It appears from the Annual Report of the operations of the United States Life-Saving Service for the year ended the 30th June, 1893, issued a few months since from the Government Printing Office at Washington, that there are now 243 life-saving stations in the States, 182 being on the Atlantic and Gulf coasts, 48 on the coasts of the Great Lakes, 12 on the Pacific, and 1 at the Tails of the Ohio, Louisville, Kentucky.

Since the last Report three new stations have been formed, viz., at Brant Bock, Massachusetts; Port Niagara, New York; and Kewaunee, Wisconsin.

During the year there had been 427 disasters to vessels coming within the field of station operations, this number being 90 more than in the previous twelve months. There were 3,565 persons on board these vessels, of whom 23 were lost. The number of vessels totally lost was 88, being an increase of 28 as com- pared with the previous year. In addition there were, during the year reported on, 154 disasters to smaller craft, such as sail-boats, row-boats, &c., which had 327 persons on board, only 6 of whom were lost, not including two accidents to life - saving boats, with loss of life, referred to later on. The total number of 'persons succoured at the stations was 663.

Besides the lives saved from vessels, the life-saving crews were instrumental in rescuing 47 persons who had fallen from wharves, &c., and would have pro- bably perished had it not been for the prompt aid given.

In accordance with the usual custom, a careful investigation was held in the four- teen cases where life was lost, and it was satisfactorily demonstrated that in no case was the disaster attributable to any lack of promptness, courage or skill on the part of the members of the Life-saving Service.

Unfortunately on two occasions while gallant efforts were being made to render assistance to the crews of vessels in dis- tress, the salvors themselves met with disaster. In one case only did the men belong to the United States Life-Saving Service; in the other they were in the employ of the Humane Society of Massa- chusetts, a voluntary organisation which was founded many years before the Government Life-Saving Service came into existence. The first accident resulted in the loss of four out of six men who had launched their surf boat at Cleveland(Ohio) during a gale of wind to the assistance of two young men whose boat had become unmanageable and was being swept out into Lake Erie from the River Cuyahoga which was in a swollen condition from heavy rains and was running into the lake with irresistible force. Before the small boat could be overtaken it was upset and those on board perished, while the rescuing craft was also capsized when it reached the spot where the " turmoil of contention " between the waters of the lake and the river was fiercest and, as already indicated, four of the gallant crew perished, the remaining two men being saved by a steam-tug which put off to their help.

The second fatality occurred to the crew of a Life-boat of the Massachusetts Humane Society which was promptly launched from Cuttyhunk when the British brig Aquatic was seen to be in distress. From the time when they started, soon after 9 P.M., until the dawn of the next day nothing whatever was seen or heard of them from the shore, and the first intimation of the disaster was when the dead body of one of her crew was found on the beach. It afterwards appeared that when they were nearing the stranded ship their boat was upset and rolled over and over. Only one out of the six men in her was saved, and curiously enough he was the only one who could not swim; he was drifted towards the vessel and getting alongside was hauled on board and he and the shipwrecked crew were rescued the next day by the boat from the nearest U.S. Life-saving Station, assisted by a steam-tug and a lighter engaged for the service.

There was also a fatal shipwreck during the time when the adjacent life-saving station was closed for the four summer months in accordance with the usual custom on the Atlantic seaboard, only the keeper being left in charge. This is done for the sake of economy, as the men in this service receive regular weekly pay. The keeper used all possible expedition in getting volunteers to help him, but on that sparsely populated coast valuable time was necessarily lost in getting a crew together, and unhappily the four ship- wrecked men perished before they could be succoured.

The Service had to mourn the loss by death during the year of three of its officers, viz., Captain JOHN W. WHITE, of the U.S. Revenue Cutter Service, detailed for special duty in the life-saving service as Assistant Inspector to No. 12 District and Superintendent of Construction at the Stations on the Pacific Coast; Captain DAVID P. DOBBINS, late Superintendent of the 9th Life-saving District, comprising Lakes Erie and Ontario; and Captain JOSIAH W. ETHEEIDGE, Superintendent of No. 6 District, embracing the North Carolina coast and the shore of Virginia south of Cape Henry.

The telephone lines provided for the service had been maintained in good order and several new connections and minor extensions had been made. The Report adds that " the value of this important feature of the Service, both as an aid to the efficiency of the life-saving crews, and incidentally as a means of affording early and desirable information to the maritime interests of the country, is constantly being demonstrated on critical occasions along the coast, and has attracted the marked attention of officers of life - saving institutions in foreign countries." The station which Congress, in the Act authorising the World's Columbian Expo- sition, directed to be placed on exhibition in the grounds allotted for the purpose, fully equipped with the apparatus, furni- ture and appliances used in the Life-saving Service, and subsequently provided should be continued as a permanent station, was duly established, equipped and manned, and during the fair was visited by great numbers and examined with marked interest by the representatives of kindred institutions of other countries. The tri-weekly drills, illustrating the methods of rescue, were a special attraction, and never failed to gather upon the lake shore enormous crowds of interested spectators. While thus satisfactorily serving its original purpose, it had opportunity also on several occasions to prove its practical utility by effecting rescues from actual shipwrecks which occurred within the scope of its operations. The old station at the mouth of the Chicago River, erected in the earlier days of the Service, was utilised during the continuance of the " Exposition " as an outpost of the new station, to which two of the crew were detailed as a constant guard to look out for such accidents as might occur at the immediate harbour entrance, being connected with the main station by tele- phone. The continuance of this plan has since been regarded as necessary.

In conclusion the Report bears emphatic testimony to the fidelity with which the officers and employes of the Service had discharged their duties, always arduous, and often involving personal hardship and peril.