In the Coast Guard there shall be a captain conmandant, senior captains, captains, first lieutenants, second lieutenants, third lieutenants, engineer in chief, captains of engineers, first lieutenants of engineers, second lieutenants of engineers, third lieutenants of engineers and constructors, cadet and cadet engineers, warrant officers, petty officers, and other enlisted men, all of said offices, respectively, corresponding to the present offices of the Revenue-Cutter Service, which are transferred to the Coast Guard, and all the present incumbents, officers and enlisted men, are also transferred to corresponding positions in the Coast Guard; a general superintendent, assistant general superintendent, district superintendents, keepers, and surfmen, which offices and positions shall be transferred from the corresponding positions in the existing Life-Saving Service and be made like positions in the Coast Guard, and all the incumbent officers and surfmen shall be transferred to such corresponding positions in the Coast Guard, in which the superintendents shall be commissioned as such, keepers shall be warrant officers, and surfmen shall be enlisted men, of which enlisted men the number one surfmen shall be petty officers. Except as herein modified all existing laws relating either to the present Life-Saving Service or the present Revenue-Cutter Service shall remain of force as far as applicable to the Coast Guard and the offices, positions, operations, and duties shall in all respects be held and construed to impose the same duties upon the positions and their incumbents in the Coast Guard as are now imposed upon the corresponding positions and incumbents in the said two existing organizations. The provisions of the Act entitled "An Act to regulate enlistments and punishments in the United States RevenueCutter Service," approved May twenty-sixth, nineteen hundred and six, shall apply to and govern the Coast Guard. All duties now performed by the Revenue-Cutter Service and Life-Saving Service shall continue to be performed by the Coast Guard, and all such duties, together with all duties that may hereafter be imposed upon the Coast Guard, shall be administered by the captain commandant, under the direction of the Secretary of the Treasury, and all funds and appropriations now provided by law for the Revenue-Cutter Service and all funds and appropriations now provided by law for the Life-Saving Service shall be available for like purposes under the Coast Guard hereby created. Sec. 2. When the organization of the Coast Guard shall have Sec. 4. been perfected the President is authorized to retire the general superintendent on seventy-five per centum of his June 18, 1878. June 20, 1874. Sec. 4. present salary, and no further appointment shall be made to such office. At the same time the office of assistant general superintendent shall be abolished. 469. Life-Saving Service. It shall be the duty of the general superintendent to supervise the organization and government of the employees of the service; to prepare and revise regulations therefor as may be necessary; to fix the number and compensation of surfmen to be employed at the several stations within the provisions of law; to supervise the expenditure of all appropriations made for the support and maintenance of the Life-Saving Service; to examine the accounts of disbursements of the district superintendents, and to certify the same to the accounting-officer of the Treasury Department; to examine the property returns of the keepers of the several stations, and see that all public property thereto belonging is properly accounted for; to acquaint himself, as far as practicable, with all means employed in foreign countries which may seem to advantageously affect the interests of the service, and to cause to be properly investigated all plans, devices, and inventions for the improvement of life-saving apparatus for use at the stations, which may appear to be meritorious and available; to exercise supervision over the selection of sites for new stations the establishment of which may be authorized by law, or for old ones the removal of which may be made necessary by the encroachment of the sea or by other causes; to prepare and submit to the Secretary of the Treasury estimates for the support of the service; to collect and compile the statistics of marine disasters contemplated by the act of June twentieth, eighteen hundred and seventy-four; and to submit to the Secretary of the Treasury, for transmission to Congress, an annual report of the expenditures of the moneys appropriated for the maintenance of the Life-Saving Service, and of the operations of said service during the year. The Secretary of the Treasury is hereby authorized, whenever, in his opinion, it may become necessary for the proper administration of the life-saving service, and the protection of the public property at the stations and houses of refuge herein authorized to be established, to appoint one superintendent for the coasts of Delaware and Virginia, one for the coast of Florida, one for the coasts of Lakes Erie and Ontario, one for the coasts of Lakes Huron and Superior, and one for the coast of Lake Michigan, and also a keeper for each of said stations and houses of refuge; and the said superintendents shall have the powers and perform the duties of inspectors of customs. The Secretary of the Treasury is hereby authorized to appoint an assistant to the superintendent of the coast of Long Island and Rhode Island, who shall perform the duties required of the superintendent at the life-saving stations within the State of Rhode Island, and reside on Block Island, and for his services he shall receive an annual salary of five hundred dollars. The Secretary of the Treasury is hereby authorized to Sec. 5. employ crews of experienced surfmen at such of the stations herein denominated complete stations and at such of the life-boat stations on the Pacific coast as he may deem necessary and proper, for such periods, and at such compensation, not to exceed forty dollars per month, as he may deem necessary and reasonable. The Secretary of the Treasury may accept the services sec. 6. of volunteer crews of any of the life-boat stations herein. authorized, who shall be subject to the rules and regulations governing the life-saving service; and a list of the names of each crew shall be kept in the office of the Secretary of the Treasury. Such volunteers shall receive no compensation except a sum of not more than ten dollars each for every occasion upon which they shall have been instrumental in saving human life, and such of the medals herein authorized as they may be entitled to under the provisions hereinafter made: Provided, That no payment shall be made to any person who shall not have actually participated in the efforts to save the life or lives rescued. Section six of said act of June twentieth, eighteen hun- June 18, 1878. dred and seventy-four, is so amended as to extend the Sec. 10. compensation of the enrolled members of volunteer crews of life-boat stations therein named to occasions of actual and deserving services at any shipwreck, or in the relief of any vessel in distress, and that such persons as may volunteer to take the place of any absent or disabled enrolled members of a crew, and who shall be accepted by the keeper, may be paid therefor, in the discretion of the Secretary of the Treasury, a sum not to exceed eight dollars each on every such occasion: Provided, That all crews and volunteers employed under authority of this act who may be present at a wreck shall be required to use their utmost endeavors to save life and properly care for the bodies of such as may perish, and, when such efforts are no longer necessary, to save property and protect the same, under the direction of the senior keeper present or of the superintendent of the district, until the arrival of persons legally authorized to take charge; and for the time employed in so saving and protecting prop May 4, 1882. Sec. 8. Mar. 26, 1908. June 18, 1878. erty volunteers shall be entitled to compensation not to exceed three dollars per day each, in the discretion of the Secretary of the Treasury. If any keeper or member of a crew of a life-saving or life-boat station shall be so disabled by reason of any wound or injury received or disease contracted in the Life-Saving Service in the line of duty as to unfit him for the performance of duty, such disability to be determined in such manner as shall be prescribed in the regulations of the service, he shall be continued upon the rolls of the service and entitled to receive his full pay during the continuance of such disability, not to exceed the period of one year, unless the general superintendent shall recommend, upon a statement of facts, the extension of the period through a portion or the whole of another year, and said recommendation receive the approval of the Secretary of the Treasury as just and reasonable; but in no case shall said disabled keeper or member of a crew be continued upon the rolls or receive pay for a longer period than two years. If any keeper or member of a crew of a life-saving station shall hereafter die by reason of perilous service or any wound or injury received or disease contracted in the life-saving service in the line of duty, leaving a widow, or a child or children under sixteen years of age, or a dependent mother, such widow and child or children and dependent mother shall be entitled to receive, in equal portions, during a period of two years, under such regulations as the Secretary of the Treasury may prescribe, the same amount, payable quarterly as far as practicable, that the husband or father or son would be entitled to receive as pay if he were alive and continued in the service: Provided, That if the widow shall remarry at any time during the said two years her portion of said amount shall cease to be paid to her from the date of her remarriage, but shall be added to the amount to be paid to the remaining beneficiaries under the provisions of this section, if there be any; and if any child shall arrive at the age of sixteen years during the said two years, the portion of such child shall cease to be paid to such child from the date on which such age shall be attained, but shall be added to the amount to be paid to the remaining beneficiaries, if there be any. Upon the occurrence of any shipwreck within the scope of the operations of the Life-Saving Service, attended with loss of life, the general superintendent shall cause an investigation of all the circumstances connected with said disaster and loss of life to be made, with a view of ascertaining the cause of the disaster, and whether any of the officers or employees of the service have been guilty of neglect or misconduct in the premises; and any officer or clerk in the employment of the Treasury Department who may be detailed to conduct such investigation, or to examine into any alleged incompetency or misconduct of any of the officers or employees of the Life-Saving Service shall have authority to administer an oath to any witness attending to testify or depose in the course of such investigation. The enrolled members of the crews of life-boat stations Sec. 11. may be called out for drill and exercise in the life-boat and life-saving apparatus as often as the general superintendent may determine, not to exceed twice a month, for each day's attendance at which they shall be entitled to the sum of three dollars each. Sec. 2. The Secretary of the Treasury is hereby authorized to May 4, 1882. discontinue any life-saving or life-boat station or house of refuge whenever in his judgment the interests of commerce and humanity no longer require its existence. The General Superintendent may transfer the appara- Sec. 3. tus, appliances, equipments, and supplies of any discontinued station or house of refuge to such other stations or houses of refuge as may need them, and may also transfer any portion of the apparatus, appliances, equipments, and supplies, of one station or house of refuge to another whenever in his judgment the interests of the service may require it. Hereafter all district superintendents of life-saving Sec. 4. stations shall be disbursing officers and paymasters for their respective districts, and shall give such bonds as the Secretary of the Treasury may require, and shall have the powers and perform the duties of inspectors of customs. The appointment of district superintendents, inspec- Sec. 10. tors, and keepers and crews of life-saving stations shall be made solely with reference to their fitness, and without reference to their political or party affiliations. Sec. 4. Hereafter the compensation of the keepers of life-sav- June 18, 1878. ing and life-boat stations and houses of refuge shall be at the rate of four hundred dollars per annum; and they shall have the powers of inspectors of customs, but shall receive no additional compensation for duties performed as such: Provided, That said keepers shall have authority and be required to take charge of and protect all property saved from shipwreck at which they may be present, until it is claimed by parties legally authorized to receive it, or until otherwise instructed to dispose of it by the Secretary of the Treasury; and keepers of lifesaving stations shall be required to reside continually at or in the immediate vicinity of their respective stations. [Note: Compensation changed June 22, 1892; but powers bestowed in this section remain.] Hereafter the life-saving stations upon the Atlantic Sec. 5 and gulf coasts at which crews are employed shall be manned and the stations opened for active service on the first day of August in each year, and so continue until the Aug. 3, 1894. first day of June succeeding, and upon the lake coasts 92075°-1533 |