Chapter 117. to promote the efficiency of the Life Saving Service, and to encourage the saving of life from shipwreckMay 4, 1882. *Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled*,lifesaving Service
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CHAP. 117.— An Act to promote the efficiency of the Life Saving Service, and to encourage the saving of life from shipwreckMay 4, 1882. *Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled*,lifesaving Service.Additional lifesaving stations. That the Secretary of the Treasury is hereby authorized to establish additional lifesaving stations and houses of refuge upon the sea and lake coasts of the United States as follows, namely: on the atlantic coast.
A life saving station at or near Damariscove Island, Maine; one at orAtlantic coast. near Hunniwells Beach, Maine; one at or near the entrance to Portland Harbor, Maine; one at or near the entrance to Portsmouth Harbor, New Hampshire; one on Cape Ann, Massachusetts; one between Cohasset and Scituate Harbors, Massachusetts; one at or near Wood End, and one in the vicinity of Peaked Hill Bars, Cape Cod, Massachusetts; two in the neighborhood of Nantucket and adjacent islands, Massachusetts; one at or near Brenton’s Point or Beaver Tail, Rhode Island; one on Brigantine Beach and one on Seven-Mile Beach, New Jersey; one at or near Lewes, Delaware; five on the coast between Cape Henlopen and Cape Charles, at such points between existing stations as the General Superintendent of the Life Saving Service may recommend; one between stations numbered seventeen and eighteen, and one between station numbered twenty-one and twenty-two, one about three miles 56 southwest of Hatteras Inlet, on the coast of North Carolina; six houses of refuge on the eastern coast of Florida, and two lifesaving stations on the Atlantic coast of Florida, one near Key West and one near Jupiter Inlet, and one on the Gulf coast west of Apalachicola River, at such points as the General Superintendent of the lifesaving Service may recommend; two lifesaving stations on the coast of South Carolina, to be located by the General Superintendent at or near the ports of Georgetown and Charleston; a lifesaving station at or near Quintana, Texas. on the coast of lake superior.Lake Superior.
A lifesaving station at or near Grand Marais, Michigan on the coast of lake michigan.Lake Michigan. A lifesaving station at or near Frankfort, Michigan; one at or near Pent Water, Michigan; one at or near the mouth of White River, Michigan; one at or near Holland, Michigan; one at or near South Haven, Michigan; one at or near Michigan City, Indiana; one at or near Sturgeon Bay Canal, Wisconsin. Section two.—Discontinuance of lifesaving stations, etc. That the Secretary of the Treasury is hereby authorized to discontinue any lifesaving or lifeboat station or house of refuge whenever in his judgment the interests of commerce and humanity no longer require its existence Section three.—Transfer of apparatus and supplies, etc.
That the General Superintendent may transfer the apparatus, appliances, equipments, and supplies of any discontinued station or house of refuge to such other stations or houses of refuge as may need them, and may also transfer any portion of the apparatus, appliances, equipments, and supplies of one station or house of refuge to another whenever in his judgment the interests of the service may require it. Section four.—District superintendents made disbursing officers. That hereafter all district superintendents of lifesaving stations shall be disbursing officers and paymasters for their respective districts, and shall give such bonds as the Secretary of the Treasury may require, and shall have the powers and perform the duties of inspectors of customs; and the compensation of the superintendents in the districts herein named shall be as follows:
Compensation of superintendents rated per annum.For the first district embracing the coasts of Maine and New Hampshire, fifteen hundred dollars per annum. For the second district, embracing the coast of Massachusetts fifteen hundred dollars per annum. For the third district, embracing the coasts of Rhode Island and Long Island eighteen hundred dollars per annum. For the fourth district, embracing the coast of New Jersey, eighteen hundred dollars per annum. For the fifth district, embracing the coast between Delaware and Chesapeake Bays, fifteen hundred dollars per annum.
For the sixth district, embracing the coast between Chesapeake Bay and Cape Fear River eighteen hundred dollars per annum. For the seventh district, embracing the eastern coast of Florida and the coast of Georgia and South Carolina, twelwe hundred dollars per annum. For the eighth district, embracing the coast of the United States bordering on the Gulf of Mexico, fifteen hundred dollars per annum. For the ninth district, embracing the coasts of Lakes Ontario and Erie, eighteen hundred dollars per annum.
For the tenth district, embracing the coasts of Lakes Huron and Superior, eighteen hundred dollars per annum. For the eleventh district, embracing the coast of Lake Michigan, eighteen hundred dollars per annum. For the twelfth district, embracing the coasts of California, Oregon, and Washington Territory, one thousand eight hundred dollars per annum. 57 Section five.— That the Secretary of the Treasury is hereby authorizedCompensation of keepers and men to be rated by Secretary of Treasury*Proviso*. to appoint and fix the annual compensation of the several keepers of all stations and houses of refuge at such rate as he may deem just and proper: *Provided*, That the compensation of any keeper shall not exceed eight hundred dollars per annum; and the Secretary of the Treasury is also authorized to tlx the pay of the men employed at the different stations, provided the same shall not exceed fifty dollars per month Section six.— That crews may be employed at any of the lifesavingCrews may be employed ou Pacific coast. or lifeboat stations on the Pacific coast during such portion of the year as the general superintendent may deem necessary.
Section seven.— That if any keeper or member of a crew of a lifesavingDisability incurred in line of duty not to cause loss of compensation during one year. or lifeboat station shall be so disabled by reason of any wound or injury received or disease contracted in the lifesaving Service in the line of duty as to unfit him for the performance of duty, such disability to be determined in such manner as shall be prescribed in the regulations of the service, he shall be continued upon the rolls of the service and entitled to receive his full pay during the continuance of such disability, not to exceed the period of one year, unless the general superintendent shall recommend, upon a statement of facts, the extension of the period through a portion or the whole of another year, and said recommendation receive the approval of the Secretary of the Treasury as just and reasonable; but in no case shall said disabled keeper or member of a crew be continued upon the rolls or receive pay for a longer period than two years.
Section eight.— That if any keeper or member of a crew of a lifesavingDeath of keeper or member of a crew while in line of duty, widow or child of, to receive full pay for two years. or lifeboat station shall hereafter die by reason of perilous service or any wound or injury received or disease contracted in the lifesaving service in the line of duty, leaving a widow, or a child or children under sixteen years of age, such widow and child or children shall be entitled to receive, in equal portions, during a period of two years, under such regulations as the Secretary of the Treasury may prescribe, the same amount payable quarterly, as far as practicable, that the husband or father would be entitled to receive as pay if he were alive and continued in the service: *Provided*, That if the widow*Proviso*. shall remarry at any time during the said two years, her portion of said amount shall cease to be paid to her from the date of her remarriage, but shall be added to the amount to be paid to the remaining beneficiaries under the provisions of this section, if there be any; and if any child shall arrive at the age of sixteen years during the said two years, the payment of the portion of such child shall cease to be paid to such child from the date on which such age shall be attained, but shall be added to the amount to be paid to the remaining beneficiaries, if there be any.
Section nine.— That the lifesaving medals of the first and secondMedals to be of gold and of silver. class authorized by the provisions of the seventh section of the act of July twentieth, eighteen hundred and seventy-four, shall be hereafter designated as the gold and silver lifesaving medal respectively, and any person who has received or may hereafter receive either of said medals under the provisions of said section, or the twelfth section of the act of June eighteenth, eighteen hundred and seventy-eight, and who shall again perform an act which would entitle him to a medal ofAdditional tokens of honor. the same class under said provisions, shall receive, and the Secretary of the Treasury is hereby authorized to award, in lieu of a second medal, a bar, suitably inscribed, of the same metal as the medal to which said person would be entitled, to be attached to a ribbon of such description as the Secretary of the Treasury may prescribe, which maybe fastened to the medal already bestowed upon said person; and for every such additional act an additional bar may be added.
And the Secretary of the Treasury is hereby authorized, in his discretion, whenever any person becomes entitled to a bar representing a gold medal, to award him, in addition to said bar, such taken as it is customary to 58 award in acknowledgment of the services of masters and crews of foreign vessels in rescuing American citizens from shipwreck. Section ten.—Appointments made by reason of fitness, and not for political reasons. That the appointment of district superintendents, inspectors, and keepers and crews of lifesaving stations shall be made solely with reference to their fitness, and without reference to their political or party affiliations.
Section eleven.— That this act shall take effect from and after its passage. Approved, May 4, 1882.