On this day in 1888, one of the most ferocious storms of the nineteenth century battered the New England coast. In the seas off Hull, "Storm Warriors," as the men of the United States Life-Saving Service were known, saved 29 lives. One crew rowed 6 ½ miles out to a wrecked vessel and rescued seven sailors. For almost a century, Massachusetts Humane Society volunteers had been helping to rescue mariners in distress. When the federal government formally organized the United States Life-Saving Service in 1878, paid surfmen took over most of the work. The record of human lives they saved was impressive: 99% of the people they tried to rescue survived. In 1915 the USLSS became part of the United States Coast Guard.