In the days of iron men and wooden ships, the Atlantic coast was dotted with volunteer lifesaving stations. Throughout the 19th century, the men who manned these outposts plucked shipwrecked sailors from storm-tossed seas, but they did little in the way of lifesaving as we know it.
It wasn't until the 1880s, when swimming became a popular pastime, that there was even a recognized need for lifeguards. Suddenly one of America's favorite new sports seemed to be the one for which we were the least well suited. As Victorian mores relaxed and leisure time increased, people everywhere headed for the beach. Unfortunately, few stopped on the way for swimming lessons.
Summertime newspapers from that era were filled with accounts of tragic drownings, as well as the occasional heroic rescue. They also frequently featured ads looking for men of good physical and moral standards to fill new lifeguard positions. Thus was born the ultimate summer job.
By the 1930s, lifeguards were commonplace. Life-saving organizations around the country relied on similar techniques and pieces of equipment, many of which were borrowed from earlier generations of watermen. Three pieces that are still in use today are the dory, the can buoy and the rescue line.
Passed down from the very first volunteer lifesavers, the dory, a high-sided rowboat, is little changed from an even earlier time, when fisherman rowed them out from shore to set their nets. On certain days these are beach lifeguards' most valuable tools, because they can be used to rescue multiple people without returning to shore to unload each one.
While the dory is most useful in special situations, the buoy and line are the lifeguard's constant companions. The first incarnation of the modern torpedo-shaped, Styrofoam can buoy was an airtight copper tube similar in design to the navigational buoys of the day. These older buoys were responsible for more than a few bumps and bruises in rough surf, but only the materials have changed over time.
The bucket of rescue line that we use to pull lifeguards and their victims back to shore has its origins in the tub of line used by longline fishermen. The design was perfect for allowing the line to pay out without any knots and then be quickly recoiled and made ready for the next rescue.
Our lifeguard officer designations - boatswains, lieutenants and captains - are borrowed from historical naval rankings. When Jones Beach opened in 1929, the first captain, William Johns, oversaw a crew of 18 guards. Two years later their ranks had grown to more than 60.
Today's Jones Beach Lifeguard Corps has close to 500 guards who keep watch over swimmers in seven state parks on Long Island, including Jones, which bills itself as the largest public bathing facility in the world. Nationwide, the number of lifeguards swells to over 100,000 in the summer months, and the number of rescues they make is more than double that.
The full woolen "bathing costumes" that Captain Johns and his guards wore are gone, as are some of the other formalities of the early days, but the corps they began has changed little. The basic methods of lifesaving are still recognizable nearly 80 years later, and the corps is still made up of men - and women - of good physical and moral standards.
Chris Nellen has been a member of the lifeguard crew at Jones Beach's Central Mall since 1987.
