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ANNUAL REPORT LIFE-SAVING SERVICE. General Superintendent. Kimball of the life-saving service has transmit- ted to the secretary of the treasury the report of the operations of his bureau for the year ending June 30, 1908. The report states that at the close of the fiscal year the life-saving es- tablishment comprised 280 stations, embraced within 13 districts, and dis- tributed by coasts as follows: 201 on the Atlantic and Gulf coasts, 61 on the coasts of the great lakes, one at the Falls of the Ohio (Louisville, Ky.), and 18 on the Pacific coast. The number of disasters to docu- mented vessels within the field of sta- tion operations during the year was 386. There were on board these ves- sels 3,749 persons, of whom 16 were lost. ~The estimated value of the vessels was $9,776,725, and that of their cargoes $3,135,190, making the total value of property endangered in connection with casualties to docu- mented vessels $12,911,915. Of this amount $11,056,805 was saved and $1,855,110 lost. There also occurred within the year 708 casualties to undocumented craft --sailboats, launches, rowboats, etc..-- carrying 1,963 persons, of whom six were lost. The value of the property involved in these instances was $618,- 310, of which $609,630 was saved and $8,680 lost. The life-saving crews succored at the stations 562 victims of shipwreck and of 'boating accidents, a_ total of 1,000 days' relief being furnished. The results of disasters to vessels of all classes within the scope of the service are shown in the follow- ing table: Number of disasters....... 1,09 4 Number of vessels totally fa re Ge 56 Number of persons involved 5/12 Number of persons lost.... 22 Number of persons succored Oi Stations. (ore. een 562 Number of days' succor af- oeden 1,000 Value of vessels involved. .$10,390,955 Walue of cargoes. -2:.5--. 3,139,270 Total value of property in- woled 8 ROE 13,530,225 Value of property saved... 11,666,435 Value of property lost.... 1,863,790 Of the 1,094 vessels included in the foregoing tabular statement, the life- savers rendered assistance to 1,053, valued with their cargoes at $12,557,- 170. Aid of more or less importance was also extended to 89 documented and 210 undocumented vessels not in- cluded in the table, making a grand TAE Marine REvIEw total of 1,352 vessels receiving assist- ance from the station crews. In ad-' dition 97 steamers, and 122 vessels of other classes, running into dan- ger, were warned of their peril by the signals of the patrol and the tower watchmen in time to escape disaster; 199 of these warnings being given at night and 20 during the day in thick weather. Lives and property were undoubtedly saved in numerous instances by these warnings, but it is of course impossible to estimate in figures the value of this feature of the service. While it is primarily the province of the service to save and succor the shipwrecked, a considerable number of persons not connected with vessels are annually rescued from various sit- uations involving imminent peril of their lives. There were 56 cases of this character during the year. Fifty- one of the 56 persons involved were in danger of drowning. Of these, 26 had fallen into the water from piers, boats, etc. 13 were imperiled bathers and swimmers, three had drifted out to sea, two were cut off from land by the rising tide, three were in a building that had been undermined by the sea, and four were adrift on the ice. Of the five persons remain- ing, one had attempted suicide, one (an intoxicated man) was taken from a snowdrift, two were found helpless on the beach suffering from expos- ure, and one (a child) was discovered hanging head downwards with one of its feet fast in a fence. Fifty per- sons received medical and_ surgical attention at the hands of the station crews. Private . property. was fe- trieved and restored to the owners in 92 instances. Incleded in the list of things recovered are upwards of three dozen fish nets, nearly the same number of domestic animals, five run- away teams, a large quantity of lum- ber, a bicycle, a load of hay, two automobiles, and a_ balloon. A very important miscellaneous work of tHe life-savers is that classified under "assistance at fires." Thirty-five of such instances of service occurred during the year, involving 25 dwellings, two lighthouse structures, one store building, two grain elevators, one mill, three hotels, one wireless telegraph station, one church, three bath houses, two barns, a warehouse, a clubhouse, and a freight house. The station crews also helped to put out eight grass and forest fires. On 58 occasions the men of the service rendered substantial assist- ance to other branches of the govern- ment in the performance of such work as locating, reporting and mark- . meet the needs share' of the. 19 ing wrecks, taking soundings, setting and recovering buoys, reporting buoys adrift, marking channels, bringing United States mail ashore from ves- sels, etc., etc. The expenditure for the mainte- nance of the service during the year amounted to $1,962,524.90. The general superintendent reports a gratifying improvement in the con- dition of the service, brought about by act of Congress approved March 26, 1908, increasing the compensation of life-saving crews. Previous to the enactment of the law mentioned the men of the service were leaving the stations in large numbers because they could command more pay in less hazardous employment. The legisla- tion' referred to has happily operated to check this exodus, and made it less a problem to keep the crews filled with capable surfmen. The new law does not, however, in the opinion of the general superintendent, of the service, in that it makes no provision for the vet- eran surfmen in the way of retire- ment pay. SHAWMUT AND TREMONT SOLD. a The steamers Shawmut and Tre- mont, now at the Puget Sound navy yard, have been purchased by the. Isthmian canal commission of the Boston Steamship Co. to be used for transporting coal to the Panama canal. It is understood that the sum paid for these two steamers was $1,157,301, which is considerably less than the builders' price. These steamers were built by the Maryland Steel Co. at Sparrow's Point, in 1902, for the Bos- ton Steamship Co. and placed in the over-sea trade on tlie Pacific ocean. It was thought at that. time that con- gress would enact legislation remov-. ing some of the handicaps now ob- taining against the operation of Amer- ican ships in the foreign trade, and it was in anticipation of such a mea- sure that the Boston Steamship Co. courageously built the steamers and put them into commission. The fail- ure of congress to help the American ship caused the venture to end disas- trously. After an heroic . struggle against the subsidized lines of Japan the steamers were placed in ordinary. The steamers are splendid types of ocean-going freight- ers. The new 35-ft. channel from Balti- more to the Capes of Virginia, which is 600 ft. in width, is almost completed and will be available to vessels of the largest draught before the end of . the month. entirely -- withdrawn and -