35052. (3 documents) Letter Re: Shipwrecks & Kites with Reply Sumner Kimball U.S. Life-Saving Service. c.1892.
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35052. (3 documents) Letter Re: Shipwrecks & Kites with Reply Sumner Kimball U.S. Life-Saving Service. c.1892.
- (3 documents) Letter Re: Shipwrecks & Kites with Reply Sumner Kimball U.S. Life-Saving Service. c.1892.
Six page handwritten letter on both sides of three sheets of 8×10 paper. March 1, 1892 letter written by a man named M Russel Drew in Roanoke, Virginia, addressed to the Chief Officer of Life Savings Service in Washington, DC. Mr Drew is writing to this agency of the US Department of the Treasury regarding shipwrecks and preventing the tragic loss of life of crew and passengers. Mr Drew proposes a law where ships were compelled to carry kites in addition to the life boats and life preservers that they already carried on board. He suggests that the kites be made under government supervision and cites the kites made in China “where their making is actually an art”. His thought was that they might be flown to direct rescuers to the wreckage. He goes on for 6 pages and although his writing is very legible, I confess I did not read every word of the letter. Accompanying this letter are two replies. The first is dated March 8, 1892, signed by Sumner Kimball, the General Superintendent of the Life Saving Service. The other reply is dated March 19, 1892. from the Supervising Inspector General of the Steamboat Inspection Service, James A Dumont. Both letters from the government agencies are respectful and polite- and surprisingly prompt! Papers are not in great condition. They must have been exposed to some damp and are discolored and the printed letterheads on the government stationery are faded, some tearing on the fold lines. The letter from Mr Drew has some tearing on the fold line as well.
Although his idea seems a bit impractical I appreciate the fact that he followed through and shared the idea with people who might be able to implement it to better the outcome of those tragedies.
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