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JOSHUA JAMES

LIFE- SAVER

"TRUE AMERICAN TYPES"

Vol. I. JOHN GILLEY: Maine Farmer and
Fisherman, by Charles W. Eliot.

Vol. II. AUGUSTUS CONANT : Illinois
Pioneer and Preacher, by Robert

COLLYER.

Vol. III. CAP'N CHAD WICK: Marble-
head Skipper and Shoemaker, by John
W. Chadwick.

Vol. IV. DAVID LIBBEY : Penobscot
Woodsman and River-driver, by Fannie
H. Eckstorm.

Vol. V. CAPTAIN THOMAS A. SCOTT:
Master Diver, by F. Hopkinson Smith.

Price, each, 60 cents, net; by mail, 65 cents.

AMERICAN UNITARIAN ASSOCIATION
Publishers, Boston, Massachusetts

JOSHUA JAMES

LIFE-SAVER

BY

SUMNER I. KIMBALL

BOSTON
AMERICAN UNITARIAN ASSOCIATION

1909

Copyright 1909
American Unitarian Association

THE NKW YOfcl

fIJ&UC LIBftA&Y

" No wild hurrahs accompany
The deeds these men do dare ;
No beat of drum, no martial strain,
No spirit-stirring air.

a

But in the cold and darksome night
They combat with the blast ;

And gain, by dint of hardihood,
The victory at last."

m

•3

JOSHUA JAMES

NO finer examples of sturdy
American manhood can any-
where be found than in the crews of
the United States Life-Saving Service.
These little groups of from seven to
ten men each, numbering in the ag-
gregate a scant two thousand, are
composed of robust, warm-hearted,
and strong-handed residents, of the
coast, chosen for the most part from
those who, through their previous oc-
cupations as fishermen, boatmen, and
wreckers, have gained a thorough fa-
miliarity with the changeful moods of

i

JOSHUA JAMES

the sea, and especially with the pecu-
liarkies of the currents, reefs, bars,
and surf in the region of their re-
spective habitations. The qualifica*
tions thus attained, supplemented by
their daily drill after enlistment in
the Service, equip them in the best
possible manner for their subsequent
arduous and hazardous work. They
are hardly known to the great ma-
jority of their countrymen living in^
land; but to the inhabitants of the
coast, especially that large portion in-
terested in our sea and lake commerce,
and to those who follow the sea^ they
are well known indeed! To the lat-
ter, when the tropical hurricane or the
chilling blast of the Arctic winter
storm is driving their helpless craft
into danger and possible destruction,

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JOSHUA JAMES

or when impenetrable fog envelops
them for days at a time, rendering
chart and reckoning worthless, the as-
surance that a practically continuous
line of keen-eyed and sleepless senti-
nels march and countermarch along
the surf -beaten beaches or stand guard
with warning signals in hand upon the
jutting cliffs and headlands reaching
far out into the sea for unwary vic-
tims, lends a comfortable sense of se-
curity. That this confidence is not
misplaced is attested by the statistics
of the Service, which show that of
more than a hundred thousand lives
imperiled upon vessels wrecked or in
distress within the scope of the opera-
tions of the station crews since the
systematic organization of the Service
in 1 87 1, less than one per cent has

3

JOSHUA JAMES

been lost, and that a considerable por-
tion of even this small percentage is
made up of those whom no human
agency could save — as, persons
washed overboard before or at the
moment of stranding, sailors drowned
in attempting to land in their own
boats, or victims of sudden capsizes of
small boats who perished before help
could possibly reach them. The rec-
ord includes all, every life lost within
the reasonable bounds of station ac-
tivity, from craft of all kinds, the
diminutive canoe as well as the mam-
moth ocean steamship.

Another American organization
for the relief and succor of the ship-
wrecked is the Massachusetts Humane
Society, which has made a most hon-
orable record, and stands credited

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JOSHUA JAMES

with the rescue of a multitude of lives.
This Society is supported by volun-
tary contributions, their boats and ap-
pliances being operated by volunteers
who are paid for each occasion of
service. It was organized in 1785,
and was among the first, if not the
first, in the world to build huts for
the comfort and shelter of ship-
wrecked persons and, subsequently
(1807), to provide for rescue work
with boats and other apparatus. Its
operations are, of course, limited to
the coast of Massachusetts, where it
maintained at one time as many as
78 lifeboat and 13 mortar stations.
When the national service extended
its field to include that coast, in 1874,
the Society discontinued some of its
stations at points covered by the Gov-

5

JOSHUA JAMES

eminent work, and transferred others
to points needing protection. It still
maintains, however, several in prox-
imity to Government stations in espe-
cially dangerous localities. At these
places the crews of the two services
have always harmoniously and effect-
ively co-operated on occasions of ship-
wreck. The relations between the
two organizations have also been of
the most friendly and cordial nature.
In a series of sketches of " True
American Types," one that represents
the phase of our national character
which the American life-saver, trained
in one or both of these organizations,
so aptly typifies, is peculiarly fitting,
and the following is a narrative of the
simple, unpretentious life of such a
one. The subject of the sketch was

6

JOSHUA JAMES

connected with the Massachusetts Hu-
mane Society from his early youth un-
til he was made keeper of a station in
the United States Life-Saving Service,
in which capacity he served during
the last twelve years of his life.

Joshua James, on the paternal side,
was of humble Dutch stock. William
James, his father, was born in Dok-
kum, Holland, in the year 1782. Lit-
tle is known of him before he became
old enough to enter the army of his
native country. He served for a
while as a soldier until, tiring of the
life, he ran away to sea, and in the
course of time made his way to
America, landing in Boston, where he
soon after shipped on one of the nu-
merous small schooners engaged in

7

JOSHUA JAMES

the business of furnishing paving
stones to that city. This led him
to make his home in Hull, where
the vessel belonged. In due course,
by dint of faithful service and a frugal
life, he became the owner of a vessel
and engaged in the paving-stone busi-
ness for himself. In 1808 he mar-
ried Esther Dill, daughter of Nathan-
iel and Esther (Stoddard) Dill, of
Hull, both descended from the early
English colonists. Her great-grand-
father, Daniel Dill, served as a pri-
vate in the Revolutionary Army, and
during the War of 18 12 members of
her family acted as volunteer coast
guards, and in that capacity rendered
valuable service to the country.
Esther, who v/as the only girl in a
family of seven children, was but six-

8

JOSHUA JAMES

teen years of age at the time of her
marriage. She was notably humani-
tarian and philanthropic in her na-
ture, " smart " and capable of quickly
adapting herself to circumstances.
The crews of her husband's vessels
found in her a veritable mother. She
nursed them in sickness without
thought of recompense, and constantly
looked after their welfare. Nor did
she confine her ministrations to these
and their families only, but volunta-
rily sought out and liberally supplied
the needs of the poor about her. Her
remarkable courage and prompt de-
cision are attested by an incident of
her early married life. One of her
children, then a year and a half old,
fell into an old well some thirty to
forty feet deep, containing about three

9

JOSHUA JAMES

feet of water. A descent into the
well on the slippery stones was a peril-
ous undertaking, and, other than her-
self, none of those who witnessed the
accident dared venture it. While
they were seeking other means of res-
cue, she clambered down and saved the
babe. It is not known what assist-
ance was rendered her in getting out,
but it is said that she was utterly ex-
hausted and almost unconscious when
she reached the top of the well.

The loving, sympathetic, and he-
roic character of this mother, and the
thrift and energy of the father, could
hardly fail of beneficent effect upon
their children. It is from the influ-
ence of such parentage that achieve-
ments which have made many a man
famous have derived their inspiration.

10

JOSHUA JAMES

The James home in Hull was a
commodious dwelling of the simple
style of the period, built on an emi-
nence overlooking the bay, by Mrs.
James' family, and purchased by her
husband soon after their marriage.
Like most of his countrymen, William
James was a Lutheran. It was his
custom to read Luther's version of the
Bible daily from a volume in his
mother tongue brought with him
from Holland. The children, as soon
as they were large enough, were re-
quired to read from the Bible every
morning, using the King James ver-
sion in the English language. The
family attended the Methodist Epis-
copal church, the only Protestant
church in the village, and all took
part in the Sunday School, either as

ii

JOSHUA JAMES

teachers or scholars. Captain James,
in his spare time at home, conducted
a singing class. Music was the chief
recreation of the family, each member
learning to play one or more instru-
ments. A story current among the
older residents of Hull indicates that
Captain James had exceptional mu-
sical talent. It is to the effect that,
when a young man, he applied to a
music teacher for lessons, stating that
he did not know a note. The teacher
began by pointing out at some length
the value and significance of the writ-
ten musical symbols, the pupil in the
meantime impatiently asking about ad-
vanced lessons. When the teacher
was through he was much surprised
at the young man's question, " Is that
all there is to it? " and ironically re-

12

JOSHUA JAMES

plied that it was all! In less than
a year young James was successfully
teaching a singing class of his own.
Shortly afterward he acquired profi-
ciency on the clarinet, and was en-
gaged to play with the noted bugler,
Ned Kendall, in Boston and else-
where. His musical talent was trans-
mitted in a large degree to his de-
scendants, even to the third and
fourth generations. A great-grand-
daughter, Mme. Bernice de Pasquali,
daughter of Captain William W.
James, was honored by being selected
as the only soloist to sing before the
Prince of Wales and other dignitaries
at the State concert in commemoration
of the founding of Quebec, in July,
1908, and upon the recent retirement
of the celebrated Madame Sembrich,

13

JOSHUA JAMES

succeeded that prima donna in the
Metropolitan Opera Company, New
York City.

Joshua, who was the ninth of
twelve children, was born November
22, 1826. He was a most amiable
and affectionate child, always thought-
ful of others, scrupulously conscien-
tious and singularly careful of every-
thing placed in his charge. He was
spoken of in the family as a " great
caretaker." His sister Catherine,
five years his senior, who tended him
from babyhood and upon whom, at
the age of fifteen, fell the care of the
family upon the death of their mo-
ther, and who, therefore, probably
better understood his character and
temperament than anyone else, often
declared he was unlike other boys.

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JOSHUA JAMES

She used to say there was a certain
thoughtfulness and reserve about him
that distinguished him from other
children, and his unerring judgment
and ability to deal with perplexing
situations made him a leader among
them. He was beloved by his broth-
ers, idolized by his sisters, and was
the favorite of his father, who often
remarked that God had especially
blessed him in the gift of such a noble
son. That the boy was father to the
man in his spirit of unselfishness and
generosity is shown by the fact that,
when a mere lad, he was not only will-
ing to share anything he had with
others, but often gave them all, stren-
uously insisting, however, that the di-
vision among them should be " share
and share alike." This self-sacrific-

i5

JOSHUA JAMES

ing spirit and insistence upon fair
play were manifested throughout his
life.

On April 3, 1837, when he was but
ten years of age, Joshua was called
upon to bear the first and perhaps the
greatest sorrow of his life in the
tragic death of his mother and baby
sister. Mrs. James was returning
from a visit to Boston in the schooner
Hepzibah, a paving-stone vessel
owned by her son Reinier. As they
were passing through the treacherous
Hull Gut a sudden squall threw the
vessel on her beam ends, and she filled
and sank before Mrs. James and her
baby, who were in the cabin, could be
rescued. His sister Catherine states
that Joshua bore his great sorrow he-
roically. He could not shed a tear,

16

JOSHUA JAMES

although his young heart was burst-
ing with grief. It made a great and
lasting impression upon him, and un-
doubtedly had an important influence
in shaping his subsequent career as an
indefatigable life-saver; for " ever
after that," said his sister, " he
seemed to be scanning the sea in quest
of imperiled lives." It is a singular
circumstance that the vessel in which
Mrs. James was drowned belonged to
the son whom she had saved from
drowning in the well in his infancy.
Had she not succeeded in saving him,
perhaps her own life had not been
lost in this tragic manner, and her son
Joshua might never have been led to
consecrate his life to the rescue of
others from a similar fate.

Joshua was a great reader even in

i7

JOSHUA JAMES

his boyhood days, his choice being
books of a historic and scientific char-
acter; notably, and perhaps very natu-
rally, those on astronomy, so intimate-
ly associated with a sailor's profession.
His preference for practical literature
may have been due in some part to
his mother, who prohibited the read-
ing of novels and fiction of all kinds.
She forbade the neighbors lending her
children novels, and on one occasion
destroyed a beautiful and expensive
copy of " The Children of the Ab-
bey," which she found in the hands of
one of her daughters. The father's
strict religious views also no doubt
largely guided the children in their
choice of reading.

At a very early age Joshua began
to go to sea with his father and elder

18

JOSHUA JAMES

brothers. His fondness for astron-
omy here stood him in good turn, and
he soon became an expert navigator.
His father in later years was fond of
relating an incident illustrative of
Joshua's good seamanship and the
confidence reposed in him by other
sailors. During a voyage in unfa-
miliar waters the helmsman lost his
bearings one night. This fact was
not known to the captain for several
hours, and when he learned of it he
was unable to determine the position
of the vessel, which had sailed a long
distance off her course. As a last re-
sort, Joshua, who had been asleep
through it all, wras called on deck and
the situation laid before him. He
carefully scanned the heavens for a
minute through his sleepy, half-open

19

JOSHUA JAMES

eyes, then confidently laid down the
course, remarking that in two hours
a certain light would be made, and re-
turned to his bunk in a most matter-
of-fact way. In one hour and fifty-five
minutes the light he had mentioned
was sighted. How Joshua's casual
examination of the stars could enable
him so accurately to judge of the dis-
tance and location of the lighthouse
may not be obvious, but his good
guess (if such it was) might very
naturally have been attributed by the
skipper to his superior scientific ac-
quirements. On another occasion,
when he was sailing a yacht into Bos-
ton, all bearings were apparently lost
in a dense fog. Someone asked him
where they were, and he promptly and
positively replied, " We are just off

20

JOSHUA JAMES

Long Island head." " How can you
tell that? " asked his incredulous ques-
tioner. " I can hear the land talk,"
was the terse reply. Shortly after,
when the fog lifted, his judgment was
found to be correct, as they were then
directly off the island. This illus-
trates his marvelous knowledge of the
topography of the coast and harbor,
and the conditions prevailing at differ-
ent points, acquired by observant eyes
and quick ears. It is the same acute-
ness of the perceptive faculties that
characterized the celebrated Maine
steamship captain who for more than
twenty years is said to have regularly
navigated his vessel in the thickest
fogs and darkest nights through the
tortuous reaches, thoroughfares, and
channels of the " inside passage "

21

JOSHUA JAMES

along the coast of Maine, without ac-
cident. When asked for an explana-
tion of his remarkable record he re-
plied, " I knew the bark of every dog
and the crow of every rooster on the
line, and often steered by them."
That is one way the land " talks " to
the coastwise sailor, as well as by the
varying sounds of the surf beating
on the shelving beaches, the ledges, or
the precipitous rocks that mark dif-
ferent localities. A good interpreter
of the language of the shore possesses
one of the prime qualifications of
what sailors call a " natural pilot "
— and Joshua James was a " natural
pilot " in an unusual degree.

Captain William James continued
in the paving-stone trade between
Hull and Boston until cobblestones

22

JOSHUA JAMES

were generally supplanted by the
more modern paving materials. He
at one time had a large contract for
filling in the west end of the city of
Boston, and owned a fleet of twelve
vessels of from 50 to 125 tons bur-
den. It was his practice to give
each of his sons, on reaching his ma-
jority, a complete outfit for the busi-
ness, including a new schooner.
Joshua, therefore, with his deep love
of the sea, his early training on his
father's and brothers' vessels, and
with such an outfit provided, very nat-
urally entered the same business, going
into lightering and freight-carrying
for himself at the age of twenty-five.
Captain James, as he now came to be
called, continued in his chosen pro-
fession until his appointment as keep-

23

JOSHUA JAMES

er of the Point Allerton life-saving
station upon its establishment in 1889.
In 1830 John Lucihe, an Austrian
gentleman of more than ordinary cul-
ture and business ability, settled in
Hull and soon after became the agent
of the Tudor Ice Company of Boston.
He married Eliza T. Lovell, a third
cousin of the subject of this sketch,
and a descendant of the early English
settlers of Hull. When Joshua was
sixteen years of age there was born to
this family a daughter. Little Lou-
isa, as she was named, soon became
a favorite with her sturdy fourth
cousin, and their mutual love and
friendship increased with the years as
the baby girl grew to womanhood.
She attended the village school and
later the East Greenwich (R. I.)

24

JOSHUA JAMES

Seminary, a Methodist institution,
while Joshua passed from boyhood to
mature manhood, prospering in his
chosen calling and winning unheeded
laurels as a life-saver. In 1858, when
Louisa was but sixteen years of age,
and Joshua was twice that number,
they were married, and, as the fairy
tales have it, " lived happily ever
after " — in this case the actual truth.
When the writer expressed some sur-
prise at the disparity in their ages,
Mrs. James, now a feeble grand-
mother, smiled as she naively ex-
plained that Joshua had always had
his eye on her, and waited for her to
" grow up." And well he might, for
Louisa Lucihe possessed unusual
beauty of face and figure, as well as
rare sweetness of disposition and

25

JOSHUA JAMES

marked intelligence. Her mental
graces she still retains, to the great
comfort and blessing of her children
and grandchildren, and notwithstand-
ing her advancing years, her face is
still beautiful, and her sweet, captivat-
ing smile and charming manners en-
dear her to all who know her. They
were a remarkably well-matched
couple, for Joshua was an exception-
ally handsome, well-built man, with a
genial face and a fund of good-humor
that made it a pleasure to be in his
company. Another thing they had
in common; they were both life-
savers. Two years before their mar-
riage, when Louisa was bathing in the
ocean with a number of other girls,
one of them who was visiting in Hull
and evidently unfamiliar with the

26

JOSHUA JAMES

beach, went beyond her depth and
would have drowned but for Louisa
Lucihe, who saw the danger and
bravely plunged in and rescued her.
Captain James was an ardent lover
and a true and affectionate husband
and father. About a year after their
marriage he purchased the house
which is still occupied by his widow
and three daughters. Ten children,
eight girls and two boys, came to bless
their home. Three of the daughters
and one son died in infancy and early
childhood. The other son, Osceola
F. James, born in 1865, grew to be a
sturdy man and followed in his fa-
ther's footsteps both as a sailor and
a life-saver. He is now master of
the steamer Myles Standish, plying
between Boston and Nantasket Beach

27

JOSHUA JAMES

each summer. He is also captain of
the Hull volunteer life-savers, with a
record approaching that of his father,
whom he succeeded as keeper of the
Humane Society's boats when the lat-
ter became keeper of the Government
life-saving station. Two of the
daughters, Louisa Julette and Edith
Gertrude, are married, while the three
younger, Bertha Coleta, Rozelle
Francesca, and Genevieve Endola,
have remained with their mother.

As was to be expected, the home
life of this family was a happy one,
marred only by the death of the four
little ones, whose loss was deeply felt
by Captain James and his good wife.
Next to the tragic death of his mother
in his early childhood Captain James
mourned the loss of his baby son and

28

JOSHUA JAMES

three little girls to the end of his
days.

Captain James, like his father, was
a lover of music, as were all the chil-
dren. At one time the James Or-
chestra, composed of members of the
family, flourished. The youngest
daughter is an accomplished violinist,
and is also organist of the Methodist
church in Hull. In addition to music
Captain James was fond of chess and
checkers, and many a winter evening
was agreeably spent in these absorb-
ing games. With these amusements
and his insatiable love of good read-
ing, in addition to his out-of-doors ac-
tivities, Captan James' life was a full
and well-rounded one. The family
was noted for its hospitality, and with
five attractive and accomplished young

29

JOSHUA JAMES

ladies in the home, it is easy to believe
that there was no lack of company.
The James home was doubtless a so-
cial center in the little fishing village,
around which gather many pleasant
memories.

Joshua James was not professedly
a religious man, although brought up
in the Methodist church. He be-
lieved in a God as the supreme ruler
of the universe, but did not accept a
revealed religion. The Fatherhood
of God and the Brotherhood of Man
sufficed for him as a creed.

Space will not permit more to be
said of Captain James' family life;
nor is it necessary. The intimate de-
tails, embracing joys and sorrows, tri-
umphs and disappointments, successes
and reverses — in short, all the little

30

JOSHUA JAMES

incidents which go to make up the
sum of daily life, and which are usual-
ly of only fleeting interest even to the
members of each little family group,
are repeated in every true home with
only the variations due to environ-
ment and circumstances. It is enough
to know that this was a typical home
of the " common people " of its day
and place, its inmates neither rich nor
poor, neither high nor low — of that
honest, sturdy manhood and woman-
hood which constitute the bulk and
strength of every nation.

Joshua James' career as a life-saver
began in the lifeboats of the Massa-
chusetts Humane Society at the early
age of fifteen, when he was one of a
crew that rescued the sailors from a

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JOSHUA JAMES

shipwrecked vessel. Very little can
be learned of this incident. It ap-
pears that the vessel, of a name long
since forgotten, was wrecked early in
1842 on Harding's Ledge, a danger-
ous collection of bare rocks about four
miles eastward of Hull. The life-
boat, as usual, was manned by volun-
teers, and after it had put off for
the wreck, the boy Joshua was found
to be among the crew. It is not
known what part he took in the rescue
of the shipwrecked sailors, but the
eagerness to be of service which led
him to go in the boat justifies the as-
sumption that he gave a good account
of himself.

Unfortunately, the archives of the
Massachusetts Humane Society were
destroyed in the great Boston fire of

32

JOSHUA JAMES

1872, and a complete account of Cap-
tain James' services in the Society's
boats is not, therefore, accessible.
The authenticity of this story of his
first rescue, notwithstanding the
scantiness of the family traditions, is
substantiated, however, by a medal
and certificate awarded him many
year9 later (1886) which acknowl-
edges his services in the Society's
boats from the age of fifteen. The
absence of any account of this and
other rescues in subsequent lists of
rewards granted by the Society prior
to the fire is doubtless due to the neg-
lect of Captain James and his family
to respond to the invitation to report
errors and omissions. In a " History
of the Humane Society," published in
1877, are found the following items:

33

JOSHUA JAMES

" 1844. To Moses B. Tower, John
W. Tower, William James, and five
others, for their humane and heroic
exertions in saving, by the Life-Boat
of the Society stationed at Hull, the
officers and crew of the brig Tremont,
of New York, wrecked on Point Al-
derton Bar in a violent gale, on Mon-
day, Oct. 7th, ten dollars in money to
each, together with the Society's gold
medal to Capt. Tower, in token of
the approbation of the Trustees of his
and their meritorious conduct."

" 1845. To nine of the first crew
of the Society's boat at Hull, for their
gallant though unsuccessful attempt
to rescue those on board the ship Mas-
sasoit, wrecked on nth of December,
at Point Alderton, . . . $90.

" To seven of the crew of the So-
ciety's boat at Hull, who made a sec-
ond gallant and successful attempt
and succeeded in rescuing Captain
Berry and eleven others, from the

34

JOSHUA JAMES

ship Massasoit, wrecked at Point Al-
derton, Dec. nth, . . . $105.

Joshua probably participated in one
or both of these rescues, in connection
with one of which his father is espe-
cially mentioned. It is known from
other sources that he took a very ac-
tive part in the rescue of a ship-
wrecked crew in 1845, which was
probably that of the Massasoit; but it
seems that already his proclivities in
this line had become so much a mat-
ter of course to his family that none
of those now living is able to recall
particular occasions. It is well estab-
lished, however, that during his youth
and early manhood he saved and as-
sisted to save many persons from
drowning.

35

JOSHUA JAMES

His first medal was one of bronze,
inscribed

to JOSHUA JAMES

FOR

MERITORIOUS EXERTIONS IN RESCUING

THE CREW OF THE FRENCH BRIG L'ESSAI,

WRECKED AT

NANTASKET BEACH, APRIL I, 185O.

This was followed by a certificate
embellished with the pictures of the
members of his crew, for saving the
crew of the ship Delaware, in 1857,
which reads as follows :

to JOSHUA JAMES

FOR HIS PERSEVERING EFFORTS IN

RESCUING THE OFFICERS AND

CREW OF SHIP DELAWARE

ON TODDY ROCKS

MAR. 2, 1857.

In 1864 he assisted in the rescue of
the crew of the brig Swordfish, but
the report for that year is not at hand.

36

JOSHUA JAMES

The next item is one in the report for
1 87 1, as follows:

" At the meeting on the 6th Jan-
uary, 1 87 1, the case of the schooner
William R. Genn was attended to by
awarding the Captain, J. G. Small,
$15, and $10 to each of the crew of
the lifeboat, consisting of nine men.

" The schooner was stranded on
Nantasket Beach on the evening of
the 23d December, in a snowstorm.
About 7 o'clock the Long Beach Life-
Boat put off ; she was once filled with
water and obliged to return to the
beach: was again put off, after clear-
ing her of water, and succeeded in
rescuing the crew, including the Cap-
tain and four men. An attempt had
been made to land in their own boat,
but she got adrift and was thrown
up on the beach with one man in her.
Considering the severity of the weath-
er and the fact that the crew of the
lifeboat went off without their life-
belts and without inflating the floats,
there was great risk in the operation."

37

JOSHUA JAMES

The Captain Small referred to was
evidently the master of the wrecked
vessel, for a complete roster of the
lifeboat crew given in lists of awards
published in subsequent reports, shows
that Captain James was in command
of the boat.

In March, 1873, Joshua was one
of the boat's crew which rescued the
crew of the schooner Helene, as ap-
pears from the following account in
the " History " :

" To James Lowe, George Augus-
tus, William James, Jr., Samuel,
John, and Washington James, Andrew
Calender, Lewis and Nicholas Siro-
vick, Alonzo Mitchell, and Andrew J.
Pope, crew of the Society's Stony
Beach Boat, and to James W., Eben
S., and B. I. Pope, Joshua, W. W.,
and Phineas James, Jr., and W. B.
Mitchell, crew of the Society's Point

38

JOSHUA JAMES

Allerton Boat, for their gallant and
successful efforts in rescuing the cap-
tain and crew of the schooner c Hel-
ene/ wrecked on Point Allerton Bar,
twenty dollars each, . . . $380 "

In 1876 the Society recognized the
services of Captain James by appoint-
ing him Keeper of four of their life-
boats located at Stony Beach, Point
Allerton, and Nantasket Beach (2),
also of a mortar station at the first-
named place, to which was later added
a boat at Gun Rock Cove, Cohasset.
This position he held until his ap-
pointment as keeper of the Govern-
ment station at Point Allerton.

In the 1882 report the following
entry speaks for itself:

" Boat No. 21 was launched about
2 a.m., February 1st, 1882 (during
a very heavy gale and thick snow-

39

JOSHUA JAMES

storm), and took off the crew of the
schooner ' Bucephalus,' which had
gone ashore on Nantasket Beach. At
8 a.m., the same day, Boat No. 18
saved the crew of the schooner ' Nel-
lie Walker/ ashore on Toddy Rocks."

Subsequent lists of awards giving
a roster of the boats' crews, show that
Captain James was in command at
both of these wrecks. The work per-
formed was evidently regarded by the
Society as exceptionally good, as the
men were awarded the unusual sum
of $25 each.

The report for 1886 contains the
following items:

" On Dec. 1, 1885, the brig ' Anita
Owen ' went ashore on Nantasket
Beach and was lost. Capt. Joshua
James and crew of ten men launched
the Life-Boat No. 20, about midnight,
and with great difficulty rescued the

40

JOSHUA JAMES

crew in two trips. Ten persons were
saved. Captain James and each of
his crew were awarded $10."

" The ' Millie Trim ' went ashore
on Calf Island the morning of Janu-
ary 9, 1886. All the crew were lost
but the captain, who landed on the is-
land, and was cared for by the people.
Capt. Joshua James, seeing a signal on
the Island, launched the Life-Boat
No. 17, and got the captain, putting
him on a tug for Boston. The crew
of the Life-boat were awarded $6
each."

Captain James' own description of
the wreck of the Anita Owen, as given
to a press correspondent many years
after, is so characteristic of the man
and so typical of the inherent mod-
esty of life-savers in general that it
is given in full herewith.

" While trying to make Boston
harbor in a northeast gale December

41

JOSHUA JAMES

i, 1885, the brig lost her bearings
and came to anchor just outside the
breakers off Nantasket Beach. She
was safe as long as her anchors and
chains held fast, but about midnight
she parted her cable and came into the
breakers. It was blowing a gale with
thick snow and very dark. At that
time I was in charge of the Massa-
chusetts Society's boats on Nantasket
Beach. We had seen the vessel come
to anchor just before dark, and, real-
izing her possible danger, made every-
thing ready to go to her assistance,
one of our crew keeping watch on the
beach in order to give the alarm
should she come ashore. Before
parting her chains she lay about 300
yards off shore, where, through the
darkness, we could catch an occasional

42

JOSHUA JAMES

glimpse of her lights swaying to and
fro as she pitched about. A few mo-
ments after she took bottom we were
abreast of her on the beach, with the
lifeboat. We answered a signal torch
from the wreck, then ran our boat
into the surf and jumped in. When
about halfway out we shipped a big
sea that filled the boat to her thwarts,
at the same time forcing her back on
the beach. We hauled her up, cleared
her of water and launched again.
This time we got quite close to the
vessel, and found her awash with the
sea breaking over her forward and
amidships. It seems that the captain
had cut away the foremast as soon as
she stranded, to minimize the danger
to the crew and lessen the chances of
her breaking up, and as we came up

43

JOSHUA JAMES

close a torch on board showed the bro-
ken mast and yards hammering her
sides, and, fortunately, enabled us to
keep clear of them. The cabin house
aft was out of water. Here the
crew had taken shelter. It seemed
almost impossible to get alongside, as
there was a heavy sea running around
her stern, causing our boat to ship
large quantities of water, which made
it necessary for two of our men to be
constantly bailing. The captain
hailed us and shouted that there were
ten persons on board, among them his
wife. I called back that we could take
off but five, and told him to keep a
light burning. Then I directed him
to lower one person at a time by a
rope, with instructions to drop when
we were in the right position. We

44

JOSHUA JAMES

watched our chance and made a dash
for the ship. The captain's wife was
the first to swing over, but she did not
let go when the signal was given, and
the next instant the boat was swept
out of reach. The second attempt
was successful, although she did not
drop at the right moment and came
near falling between the boat and the
wreck. Luckily, as she fell one of
us caught her and pulled her into the
boat. We took four others off in the
same manner, and then came the
danger of landing. There is always
great danger in getting back to shore
under such circumstances, as the res-
cued persons interfere with the work
of the oarsmen. As we backed to-
ward the beach, keeping head to the
sea, a big breaker struck us, filling the

45

JOSHUA JAMES

boat to the thwarts and driving her
swiftly up the beach, but without
worse mishap to us than a thorough
drenching. The second trip was
more perilous than the first, owing to
drift wreckage and the loss of the
boat's steering oar. While taking
off the first load we were greatly as-
sisted by the ship's torches, which en-
abled us to keep out of the way of the
debris beating her sides, but the seas
that now washed over her made it im-
possible to keep anything burning on
board, and the darkness prevented our
seeing the men distinctly. By perse-
vering, however, we came alongside
again without injury to the boat, but
we were kept busy dodging the wreck-
age. The balance of the crew had to
lower themselves as best they could,

46

JOSHUA JAMES

making flying jumps, and trusting to
luck for the rest. One of the men
taken off, a tall negro, was working
his passage as assistant cook. In his
leap to the boat he held tightly in one
hand an umbrella and a walking stick.
These articles were the only personal
effects saved, and when we reached
shore he walked up the beach clinging
to them as though they were of more
value than life, presenting a ludicrous
picture in the midst of grave sur-
roundings."

Just a matter-of-fact account of the
difficulties of the work, giving the fine
points of the game, as it were, such
as one might employ in the description
of a baseball game or other athletic
sport. In telling the story nearly six-
teen years later, the point that seemed

47

JOSHUA JAMES

to stand out most prominently in his
mind was the incident of the negro
cook with his umbrella! The cour-
age and self-sacrifice, the skill and in-
genuity, the almost superhuman en-
deavors of these fearless men as they
freely took their lives in their hands
to save those others out there in the
darkness, amidst the thunder of the
surf breaking with terrific force on
the beach and hidden rocks, the dash-
ing spray that froze as it touched their
skin and clothing, forming a sheath-
ing of ice on boat and men, the float-
ing spars and wreckage momentarily
threatening their boat with destruc-
tion — these are hardly suggested.

In 1886 the Society presented Cap-
tain James with a large silver medal

48

JOSHUA JAMES

struck especially for him, bearing the
following inscription :

TO

CAPT. JOSHUA JAMES

FOR BRAVE AND
FAITHFUL SERVICE

OF MORE THAN

4O YEARS IN THE

LIFEBOATS OF THE

HUMANE SOCIETY.

1886.

The Humane Society's report for
1888 contains the following minute
with reference to the award of this
medal:

" Dec. 19, 1885. To Captain Josh-
ua James, the silver medal of the Soci-
ety and $50, in recognition of his con-
spicuous bravery and ability during
his connection with the Society's life-
boats from the year 1842, when he
was only 15 years of age. During

49

JOSHUA JAMES

this time he assisted in saving over
ioo lives. The Society in sending
him the above reward desires to offer
its congratulations and thanks for ex-
ceptionally gallant service."

In 1889 Captain James received the
gold medal of the Society, inscribed as
follows :

TO

CAPTAIN JOSHUA JAMES

FOR HIS HUMANE EXERTIONS
IN RESCUING THE LIVES

OF

TWENTY-NINE PERSONS

FROM

FOUR VESSELS

ON NOV. 25 AND 26, l888.

For this service Captain James and

ten members of his volunteer crews

also received the gold medal awarded

by the United States Government for

exceptional daring in saving life from

shipwreck.

50

JOSHUA JAMES

Considering the disheartening con-
ditions under which most of their suc-
cesses were achieved, the record made
in that memorable storm by Captain
James and his brave volunteers in at-
tending upon five wrecked vessels scat-
tered over nearly eight miles of beach,
and saving the lives of twenty-nine
persons, without the loss or serious
injury of a single member of his crew
or any of the shipwrecked sailors
whom it was within human power to
save, is one that has rarely been sur-
passed.

A connected narrative of the oc-
currences at each successive scene of
disaster — although no pen can fit-
tingly describe them — will convey
some idea of the nature of the work
the life-savers performed and the

5i

JOSHUA JAMES

hardships they endured on this occa-
sion.

The storm embraced in its course
the entire Atlantic seaboard and swept
up the coast with the suddenness and
violence of a tropical hurricane, leav-
ing in its wake a chain of wrecks from
the Carolinas to Maine. It struck
Massachusetts Bay on Sunday, the
25th, unheralded by the usual storm
warnings of the Weather Bureau, and
came in the guise of a northeast gale
and snowstorm, accompanied by ex-
tremely high tides and a tremendous
surf. Subsequently it ceased snowing,
sleet and rain succeeding. So terrible
a storm in November had never be-
fore been known in Hull. Early in
the day Captain James and a few
hardy beachmen, having climbed to

52

JOSHUA JAMES

the top of Telegraph Hill for observa-
tion, saw through the driving snow,
before the air became too thick to
make them out, several schooners an-
chored in the offing, which they felt
sure must sooner or later yield to the
growing fury of the storm and drift
ashore in spite of their dragging an-
chors. He therefore notified his vol-
unteers to be ready for service, and
about two o'clock ordered a patrol all
along the ocean shore. The patrol
had hardly begun when a large three-
masted schooner which proved to be
the Cox and Green, was discovered
broadside on the beach just north of
the Toddy Rocks. The gale was now
intense, and it was with much difficulty
that the Hunt gun, breeches-buoy ap-
paratus, and lifeboat were dragged

53

JOSHUA JAMES

against it half a mile from the Stony
Beach station to the scene of the
wreck. In the meantime the vessel
had been forced near enough inshore
by the heaving surges to readily admit
of the use of the breeches-buoy ap-
paratus, rendering this first task of the
life-savers a comparatively easy one.
Without delay Captain James pro-
ceeded to fire a line aboard, which
was soon followed by the whipline,
hawser, and breeches-buoy; and al-
though the process of rescue under the
prevailing conditions was necessarily
difficult and tedious, the nine men
were, one by one, safely landed on the
beach, whence they were taken to a
nearby cottage and ministered to by
sympathizing hands.

It had now become quite dark, but

54

JOSHUA JAMES

another three-masted schooner, the
Gertrude Abbott, could be dimly dis-
cerned upon the rocks an eighth of a
mile farther up the beach, and to this
point Captain James and his men la-
boriously transferred their boat and
apparatus. This wreck gave them a
far more serious problem to deal with.
A brief survey of the situation showed
that the vessel lay too far from shore
for the use of the breeches-buoy ap-
paratus, and that to attempt a rescue
with the lifeboat under the present
appalling conditions of wind and sea
was an undertaking which, to all ap-
pearances, invited certain death.
Captain James warned his crew that
the chances were they would never re-
turn from an attempt to save the ship-
wrecked men, but asked who were

55

JOSHUA JAMES

willing to go with him and make the
effort. Without a moment's hesita-
tion every man offered himself, and
they ran the boat into the water and
started for the wreck. In the mean-
time the people, by tearing down
fences, had gathered material for a
great bonfire on Souther's Hill, which
lit up the scene in spite of the storm,
greatly assisting the boat's crew in
their desperate struggle, and carrying
renewed hope to the despairing fel-
lows on board the wreck. The boat
was repeatedly filled as the huge
waves swept over it, disputing every
inch of the way and often forcing it
back into imminent peril of being
dashed to pieces on the rocks. Two
men were constantly occupied in bail-
ing. At length the powerful strokes

56

JOSHUA JAMES

of the crew brought the boat under
the schooner's bow, a line was thrown
aboard and made fast by the sailors,
and as the boat rose high on the crest
of a wave one of them dropped into
the outstretched arms below. This
was repeated until all of the eight men
were successively taken into the boat.
But the hardest part of the struggle
was yet before them, and the danger
of which Captain James had warned
his men now became terribly apparent.
To reach the shore with their heavy
load through the riot of waters raging
between was a task which called not
only for all their strength and endur-
ance, but also the utmost skill and self-
possession. As they approached the
shore the crowd which had gathered
there expected momentarily to see the

57

JOSHUA JAMES

frail craft tossed upon the rocks and
crushed like an eggshell. The men,
however, stuck desperately to their
posts, and watched for a chance to
make a landing, although repeatedly
drenched by the overwhelming seas.
When within two hundred yards of
the beach the boat struck a submerged
boulder, filled and rolled one side un-
der water. The occupants quickly
shifted to the other side, which right-
ed the boat, but one man had been
thrown overboard, whom, fortu-
nately, his comrades caught and
hauled in before the sea could sweep
him beyond reach. Captain James
admonished the men to stick to the
boat as long as possible. It struck
the rocks a number of times, the crew
just managing to keep it headed for

58

JOSHUA JAMES

the shore with the few oars that were
left, so that the sea might heave it
in. Finally a monster wave lifted it
high in the air and dashed it upon the
rocks, completely wrecked. By for-
tunate chance, however, all th,e men
got ashore, half wading and half
dragged by the eager hands of the
spectators who rushed into the surf as
far as possible to assist them.

It was nine o'clock when the last
man was safe on shore. Captain
James and his men at once resumed
the patrol of the beach, which they
continued throughout the bitter night,
unmindful of the tempest raging
about them. Often they had to wade
deep gullies, with difficulty avoiding
the wreckage that was thrashing about
in the surf, and now and again they

59

JOSHUA JAMES

had to run for their lives to escape an
exceptionally high sea that chased
them up the beach and threatened to
engulf them.

About three o'clock in the morn-
ing they discovered the third three-
masted schooner, the Bertha F.
Walker, ashore about half a mile
northwest of the Abbott. She, also,
was beyond the range of the shotline,
and they now had to go all the way to
the Strawberry Hill station, four miles
distant, for a boat to replace the one
wrecked the night before. This was
a new boat, recently built from a de-
sign by Captain James' brother Sam-
uel, which had not yet been tested in
actual wreck work. It was a cruel
trick of fate to thus add to the perils
of such a storm the anxiety naturally

60

JOSHUA JAMES

felt about the possible behavior of an
unfamiliar boat; for it is almost an
axiom upon the coast that surfmen
will undertake and successfully ac-
complish a difficult enterprise in a
boat of a model with which they are
thoroughly acquainted, when they
would utterly fail in a strange craft,
though the latter might be much the
better boat. With the help of horses
and many willing hands, the boat was
at length brought to the scene of the
wreck, quickly manned by the tireless
crew, and after a hard struggle with
mountainous seas, in which the boat
proved itself entirely satisfactory, the
seven surviving sailors were taken
safely ashore. The captain and mate
of this vessel had been drowned dur-
ing the night, when the crew were

61

JOSHUA JAMES

forced to abandon their shelter under
the forecastle deck and take to the
rigging. They had remained behind
to see all the others safely aloft, and
before they could join them, were
washed overboard by a huge sea and
never seen again.

Before the rescue of the Walker's
crew was completed, a messenger
on horseback arrived from Atlantic
Hill, more than five miles away, with
news of two more wrecks at that
point. The Hull men had had no
breakfast, some had had little supper
the night before, and most had been
on the beach all night. But they did
not falter. As soon as their work
at the Walker was done they started
with their boat for this new scene of
disaster. Captain Anderson of the

62

JOSHUA JAMES

Humane Society's station at Crescent
Beach, and Captain Brown of the
Government life-saving station at
North Scituate had also been notified.
Captain Anderson reached the point
first with his Hunt gun and appara-
tus, and turned his attention to the
lower of the two wrecks, the schooner
H. C. Higginson, which lay sunk,
decks under, between two ledges, with
five men clinging to the rigging.
After he had fired several lines which,
unfortunately, parted and failed to
reach the vessel, Captain Brown and
his crew arrived, having pulled their
Lyle gun and apparatus through mud
and slush a distance of nearly nine
miles, and immediately fired a line
which fell across the flying jibstay.
Almost simultaneously Captain Ander-

63

JOSHUA JAMES

son succeeded in getting a line aboard,
and as this fell closer to the men in
the fore rigging, they got hold of it,
paying no further heed to the other
line. The poor fellows succeeded in
pulling the whip and hawser aboard
and making them fast at the mast-
head. The outlook was now very
hopeful, and the breeches-buoy was
about to be sent out, when a most un-
fortunate accident occurred. The
lines, tossed about by the waves, in
some way fouled with some floating
wreckage, and, despite the utmost ef-
forts of the life-saving men, could not
be freed, thus rendering their further
use impossible. The life-savers and
others on shore were in despair, and
thought they would have to see the
poor sailors go down to death before

64

JOSHUA JAMES

their eyes. At this juncture Captain
James and his men arrived with their
boat, and as nothing further could be
done with the breeches-buoy appara-
tus, they at once launched, selecting a
place slightly sheltered by a project-
ing point, and started on their third
trip into the very jaws of death. The
sea had gained in fury, if such a thing
were possible, the immense ridges of
foam-crested surf bristling before
them and advancing rank upon rank
like a phalanx to meet them, seemed
unconquerable, and there was scarcely
a hope that they would be able to
reach the wreck, if indeed they them-
selves escaped alive. The skillful
maneuvering of Captain James at the
steering oar and the unsurpassed surf-
manship and coolness of his crew,

65

JOSHUA JAMES

however, carried them safely through
the surf, but they fought in vain
against the heavy seas beyond to
round the rocky point, and after a
struggle of three-quarters of an hour,
they had to give it up and were
washed ashore with two holes stove
in their new boat. Patching the boat
as well as possible, they dragged it to
another place and launched again. It
was only after a long and desperate
battle with the surf, during which
they were in the direst peril, that they
reached the vessel. The sailors had
now been in the tops fourteen hours,
and in their exhausted and benumbed
condition could do little to help them-
selves. Great care had to be exer-
cised to prevent the boat from being
dashed against the vessel and crushed.

66

JOSHUA JAMES

Four men in the foretop and one in
the mizzen were all that were alive
on board. The body of the steward,
who had perished from exposure dur-
ing the night, was lashed to the fore-
topmast. The boat could come up
only under the vessel's stern, and four
of the men were at the other end.
The man in the mizzentop cautiously
descended the shrouds until he reached
a position where he could catch a line
thrown to him, which he tied about
his waist, and, at the word of com-
mand, jumped into the sea and was
quickly hauled into the lifeboat.
" Now for the men in the foretop ! "
was the cry, and the crew strained
every muscle to the utmost in repeated
attempts to force the boat as far
forward as the foremast. But their

67

JOSHUA JAMES

most strenuous efforts could bring
it no farther than abreast the main-
mast. It was therefore necessary
for the sailors to get across the inter-
vening distance. There were but two
ways that this could be done. One
was to come across hand over hand on
the spring stay, a distance of twenty
feet, and this was hopeless in their
exhausted condition. The other,
hardly better, was to slide down the
hawser which had been sent aboard
and made fast in the attempt to set
up the breeches-buoy apparatus, and
which was now trailing toward the
mainmast, and gain a footing in the
main rigging if possible. Quickly
they chose the latter course, and one
of them commenced the perilous de-
scent, taking the desperate chance for

68

JOSHUA JAMES

life. It appeared every moment as
if the swaying form would lose its
hold and be swept away by the hun-
gry waves which seemed to be leaping
and stretching upward to seize him
and plunge him into the sea below.
Slowly he came down, but surely, and
at last caught the main rigging.
Here a rope was thrown to him, and,
tying it about his body, he jumped
overboard and was hauled into the
boat. In like manner, fortunately with-
out mishap, the three remaining men,
to whom, as in the case of their ship-
mate, the crisis seemed to lend super-
human strength, made their way down
and were taken off. When the last man
was safe in the boat a mighty shout
went up from those on shore, and
still a mightier and more victorious

69

JOSHUA JAMES

one when, after a long and desperate
struggle, requiring the most skillful
maneuvering to prevent a capsize in
the surf, the boat came within reach
of the eager hands stretched out to
drag ashore the shipwrecked seamen
and their heroic rescuers. Carriages
were at hand to take the poor sailors,
all but dead from their terrible ex-
perience, to the homes in the vicinity,
which were freely thrown open to
them, and a physician among the spec-
tators rendered medical assistance.
The body of the steward was left
bound to the topmast, presenting, as
it swayed back and forth through the
air with every undulation of the sea,
a ghastly spectacle to the people who
came to the shore in great numbers to
view the desolation wrought by the

70

JOSHUA JAMES

storm. It was not until late the next
day that it was found possible to re-
move it.

The other wreck at this point was
the schooner Mattie E. Eaton, which
the sea had forced almost high and
dry upon the beach, so that the crew
had got ashore themselves at low tide,
and as no assistance was required, the
Hull men now took advantage of
the opportunity to partake of much-
needed refreshments. Then, having
rested awhile, they made preparations
to return to their homes. By this
time the storm had somewhat abated.
When about halfway they came upon
the abandoned brigantine Alice,
which had parted her moorings at
Gloucester and been driven across the
Bay, and after a line had been fired

7i

JOSHUA JAMES

over her by Captain Brown and no
one appeared to take it, Captain
James and his men went aboard and
found her deserted. Two men who
soon after boarded her in a dory,
were left on board by their boat
breaking away, and the life-savers
went back and took them off.

When their work was done, Cap-
tain James and his men had to show
as trophies of their valor twenty-nine
human lives, all the rescued being in
a more or less pitiful plight from their
terrible experience, it is true — but
saved 1

While Captain James was present
and in command throughout the
twenty-four hours consumed by these
operations, only four of his crew took

72

JOSHUA JAMES

part in all the trips, out of a total of
twenty men engaged.

The great loss of life and property
on the shores of Massachusetts Bay
resulting from this storm, emphasized
the need of additional Government
life-saving stations, with full equip-
ment and regularly enlisted, paid, and
drilled crews. The numerous dis-
asters which occurred in the immedi-
ate vicinity of Hull, as well as the ex-
ceptionally good work done by the
volunteer crews of that place, led to
the establishment, early in the year
1889, of a station at Stony Beach.
When the station was nearing com-
pletion, in the fall of that year, and
the selection of a suitable man as
keeper was in order, there was never

73

JOSHUA JAMES

a doubt as to the right man for the
place. Captain Joshua James, whose
long and distinguished record had
reached a fitting climax on that mem-
orable November Sunday, was the
first and only choice, notwithstanding
his ineligibility under the regulations
of the Service, which prescribe the age
limit for keepers at the time of their
appointment as forty-five years. His
appointment at the age of sixty-two
is the only instance in the history of
the Service in which this regulation
has been waived, an exception which
was amply justified by his magnificent
record during the subsequent twelve
years of his service. On October 22,
1889, he took the oath of office as
Keeper of the United States Life-
Saving Station at Point Allerton.

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JOSHUA JAMES

When the station was fully completed
and equipped and ready to go into
commission, on the first of March
following, he chose for his crew seven
able and fearless men, who, like him-
self, had been tried and proven in
many a perilous adventure.

Captain James maintained at his
station a standard of discipline and a
degree of efficiency which stood him
in good stead on many trying occa-
sions. It may here be mentioned that
the saving of property is a duty im-
posed upon the crews of life-saving
stations. This, of course, is second-
ary and subordinate to the saving of
life, but its importance is shown by
the fact that the amount of property
saved annually far exceeds the entire
cost of maintaining the Service. The

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JOSHUA JAMES

official records show that eighty-six
casualties occurred within the field of
operations of the Point Allerton sta-
tion while under Captain James'
charge. There were on board these
vessels 556 persons, and the estimated
value of the vessels and their cargoes
was $1,203,435. Of this property
approximately three-fourths was saved.
Of the $56 persons imperiled, but 16
lost their lives. All of these were
lost from wrecks which occurred
during one terrible night under cir-
cumstances which placed them beyond
the reach of human aid and which
precluded even an attempt being made
to assist them. This was the fateful
night of November 26-27, 1898,
which will be referred to hereafter.
To give in this brief sketch a com-

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JOSHUA JAMES

plete and chronological history of
Captain James' work as keeper of the
Point Allerton station is impracticable.
Each separate occasion on which he
rendered service had its own distinc-
tive features more or less interesting,
but here the story of only a single in-
stance can be given.

On the morning of December 16,
1896, the British three-masted
schooner Ulrica, bound from Hills-
boro, Nova Scotia, to Hoboken,
New Jersey, with a cargo of plaster,
was stripped of her sails during a
northeast gale and thick snowstorm,
and left to drift helplessly about for
several hours, dragging her anchors.
She finally stranded about eight
o'clock, nearly three miles south of
the Point Allerton station. The pa-

77

JOSHUA JAMES

trolman on his beat promptly discov-
ered her, and immediately ran to a
farmhouse nearby and engaged a
team of horses to haul the Humane
Society's lifeboat Nantasket, which
was housed not far away, to the
scene of the disaster. Giving the
necessary instructions to the owner of
the team, he hastened back to his sta-
tion to report the wreck and call out
the crew. In the meantime word had
reached Captain James by telephone,
and while the crew were making ready
to start, the electric train from Boston
arrived. The trainmaster, upon
learning the situation, promptly put
the cars at their service, and took
Captain James and several of the
surfmen to the wreck, while a portion

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JOSHUA JAMES

of the crew stayed behind to bring up
the beach-apparatus. The team with
the boat arrived simultaneously with
Captain James and his men, and no
time was lost in launching, half a
dozen volunteers from the Humane
Society's crews making up the neces-
sary number of oarsmen. About five
hundred yards off shore, fast settling
in the soft sands, at the mercy of the
sea, loomed the naked spars and white
hull of the doomed vessel, the flood-
ing seas constantly sweeping her fore
and aft, reaching high up in the rig-
ging, again and again drenching the
seven half-frozen men of her crew,
and covering everything with a thick
coating of ice. Two or three of the
sailors could be seen clinging to the

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JOSHUA JAMES

icy ropes, while the rest were huddled
on top of the cabin as far as possible
out of reach of the sea.

The lifeboat had scarcely been got-
ten afloat when a great wave tossed
her like a feather far up the beach,
spilling part of her crew. Nothing
daunted, they repeated the attempt,
and a second time they were flung
back. The third time they were
more successful, and amid the lusty
cheers of the crowd gathered on the
shore, they pulled away, the sea con-
testing every foot of the advance.
They had made perhaps half the dis-
tance to the wreck when a tremendous
sea bore down upon them and, seizing
the boat, raised it almost to a vertical
position, wrenched the steering oar
from the hands of the captain, and

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JOSHUA JAMES

pitched him headlong into the sea,
where the boat passed completely over
him. The crew, by a desperate effort,
kept their places, and the next in-
stant they were irresistibly swept back
to the beach, dragging with them the
captain, who, as he came up, had
grasped a surfman's oar, and man-
aged to keep his hold upon it.

Without a moment's hesitation, as
if such an experience were a regular
part of his day's work, Captain James
coolly resumed charge and directed
the further maneuvers of his men.
The beach-apparatus had now arrived,
and realizing that further attempts to
use the boat would be futile, Captain
James promptly fired a line which fell
squarely across the vessel, but high up
in the rigging, where the poor, be-

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JOSHUA JAMES

numbed sailors were unable to reach
it. Another quickly followed, but
with the same result. The third line,
fortunately, fell across the mizzen
topping-lift, and one of the sailors,
summoning all his strength, shook the
lift, to which he was clinging, until
the line slid down within his reach.
The crew then hauled aboard the
whipline and made it fast just above
the dead-eyes in the mizzen rigging.
The hawser was sent out, and was
fastened a little higher, but still too
low to make the passage to the shore
in the breeches-buoy safe, as the oc-
cupant would be hauled the entire dis-
tance through the sea and almost cer-
tainly drowned; and the poor sailors
were too exhausted to carry the lines
high enough in the rigging. But

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JOSHUA JAMES

Captain James was equal to the
emergency. He again ordered the
men to man the boat, and using the
hawser as a sort of trolley or ferry
line, and with another line to the
shore astern, they pulled out through
the breakers and soon reached the
wreck. Now another difficulty pre-
sented itself. The men on board were
too benumbed and exhausted to get
over the side of the vessel and into
the boat unaided, and some of the
life-savers had to climb into the
shrouds and help them down, one at
a time. The danger involved is dif-
ficult for landsmen to comprehend.
The wreck was pounding heavily, the
seas were sweeping over her constant-
ly, and the lifeboat was bouncing
about like a cork in imminent danger

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JOSHUA JAMES

of being crushed against the ship's
side. But at last the men were all
got aboard, the signal was given, and
with a wild shout the crowd on shore
ran up the beach with the rope, and
pulled the rescued and rescuers safely
ashore. The shipwrecked sailors
were badly frostbitten, the captain's
hands being so seriously frozen that
he had to stay at the station nine
or ten days under medical treatment.
This account of the wreck of the
Ulrica affords a fair idea of frequent
experiences in rescue work, but by no
means an adequate one of the dan-
gers, toil, and exposure which life-sav-
ers incur in such tempests as that of
November 25-26, 1888, or in the
terrible storm which occurred just ten
years later, about to be mentioned.

84

JOSHUA JAMES

The crowning achievement of Cap-
tain James' entire career as a life-
saver was the heroic work performed
in the great storm of November,
1898, which is said to have been the
worst that ever visited the New Eng-
land coast, not even excepting the one
which tore the Minot's Ledge light-
house from its foundations, in 1851.
It was certainly the most disastrous
to shipping of which there is any rec-
ord. It will perhaps be longest re-
membered as the one in which the
steamer Portland went down off
Highland Light, Cape Cod, with all
her passengers and crew, numbering,
according to best accounts, one hun-
dred and twenty-nine. It was in this
storm that the loss of the sixteeen
lives charged to the account of the

85

JOSHUA JAMES

Point Allerton life-saving station, oc-
curred. A rigid investigation, how-
ever, proved conclusively that not a
single one of those lost was at any
time within the reach of human as-
sistance. The following description
of the storm, from the annual report
of the Life-Saving Service, will help
the reader to appreciate how appar-
ently insurmountable were the ob-
stacles encountered and what heroism
must have marked the endeavors of
the life-savers in effecting rescues re-
garded by the witnesses as impossible.

" When the Portland steamed away
from her pier in Boston harbor, about
7 o'clock p. m., scores of sailing ves-
sels between Gay Head and Cape Ann
were hunting for harbors of refuge.
Forty took shelter in Vineyard Haven
(Holmes Holl), of which number

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JOSHUA JAMES

more than half suffered injury.
Many found anchorage in Province-
town and Gloucester, while others
were crowding every stitch they could
bear to reach port. Those already
there passed additional stout lines to
the dock or dropped another trust-
worthy anchor.

" That stormy weather was threat-
ening during the afternoon and early
evening of November 26 is not
within dispute, for besides the warn-
ings of the Weather Bureau, the con-
ditions were unmistakably proven by
the flight of many vessels into port,
But that the storm which followed far
exceeded the apprehensions, both of
the most timid and the most intelli-
gent, is equally clear. Snow began
falling early, and the wind increased
until by 10 o'clock it was blowing a
gale from the northeast with sleet and
snow so thick that one could not see
one hundred yards at best. At mid-
night it was a hurricane. The cap-
tain of a large steel trans-atlantic

87

JOSHUA JAMES

steamship, at the time in Boston har-
bor, states that he could scarcely see
across the ship. The expanding force
of the cyclone swept in with the ris-
ing tide, causing the waters to flood
the beaches far beyond well-defined
storm limits, and to tear through the
sand ridges and submerge the marshes
for miles around. In the track of
this overpowering deluge were havoc
and destruction. It washed away
large portions of the bank or sea-wall
in the rear of the beaches, and scooped
out the latter in many places to a
depth of five feet. Bulkheads con-
structed to protect roadways near the
shore were battered down by the re-,
sistless shocks of the waves, and roads
were buried and obliterated beneath
piles and windrows of sand and stones.
Houses were blown from their foun-
dations, and in many instances hope-
lessly shattered, in some wholly de-
stroyed. At Scituate Point the whole
village, numbering upward of one
hundred dwellings, was almost ruined,

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JOSHUA JAMES

while many of the inhabitants nar-
rowly escaped with their lives. In
one instance a woman was drowned
while her husband was trying to assist
her to escape from their dwelling.
The boathouse of the Massachusetts
Humane Society near Scituate Light
was swept to the south side of the har-
bor, the boat going one way and the
boat carriage another. The wind at
this time is said to have been ' some-
thing terrific — its intensity could not
be described, nor could words convey
an approximate idea of its terrifying
effect.'

" In the town of Hull, which in-
cludes Nantasket Beach, damage was
inflicted estimated at upward of two
hundred thousand dollars. There was
hardly a building, says one witness,
that escaped some injury. The rail-
road sea-wall, constructed of heavy
granite stones, was ruined for a mile,
and the beaches were lowered two or
three feet in some places, and nar-
rowed ten or fifteen feet. On Mon-

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JOSHUA JAMES

day, November 28, when the storm
had spent its fury, the shores and sur-
roundings were a stretch of wreck and
ruin.

" Against such an indescribable
pandemonium of wind and sea as the
foregoing fragmentary review sug-
gests, few craft, steam or sail, could
successfully contend on a lee shore,
and the deplorable consequence was
that the coast, rocks, and islands from
Gay Head to Cape Ann were strewn
with wrecked or disabled vessels,
while an uncertain but considerable
number foundered not far away at
sea."

Judging from the ruin created on
shore, and the number of vessels
which met with disaster in the im-
mediate vicinity of Point Allerton, it
seems certain that here the storm
reached the height of its power.
The terrors and suffering which the

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JOSHUA JAMES

surfmen endured as they maintained
their patrols throughout that dread-
ful night are beyond description.
The force of the wind was so great as
to literally take away their breath, so
that they were frequently compelled
to turn their backs and crouch close
to the earth for relief, while the
great seas rolling far up the rock-
strewn beaches constantly threatened
to overwhelm them and repeatedly
forced them to flee with all speed to
higher ground.

In the morning, after taking to the
station two survivors — all that were
left of thirteen men composing the
crews of two vessels that had been
dashed to pieces on Toddy Rocks dur-
ing the night — and a family driven
from their home by the encroachment

9i

JOSHUA JAMES

of the sea, the life-saving crew, with
much difficulty, took off seven men in
the breeches-buoy from a three-mast-
ed schooner. The next task was the
rescue of five men from a barge by
fighting their way far out into the
surf, at great personal risk, to snatch
the men from the grasp of the treach-
erous undertow as they came shore-
ward on the floating deckhouse. Un-
der the adverse conditions prevailing
these operations consumed the entire
day. The second day, after anoth-
er night's patrol, more terrible than
the first, if possible, they started as
soon as there was sufficient light to
the wreck of a schooner which could
be faintly discerned on Lighthouse Is-
land, lying about a mile and a half
to the northeast of Hull in the

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JOSHUA JAMES

open bay. The sea was still so high
that it was necessary to transfer the
lifeboat to Pemberton Landing into
more quiet water and enlist the serv-
ices of a tug to tow it to the vicinity
of the wreck, and, after the rescue
was successfully effected, to tow it
back. Three men were found alive
on this wreck, while one had died
from exposure and two had been
washed overboard during the night.
On their return from this expedition,
the life-savers immediately started
with their boat to the rescue of three
men who had been cast up on Black
Rock, some six miles to the south-
ward, with wreckage from a schooner
foundered in that vicinity.

It is unnecessary to attempt to de-
scribe in detail the experiences of the

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JOSHUA JAMES

life-saving men at these disasters.
They were much like those already re-
counted with respect to other occa-
sions except that the hardships, dan-
gers, and difficulties involved were
vastly greater on account of the

greater intensity and destructiveness
of the storm. While the number of
lives saved in this tempest did not
equal that of the great storm of
1888, the period of incessant exertion
was nearly twice as long as on the
former occasion, and the work of the
life-savers during this period repeat-
edly called forth the highest heroism
and taxed their skill and endurance to
the utmost. Perhaps the result of
their brave work throughout the
storm may not be better expressed
than in the words of Keeper James

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JOSHUA JAMES

himself, who says in his testimony,
" We succeeded in getting every man
that was alive at the time we started
for him, and we started at the earli-
est moment in every case."

The extraordinary labors perform-
ed and the hardships endured under
the leadership of Captain James on
this occasion were the more remark-
able when it is remembered that he
had now exceeded the scriptural al-
lotment of three-score years and ten.
But years seemed to have little effect
upon his vitality. In the annual
physical examinations to which all
keepers of life-saving stations over
the age of fifty-five are subjected, and
which must prove them to be not only
physically sound but in every respect
fully capable of performing all the

95

JOSHUA JAMES

duties of their position, Captain
James was on each occasion found by
the exacting tests of the Government
surgeons to be fully qualified, both
mentally and physically. The certifi-
cate of his last examination, held in
July, 1 90 1, when he was nearing the
seventy-fifth milestone on the journey
of life, shows that he was still in
every way fit for the responsible po-
sition of keeper. He still retained
the quick, elastic step, the strength
and skill to handle the boat in tem-
pestuous weather, and the intuitive
mental perception of the man in his
prime. His wonderful physical en-
dowment and his exceptional mental
equipment for coping with sudden
and desperate emergencies made him
still invaluable to the Service. Up

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JOSHUA JAMES

to the very day of his death, March
19, 1902, there was no apparent indi-
cation of failure in body or mind such
as might be expected in a man of his
age.

On March 17, 1902, the entire
crew, save one, of the Monomoy
Point life-saving station, lost their
lives in a brave attempt to rescue the
crew of the barge Wadena, stranded
on the shoals off the Point. The
tragedy created a profound sensation
along the entire Atlantic seaboard.
The feeling was especially tense in
Boston and its immediate neighbor-
hood, where the sum of nearly fifty
thousand dollars was promptly raised
by voluntary subscription for the re-
lief of the families of the victims of
the disaster. Captain James was

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JOSHUA JAMES

deeply affected by the catastrophe,
and seemed to realize as never before
the perilous nature of his calling.
Two days later, with a northeast gale
blowing, he called out his crew to
boat drill in the self-bailing lifeboat
at the unusually early hour of seven
o'clock in the morning, as if to reas-
sure himself of its capabilities in a
high surf and rough sea, as well as of
the proficiency of his crew. They
launched the boat, and Captain
James, taking the steering oar, ma-
neuvered in the surf and boisterous
sea for more than an hour — an exer-
cise which more severely taxed his
own strength and endurance than those
of any of his crew. The drill was
very satisfactory, and the Captain ex-
pressed his great gratification both

98

JOSHUA JAMES

with the behavior of the boat in free-
ing itself of the torrents of water
which boarded it, and with the skill
of the men. At length he gave the
orders for landing, and when the boat
grounded upon the beach opposite the
station he sprang out upon the wet
sand and, glancing at the sea a mo-
ment, remarked to his men, " The tide
is ebbing." These were his last words,
but little did he know how true they
were for him, for as he uttered them,
he fell dead upon the beach. As the
exact moment of the turn of the tide
is all but imperceptible, so neither
Joshua James nor those about him
perceived that the tide of his life had
turned until his noble spirit had taken
its flight. And so the last anxiety of
this gentle, loving man, whose whole

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JOSHUA JAMES

life had been devoted to service and

sacrifice for others, was that he and
those under his charge might be

thoroughly prepared to render the
most efficient aid to their fellow-be-
ings in distress whenever occasion
should arise.

Thus ended the career of probably
the best-known life-saver in the
world. Not the greatest, as he has
sometimes been called, if the words
are held to imply that he wrought
more heroic achievements or per-
formed more marvelous feats in
wreck-craft than any other; for the
annals of the Life-Saving Service are
replete with instances of rescues made
under fully as desperate and appar-
ently hopeless circumstances, and in-
volving as high a degree of skill and

ioo

JOSHUA JAMES

bravery as any in which he partic-
ipated. In these respects he only
truly typified the leaders among
American life-savers, but his sixty
years of rescue work gave him a
longer term of service and a more di-
versified experience in battling with
the sea than any of his contempora-
ries. In this regard he might be
called the greatest among them.

However, Captain James cared lit-
tle what he was styled. He found
ample compensation in the conscious-
ness of duty well performed and the
gratitude of those whom his valor
saved from death. These were more
to him than popular applause or pub-
lic honors. Here and there may be
found men in all walks of life who
neither wonder nor care how much or

101

JOSHUA JAMES

how little the world thinks of them.
They pursue life's pathway, doing
their appointed tasks without osten-
tation, loving their work for the
work's sake, content to live and do in
the present rather than look for the
uncertain rewards of the future. To
them notoriety, distinction, or even
fame, acts neither as a spur nor a
check to endeavor, yet they are really
among the foremost of those who do
the world's work. Joshua James was
one of these.

102