Lifesaving. Rescues. Commitment.

They Had To Go Out

The United States Life-Saving Service Heritage Association is proud to present an unprecedented collection of writing on the history of life-saving in America: They Had to Go Out: True Stories of America's Coastal Life-Savers From the Pages of Wreck & Rescue Journal. This compilation features a foreword by Frederick Stonehouse, and all of the following articles:

The Lifesavers

  • Joshua James and the Portland Gale of November 1898 by John J. Galluzzo
  • David Atkins, Hero of Cape Cod by Donna Hill
  • Robert M. Small: The Training of a Life-Saving Service Keeper by Frederick Stonehouse
  • Surfman William Drazel of the Louisville Floating Life-Saving Station by John J. Galluzzo
  • Ida Lewis: Wrecks and Rescues by Donna Hill
  • "One of Nature's Noblemen": Keeper Walter Nelson Chase of Nantucket by Mary Miles with Maurice Gibbs
  • The Life-Saving Guns of David Lyle by J. Paul Barnett
  • "Those Guys Got Plenty of Guts, Take it From Me": Hilman J. Persson and the Rescue of the Crew of the Trinidad by John J. Galluzzo

The Issues

  • The Humane Society of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts by Maurice Gibbs
  • Surfman Versus Keeper: Confrontation at Point Reyes Life-Saving Station by Dewey Livingston
  • African Americans in the U.S. Life-Saving Service at Pea Island, North Carolina by William D. Peterson
  • Big Shoes to Fill by John J. Galluzzo
  • The Tragedy of Motor Lifeboat No. 36542 by Dewey Livingston

The Rescues

  • The Gold Medal Shipwreck by Frederick Stonehouse
  • Brave Men of Hull by Robert W. Haley
  • An Incident at a Life-Saving Station by Dennis L. Noble
  • Rescued From a Wave-Swept Rock, From the San Francisco Call edited by Ralph Shanks
  • Braver Men Never Manned a Lifeboat: A Great Lakes Story by Frederick Stonehouse
  • A Cape Cod Shipwreck and Rescue: The Case of the Horatio Hall and the H.F. Dimock by William P. Quinn
  • Only Once on Lake Huron by Frederick Stonehouse
  • A Sunday Evening in the Pacific Northwest by Dennis L. Noble
  • How Many People Will a Lifeboat Hold? by Ralph Shanks
  • "Get the 36 Boat Going, Now!" by Frederick Stonehouse
  • A Brush With Coast Guard History: At Sea on February 19, 1952 by Frederick G. "Bud" Cooney
  • New Year's Eve, 1953 by Dennis L. Noble