The Life Savers

Before electronic navigational aids, the waters off Cape Cod, with their hidden shoals, were especially dangerous to passing ships at night and in thick weather. In 1872, the U.S. Life-Saving Service established nine stations on the outer Cape to aid vessels in distress, and the Nauset Station stood here. During the early 1900’s, the U.S. Coast Guard replaced the Life-Saving Service and built the newer station. Rescue methods changed little: surfmen sharpened their skills, kept equipment ready, drilled with surf boats, breeches-buoy apparatus, and signal flags, watched from the tower for ships in trouble, and patrolled the beach at night until dawn. To warn vessels in danger of running aground, beach patrols lit brilliant red signal flares to tell them to keep off. When a ship wrecked close to shore, ropes were fired to its rigging with a small cannon, and survivors were hauled in one by one on a breeches-buoy suspended from a pulley. The most dangerous duty was surfboat rescue on rough seas, and the tip-over drill prepared crews for the worst. Their dedication was reflected in the unofficial motto: “You have to go out, but you don’t have to come back.”

Eastham, Massachusetts · United States