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Despite the immediate postwar period of inactivity for the federal government as it regards coastal lifesaving, the Massachusetts Humane Society continued its quite active program, including the construction of additional stations and rescue craft. By 1869, the MHS had in their inventory the sixty-nine rescue craft shown in table 2.1.1 The MHS by this time had established an extensive system of stations along the Massachusetts coastline, especially along Cape Cod, Nantucket Island, and Martha’s Vineyard, where many shipwrecks had occurred. In MHS use, the surfboat had become a highly developed and specialized craft, and the volunteer crews operating them were quite proficient. One example is the custom-designed and -built surfboat Nantasket, which was stationed in Hull, with the famous lifesaver Joshua James as keeperin -charge. In parallel, the RNLI was also continuing a program of improvement for their standard lifeboat designs, including self-righting/self-bailing types. In Europe, following the lead of Great Britain, several nations were organizing their own coastal lifesaving organizations. In the same year that the RNLI was founded in Britain, the Netherlands founded its first lifeboat organization, the Life Saving Society of the North and South Netherlands , which was officially established on November 11, 1824. A few months later, another Dutch lifeboat society was formed, which became the South Holland Society for Saving the Shipwrecked. In 1838, the Belgian LifeBoat Service was founded, and in 1852, the Danish LifeSaving Service was established. Sweden set up its first lifesaving station in 1855, although formal efforts to start up a service dated back to 1810. The German Society for the Rescue of the Shipwrecked was officially organized on May 29, 1865, and included in its original boat inventory both the RNLI Peake-type lifeboat and the American Francis-type metallic boat. The French Society for Saving the Shipwrecked was founded on November 17, 1865.2 By 1869, three factors had forced America to reexamine its coastal lifesaving organization and efforts. First, there was an overall increase in the number of shipwrecks compared to the pre–Civil War period. This resulted from the restoration of coastwise shipping following the end of the war, along with the significant increase in emigration to the United States from Europe by passenger ship. Second, the establishment and early successes of lifesaving organizations in Europe were widely reported in the press, which increased American interest in having a similar system nationwide, not just in Massachusetts . Third, the well-documented statistics associated with coastal lifesaving operations of the MHS clearly demonstrated a significant reduction in loss of life associated with shipwreck when MHS facilities were available and used, compared to regions where no such rescue facilities existed. In 1870, public outcry resulting from a number of shipwrecks with particularly tragic losses of life pressured Congress to strengthen the federal lifesaving effort by providing, for the first time in the United States, fulltime paid surfmen (in addition to the already-established keepers) who would man alternate lifesaving station locations along the New Jersey coast during the peak winter season when, due to weather conditions, shipwrecks were most likely to occur. This was defined initially as the period between December 15 and March 15 of each year. This change marked the beginning of the employment of crews of expert surfmen in federal service, and was the first step toward the establishment of a year-round, fully staffed, trained, and equipped lifesaving service.3 In 1871, Congress authorized a significant reorganization of, and improvement to, the lifesaving service, which included: 2 Development and Refinement of Design Development and Refinement of Design 15 The employment of experienced surfmen at each sta- • tion for such time periods as the secretary of the treasury deemed necessary. A sum of $200,000 allocated for the supply and re- • pair of equipment. Commissioned officers of the Revenue Marine Ser- • vice, who were assigned and authorized to supervise the field reorganization of the lifesaving service, as well as to inspect stations, drill crews, institute beach patrols and lookouts, introduce a system of signaling for communication with ships offshore, and draw up regulations for the administration, governance, and operation of the lifesaving service. This marked the end of the original volunteer system and the introduction of an organization under highly centralized and regulated government control. It was this change, along with an additional congressionally mandated reorganization later in 1878, that gave rise to the new U.S. Life-Saving...

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