STRAIGHT FROM THE CAPTAIN'S MOUTH - A DARING GREAT LAKES RESCUE
Captain J.O. Anderson lived in a
house on the Lake Michigan break water that was accessible only by boat
and with a turreted, frame structure that made it resemble a battleship.
His house was part of the Old Chicago Station of the U.S. Coast Guard, just one of the life saving stations the government maintained along the hundreds of miles of land bordering the Great Lakes. It was located just south of the north pier at the mouth of the Chicago River.
The inside of the Captain's house was as unique as the outside. There was an office-sitting room on the second floor as well as a dining room, and on the third floor there was the men's sleeping room and a large recreation room with a floor suitable for dancing. The fourth floor held a lookout, where men could monitor safety of people and ships in Chicago waters.
The boat room was on the first floor. The men reached this room by sliding down a greased pole when the alarm was given. The boats were always poised on their slanting runways ready for action. There were two big "pulling boats" propelled by oars and carrying ropes coiled in their stern, two power boats with engines amidships, and a 36 foot craft that Captain Anderson called a "self-righting, self-bailing power boat."
The station also had a little brass gun which could throw an eighteen pound projectile three-quarters of a mile. Attached to it was a line that could reach a vessel in distress. On the south tower of the Chicago Municipal pier, the Captain kept a man on the lookout and communicated with him by submarine telephone.
Captain Anderson told about a man being rescued near the Old Chicago Station in September, 1923. He was a young fellow who was fishing off the pier and somehow fell in the water. The young man could not swim and it looked like he was a goner. It took the man on the lookout seconds to ring the gong that sounded the alarm, and about three minutes after the time the gong sounded the young man was out of the water safe and sound.
According to the Captain, there were about 71 cases like the young man's in 1923, where help was actually needed. And just about as many wild goose chases. Whenever there was an alarm given, the Coast Guard would have to go out even theough they had good reason to believe the "body" would prove to be a floating log or someone on shore imagining they saw a body floating in the lake.
"If we did not go on the false alarms, we might not be so ready to go on the real ones," Captain Anderson said.
The Captain lit his pipe, and as he puffed he talked about the dangers of his job - fighting storms and rescuing people. He reached in a drawer in the desk and took out a small box, lined with white satin. Resting on the white satin was a gold medal with an inscription. The inscription read: "In testimony of heroic deeds in saving life from the perils of the sea." In the center were the words - "To John O. Anderson for heroic daring in the rescue of the crew of the wrecked steamer H.E. RUNNELS, November 14, 1919."
Wisconsin
Marine Historical Society
814
West Wisconsin Avenue
Milwaukee, Wisconsin 53233-2385
phone 414.286.3074
email info@wmhs.org
