For a time nothing happened, the slender rope reached out into the boiling waves, but no answering tugs conveyed messages to the waiting surfmen from the wrecked seamen.
With pea-coats buttoned tightly and sou'westers tied down securely, the surfmen fought the gale on their watch-tour of duty.
Signal flags are supplied, and the surfmen are taught their use as a means of communicating with people aboard a vessel in distress.
Whether you and Fluff will be able to cut much of a figure as surfmen is a matter which needn't trouble us just now, for I'll guarantee you don't come to want while this crew holds together.
The surfmen on shore understood that even though the oncoming craft had been a life-boat, it meant certain disaster to handle her in such manner.
Tod's words were addressed to the perspective of the beach and to the way the haze blurred the horizon; surfmen rarely see anything else when walking on the beach, whether on or off duty.
This, as the afternoon advanced, had become so thick that the captain had ordered out the patrols, and Archie and Green were already tramping the beach--Green to the inlet and Archie to meet the surfmen of the station below.
Straightening himself up, he walked firmly to the open door about which the people pressed, held back by the line of surfmen headed by Polhemus, and calmly surveyed the crowd.
Mark had "turned up" quite unexpectedly to visit his uncle, having come on a sailing vessel manned by the crew whom his father and the other surfmen of the Red Key Station had rescued from the Mary Jane.
Somehow, he felt that the slight part he and his comrades had played in sharing the labors of those brave surfmen and guardians of the coast would linger in his memory longer than any other experience of their visit.
When the first watch was over, four other surfmen took the places of those on duty; but the boys were quite ready to seek the "shakedowns" prepared for them.
Without stopping to gasp out his thanks, he helped the surfmen send the buoy swiftly back to the vessel, where another man climbed into it.
And now the eight mariners, securing the line, made the end of the strong rope fast to the mast well above the reach of the waves, and the surfmen wound their end firmly around the deeply buried sand-anchor.
Then, with a parting invitation from the surfmen to come again, they departed.
From November 15 until April 15 the keeper and six surfmen live in this house, and take watches, patrolling the beach night and day, meeting halfway between the stations.
They do, I believe, as far as they can; but we must have bread, and the number of available surfmen is small.
One of the surfmen who had manned the lifeboat seemed to be particularly interested in the rescued boy, for he came into the station several times to ask how he was feeling, and if there was not something more he wanted.
Besides, I've wanted to see the surfmen work their boat, and if it comes on to storm hard, perhaps there may be a necessity for them to launch.
Yet, thanks to the ability of the steamer captain, and the experience of the surfmen below, the shipping of the women and children was accomplished with but a single accident.
Then the boat floated clear and, with a mighty shove from behind the surfmenpulled out.
Tapp's arm she went nearer to the spot where the surfmen had brought their gear and boat.
And lots of times the surfmen go off in a boat and save ships from being wrecked.
At a life saving station, there are various drills in which the surfmen are exercised.
Still, around the old cook stove whose fire burnt jollily, echoed the laughter of the surfmen as they cracked their jokes and told humorous stories of the sea.
Let us now get up high enough in imagination to look down on our rough coast, and watch the vessels struggling with storm and surf while the surfmen gallantly push out to their relief.
A pretty good looking set of surfmen when we get our new blouses on, neat and clean, you know, and then turn out for some drill at the station.
He keeps his fire in good condition all the time, so that the boys can warm themselves handy any hour; and then, you know, surfmen must be well fed if you want good work of them.
Distinguished orators and able writers changed into hungry surfmen around a supper table where huge cups of coffee sent up little clouds of fragrant steam.
Several of the surfmen now came to the door, tempted by the mild air, whose softness seemed to be on sea and land, softening all glaring color and over all roughness throwing a veil of purplish haze.
Here you arrive at the station in a s'picious condition when your patrol is up, one of the surfmenpicking you up, and a brandy flask is found in your pocket.
All the surfmen were at the breakfast table excepting Silas Fay, whose place Walter intended to temporarily fill.
Come, he did, nearer, nearer, the surfmen steadily hauling on the line; and at last the breeches buoy was in the midst of the brave circle of rescuers.
Keeper Barney and his family of surfmen were at breakfast as Walter entered.
The othersurfmen noticed Joe's manner, and silently criticised it by treating Walter's youth with all the greater considerateness.
One of the saddest chapters in the annals of the service deals with the death of the keeper and two of the surfmen of the Peaked Hill Bar Station, on the Massachusetts coast.
Then the boat is launched and the surfmen depart upon their errand of mercy.
After clinging for a time to the upturned boat, the surfmenreleased their hold and attempted to swim to shore.
And then by means of the whip, the surfmen dispatch the hawser and a second tallyboard, which directs how and where the end of the hawser shall be fastened to the wreck.
Still the life of the surfmen has its merry, as well as its serious moods.
On the Atlantic seaboard, stations are now within an average distance of five miles of each other, but often the beats of the surfmen are six and seven miles long.
Often the surfmen know they are going forth to almost certain death,' and yet never a moment do they falter.
And, yet, never is the patrol relaxed, nor do the surfmen forget the stern call to duty that may come to them at any moment.
The above list will hopefully give you a few useful examples demonstrating the appropriate usage of "surfmen" in a variety of sentences. We hope that you will now be able to make sentences using this word.
