A realistic and thrilling scene. It opens with the launch of the life-boat through the surf, then a view of an exhausted swimmer battling with the waves, then his rescue by the life-boat, and the return to shore; where a crowd of excited bathers await. The resuscitation of the half-drowned man is then shown. The picture is well worked out, and ought to be a hit anywhere.
—AMB Picture Catalogue (1902)