William H. Cotter

William H. Cotter, 32, master, tug “Frank W,” with a crew of three men, rescued six members of the ship’s company of the steam barge “Sarah E. Sheldon,” Lorain, Ohio, October 20, 1905. Captain Cotter took his boat from Cleveland, with a life boat and crew from the U. S. Life Saving Station in tow, 23 miles on Lake Erie, during a gale blowing 50 m.p.h., and through waves 14 feet high, to the “Sheldon,” which had been beached an eighth-mile off shore. After the life-saving crew got the men aboard their boat, the tug towed them 3 miles farther, into Lorain harbor. On the run to the wreck, the boiler shifted, and the main steam pipe cracked.