guard for agreeing to provide 
replicas of these medals to the surviving families of the members of 
the Cape Lookout life saving crew. These brave men will be honored in 
perpetuity by the display of these replica medals in the Core Sound 
Waterfowl Museum in Harkers Island, North Carolina for their brave 
efforts they gave during the rescue of the Sarah D. J. Rawson.

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