Joshua James (Sea Rescue)

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Joshua James with awards
Joshua James with crew at Point Allerton

Joshua James (born November 22, 1826 in Hull, Massachusetts , † March 19, 1902 ) was a highly decorated American sea rescuer and captain, who in sixty years of service for the Massachusetts Humane Society and the US Life-Saving Service in numerous missions over 600 people rescued from distress without losing a member of his crew.

Life

Joshua James joined the Massachusets Human Society in Hull in 1842 when he was fifteen . In 1876 he was responsible for the Point Allerton rescue station and carried out numerous sea rescue operations without ever losing a member of his rescue teams. He became particularly well-known for rescuing several ship crews in particularly dangerous weather conditions:

  • On January 1, 1882, he rescued the crews of the Bucephalus and the Nellie Walker in a snow storm .
  • In the great hurricane of 1888, he rescued the crews of five ships ( Cox and Green , Gertrude Abbott , Berta F. Walker , HC Higginson and Mattie E. Eaton ) and two wreck thieves in distress from the Alice on November 25th and 26th . The storm costs for the seafaring in the endangered area led to the fact that in 1889 the state rescue station Point Allerton was set up with a paid crew under the roof of the US Life-saving Service with the 62-year-old James as director.
  • In the great storm of 1898, he and his crew rescued various groups of people in distress at sea in 48 hours from the morning of November 27th.

Joshua James died in 1902 shortly after he left a lifeboat on which he had commanded rowing in the surf at the age of 75 to exercise the crew.

Awards

  • 1850 Bronze Medal from the Human Society for service in saving the Delaware crew .
  • 1886 Human Society silver medal for over 40 years of service and the rescue of over 100 people.
  • Gold Lifesaving Medal and Gold Medal from the Human Society for the rescue trips in the storm on November 25th and 26th, 1888
  • The USCGC James (WMSL-754), a Legend class ship (127 m) is named after him.

literature

  • Richard A. Boning: Joshua James . Dexter & Westbrook. 1972, not viewed.
  • Sumner Incread Cimball: Joshua James, life-saver . American unitarian association, 1909, not viewed.
  • Philip Hallie: The Hands of Joshua James . In: In the Eye of the Hurricane , Wesleyan University Press 1997, pp. 143-172, not viewed.
  • C. Douglas Kroll: A Coast Guardsman's History of the US Coast Guard . Naval Institute Press 2014.

Web links

Commons : Joshua James  - Collection of Images, Videos and Audio Files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Evans Clayton: Rescue at Sea: An International History of Lifesaving, Coastal Rescue Craft and Organizations . Conway Maritime Press 2003, ISBN 978-0-85-177934-8 , p. 112.
personal data
SURNAME James, Joshua
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American sea rescuer and captain
DATE OF BIRTH November 22, 1826
PLACE OF BIRTH Hull, Massachusetts
DATE OF DEATH March 19, 1902