Birth of the Jersey Shore by Randall Gabrielan

Author:Randall Gabrielan [Gabrielan, Randall]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Biography & Autobiography, General, History, United States, State & Local, Middle Atlantic (DC; DE; MD; NJ; NY; PA), Travel, Northeast, Middle Atlantic (NJ; NY; PA)
ISBN: 9781626197060
Google: 0MqqCQAAQBAJ
Publisher: Arcadia Publishing
Published: 2015-01-15T05:05:36+00:00

JOSEPH FRANCIS (1801–1893)

Francis, an innovator and inventor with small watercraft, began building boats as a youth. His greatest creation, the lifecar, made him a vitally important figure in maritime rescue.

Born in Boston, Francis placed first in a boat-building competition at age twelve. A manufacturer of various craft, his greatest conception was iron for constructing a lifecar, a small, enclosed boat looking not unlike a submarine. After a rope line was shot to a distressed vessel, the lifecar was sent on the line to the ship where passengers huddled inside to return to shore. Traveling inside was likely as terrifying as it was effective. Its first test was the January 12, 1850 wreck of the Ayrshire off Squan Beach. The crew and all but 1 of the 166 passengers were saved through repeated trips by Francis’s device. The only fatality was a panicked man, swept away after leaping atop the car. While grateful over his invention’s success, Francis was disappointed over the lack of federal government support and dismayed over failure to recognize his contributions. Francis’s travels to Europe brought him honors and acceptance of his numerous devices.

American recognition was late but significant. In 1890, Congress honored him with a large gold medal, ceremoniously presented by President Harrison. Recounting the event in a letter to friend Thomas Bond in the collection of the Ocean County Historical Society dated April 21, 1890, Francis was emphatic in claiming that the recognition would “establish the fact irrevocably that I am the founder and originator of the Life Saving Service in 1812 and appliances from that time to 1850 and for all time to come.” Thus, he asserted that his inventions rather than the government’s building stations were the real origin of lifesaving in America.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.