17186. (photo) Capt. Abbott Walker of Nauset Coast Guard Attempts to Reach Stranded Submarine S-19 c.1925. Clear close press photo shows great detail as Capt. Walker with his Nauset Coast Guard crew attempt to row out through the surf to rescue the crew of submarine S-19, which had stranded on a sandbar off Nauset Heights, Orleans, Mass. Caption on back notes that “Just a few minutes after this photo was taken, Capt. Walker fell out of the boat from exhaustion and had to be hauled in.” On the first rescue attempt, the surf boat turned over, throwing the men into the icy sea. Clinging to the lifeboat, Capt. Walker and his men rode the incoming tide back to shore. On the second attempt, Walker and his men reached the sub. “When we finally got out to her we found the crew snug and comfortable as could be,” Walker recalled. “They didn’t need us. But we had a time launching the boat in that rough water.” However, in an attempt to run a hawser from the S-19 to a Navy tugboat, an errant steering oar knocked the Nauset keeper into the water, but he was rescued by his crew. His doctor ordered him not to make any more attempts to run the hawser. Walker, who replaced Alonzo Bearse as Nauset keeper in 1905, retired in 1926 to his South Eastham home, where he died on Nov. 29, 1954. His memory has lived on in the pages of Henry Beston’s book, “The Outermost House.” As Beston wrote, “My kind friend, Abbott Walker, (was) an expert among surfmen and boatmen, and one of the best liked and most respected men on all Cape Cod.” With a number of cropping marks and enhancements of the surf. Dated January 16, 1925. Photo measures 6” x 8” and includes date and description on back. (VG). $56.