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124 poachers were landing on a particular island of the group of Sandwich Is- lands which had been designated as a bird reservation, the apparent purpose in their landing being to obtain -the plumage of birds which frequented that island. Naturally Secretary Wil- son was not to be expected to main- tain a fleet in conjunction with the many other functions of the agricul- tural department. It was not feasible, nor had he thought to call upon our naval dreadnoughts to shoo away the intruders. Where then should he turn for help? Of course to the alert rev- enue cutter service which promptly despatched a boat to see to it that the birds were not further molested. Acts as Floating Court Again, a crime is committed in the Aleutian Islands and it is hardly rea- sonable to think that Attorney Gen- eral Wickersham can keep a vessel in Alaskan waters for such a purpose, still, there is no resident judge on the islands and the criminal must be tried, so either the judge must go to the prisoner, or the prisoner must be brought to Valdez or Sitka for trial. Again the revenue cutter is pressed into service and what is locally called the floating court is soon in opera- tion. The bureau of fisheries does maintain some railroad cars for the transportation of fish, but it has no facilities for keeping in touch with its branches in Alaska, so the good Sam- maritan friend of all needy depart- ments and bureaus comes to their aid. Perchance the bureau of education wants to send supplies to its stations near Point Barrows on the Bering Sea, then a revenue cutter comes to its assistance. These are a few ex- amples of the many duties which fall to the revenue cutter service to per- form, which are not definitely and specifically named in the law. But little is heard of those performances, nor of those which come within the routine fixed by law. A few years ago when the Republic was in collision eff New York and hundreds of lives were imperiled, the wireless message of Jack Binns went flying through the air. It was picked up among others by the navy department, which had no vessels to send, so the office of the revenue cutter service was hastily called up and appealed to for aid. Imagine the surprise of the naval official. when he was told that four cutters were already on their way to aid the stricken steamer. Only a few weeks ago Gloucester fishermen were thrown into consternation by the re- port that some 50 herring boats were THE MARINE REVIEW in great peril, having become frozen in the ice in Bonne Bay, Newfound- land. Almost instantly the Gresham, then in Boston harbor, and the An- droscoggin off the Maine coast were on their way at top speed to help those small boats in distress. Aiding Vessels in Distress Late last month the Apache came into Baltimore for supplies after a. perilous ten days spent in aiding twenty-three vessels in distress, whose valuation was over one million dol- lars. As soon as the needed supplies were abroad, she immediately put to sea and resumed her patrol of the dangerous coast line off the Virgin- ia capes and Hatteras. On the first day of the present month a wireless message was received in Washing- ton, telling of the crippled condition of the three-masted schooner Suc- cess off the Florida coast, with sev- eral lepers on board and the cutter Yamacrow, with several naval ves- sels was immediately sent in search of her; 'for' fear that should < the schooner go ashore, leprosy might be spread from her passengers. To the Bear is given the duty of preceding merchant vessels to Nome, Alaska, as early in the spring as the ice will permit. examine the extent of the ice fields and to inform steamers by wireless the course which they should pursue in order to avoid the dangers inci- dent thereto. This duty is extremely important, as commercial organi- zations are practically dependent up- on the information furnished for the safety and protection of their ships. Then, too, this cutter annually makes a cruise through the Arctic Ocean to the northernmost point of Alaska. Her commanding officer is made a United States Commissioner to try petty criminals. The Thetis is reg- ularly assigned to cruise in Hawaiian waters and in cases of bird protec- tion, like the one spoken of above, it is this vessel which is called upon to aid. On Jan. 27, 1911, the Snoho- mish received a wireless call of dis- tress from the American steamer Cottage City, which had gone ashore off Cape Hudge in British Columbia. She proceeded at full speed in a fog along that dangerous coast and ar- rived just in time to take off 81 pas- sengers and crew and bring them safely .into Seattle. The Forward, whose station is off Southern Flor- ida, in October, 1910, took 552 pas- sengers from the steamer Louisiana, which had 'been wrecked off Som- brero Light. Many of the passengers were women and children and all cific. She is required to. April, 1912 - were conveyed to points of safety. I have spoken of these few danger- ous trips which are purely incident to the regular routine of duties given this service in times of peace. Others as difficult could be told al- most without limit. Eight cutters are constantly cruising in the sta- "tions of the Atlantic coast, north of Cape Hatteras, seven south of that point and in the Gulf of Mexico, three in the Great Lakes and eight on the various stations of the Pa- There are also others detailed for harbor work, as for instance the Winnesimonet at Boston, for anchor- age duty, as the Manhattan at New York, and as a practice ship attached to the revenue cutter school of in- struction, of which the Itasca at New London is an example. Saving of Lives For the period from June 30, 1900, to Jan. 1, 1912, this service saved 583 lives; it boarded and examined the papers of 199,170 vessels, of which 4264 were seized and reported for violations of law and were fined or penalized to the extent of $841,424; it aided vessels which with their cargoes were valued at over seventy- eight million dollars; it assisted over two thousand vessels in distress on board of which were 27,234 persons. " It took on board its cutters and cared for 4,358 persons in distress, and it found and destroyed 126 derelicts dangerous to other vessels. Such is the revenue cutter service which has achieved so much in its various fields of usefulness covering opera- tions along our extensive coast line. Many of their movements have been heroic in times of peace as well as war and any legislation looking to the curtailment of the efficiency of this service will be bitterly fought. | The San Francisco Bridge Co. has been awarded the first contract for a filling in the site of the Panama Pacific International Exposition, which will require the 'filling of 1,000,000 cubic yards of material at a cost of $200,000. The: material -is to bé dredged from San Francisco bay, op- posite the fair site and will be dumped back of a sea wall. The old gunboat Bennington, which was purchased from the government by junk dealers for $20,000, two years ago, has left for Mexican waters. where she will be placed in commis- sion by the Republic of Mexico. The purchasers of the vessel stripped the craft of all of the old iron and brass work and then received double her purchase price from Mexico.