le courage and
humanity, it gives me the truest pleasure to add an expression of
my sense of your heroism, together with the hope that you may
long adorn the force with which you are connected and the
community which must rank you among its worthiest citizens.

I have the honor to be, very respectfully,
John SHERMAN,
_Secretary_.

No. 85. (p. 453)
PLATE LXXXV.

_June 20, 1874._

Life Saving medal of the second class. United States of America.
[Rx]. In testimony of heroic deeds, etc.

LIFE SAVING MEDAL OF THE SECOND CLASS.

[_Saving Life from the Perils of the Sea._]

LIFE SAVING MEDAL OF THE SECOND CLASS * UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. * A
female figure hovering in the air, and saving a man from the deep.

IN TESTIMONY OF HEROIC DEEDS IN SAVING LIFE FROM THE PERILS OF THE
SEA. Within a wreath of laurel: ACT OF CONGRESS JUNE 20TH, 1874, and a
vacant space for the name of the recipient.

This medal, though not signed, is by Paquet.

_____

ORIGINAL DOCUMENTS.[133]

[Footnote 133: The act of Congress instituting this
medal is given under No. 84, page 441.]

_John O. Philbrick and Otis N. Wheeler of Cape Elizabeth, Maine, for
rescuing two men wrecked on Watts' Ledge, Maine, November 30, 1875.
Awarded June 23, 1876._[134]

[Footnote 134: See report of the Life-Saving
Service, November 30, 1876, No. 84, page 441.]

To Treasury Department, Office of the Secretary
John O. PHILBRICK, Esq.,[135] Washington, D. C., July 22, 1876.
Cape Elizabeth, Maine.

[Footnote 135: A similar letter was sent to Otis N.
Wheeler.]

Sir: I have the honor to transmit herewith a life-saving medal of
the second class, which has been awarded to you under authority
of the seventh section of the Act of Congress approved June 20,
1874, in recognition of your services in saving the lives of two
men who were wrecked on Watts' Ledge, on the coast of Maine, on
the 30th of November, 1875.

In sending you this medal, the Department desires to express (p. 454)
its sense of the disinterestedness and zeal which marked your
gallant conduct in