12286. (photo) Thomas J. Steinheise Keeper of Seven Foot Knoll 1930-1941, Awarded Congressional Silver Life-Saving Medal 1935
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12286. (photo) Thomas J. Steinheise Keeper of Seven Foot Knoll 1930-1941, Awarded Congressional Silver Life-Saving Medal 1935
12286. (photo) Thomas J. Steinheise Keeper of Seven Foot Knoll 1930-1941, Awarded Congressional Silver Life-Saving Medal 1935. Rare 8” x 10” b/w photo dated 1933 provides a great portrait view of Keeper Thomas Jefferson Steinheise of the Seven Foot Knoll Light Station, Maryland, where he served 10 ½ years as Keeper. In August of 1933, a nor’easter hit Maryland and the Chesapeake Bay; a storm so powerful that it cut an inlet through Ocean City, MD. At about 10:30pm on August 20, the tugboat Point Breeze ran into trouble off Seven Foot Knoll. The captain of the tug ordered his crew to abandon ship as the tug went down. Keeper Thomas Steinhise heard the shouts of the fourteen men and with the help of his son Earl, prepared his twenty-one foot motorboat to go out and rescue them. As the motor on the boat would not start, he was forced to row the boat through fifteen-foot waves and hurricane force winds to reach the men. By the time another tug had arrived on the scene to assist in the rescue, Steinheise and his son had pulled six men from the water and taken them to the lighthouse. Although one of the men had drowned, he had saved five men and for his bravery he was awarded the Congressional Silver Life Saving Medal, one of only a handful of keepers in history to receive such a commendation. With identification on back. Dated September 5, 1933. Rare important view, also graat view of uniform. (VG+). $118.