John F. Horgan, 33, state policeman, helped to rescue William H. Cashman, 34, boatswain’s mate, and Earl F. Sampson, 21, Coast Guardsman, from drowning, Manomet, Massachusetts, March 10, 1928. While Cashman and a crew of seven men, including Sampson, were trying to row to the shore of Cape Cod Bay in a surf boat, the boat capsized about a quarter-mile from the shore and all were thrown into the water. Cashman got hold of a large oar and swam toward shore. Sampson, who wore a life preserver, drifted away from the boat. Some of the men held to the boat. The air was below the freezing point, and the water was ice cold. There were waves six to eight feet high and several lines of breakers near shore. Horgan, who was a poor swimmer, went in a dory, which was rowed by Elmer T. Harper and Russell Waldo Anderson through very rough water for 750 feet to Cashman. Much water leaked into the dory, and Horgan bailed constantly. While the dory rose and fell in the rough water and was in constant danger of capsizing, Horgan and Anderson with great difficulty pulled Cashman into the dory. Horgan bailed as Harper and Anderson maneuvered the dory 300 feet to Sampson. Horgan with an oar at the stern then kept the dory headed as nearly as possible into the waves as Sampson was lifted into the dory by Harper and Anderson. The dory was then rowed about 900 feet to the capsized surf boat, and a brief effort was made to tow that craft. Another dory arrived, and Horgan’s companions then rowed to shore. Cashman died soon after being taken to shore. Sampson was in the hospital five days but recovered.
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