Mary Anna - February 4, 1871

Captain F.G. Lennan and his four member crew had been driven by a ferocious gale, and despite their attempts to make anchor, they were unable to find refuge in a harbor.  As the temperature dropped, the only thing that slowed them was the thickening ice around Nantucket.  But this was more of a hindrance than a help, and soon the schooner Mary Anna was stuck fast.  The seas battered the trapped schooner, and the crew fled to the rigging in fear that the vessel would be torn apart.

Their distress flag was spotted by patrols on shore.  The volunteer life-savers found themselves in a difficult position: the ice was too thick for a surfboat, but not thick enough to allow people to walk across it.  They were forced to go out with a combination of surfboats and boards.  When the surfboats failed, the surfmen would have to make their way slowly across the ice using the boards to distribute their weight to prevent the ice from breaking. 

Meanwhile, on the Mary Anna, ocean spray had caused the ice to build up between two to three feet.  The once sharp silhouette of the schooner was blurred.  The crew had abandoned the rigging, and had managed to build a small fire on the top deck.  It provided little relief from the freezing temperatures, and the crew was forced to pace back and forth across the deck in order to stay warm.  By the time the life-savers reached the vessel, two of the five member crew had prepared themselves for death.

The life-savers arrived in time, and were able to rescue the entire crew.  The surfman were awarded silver medals by the Massachusetts Humane Society for their bravery.