ALCOAST 284/18 - AUG 2018 100TH ANNIVERSARY OF MIRLO RESCUE BY KEEPER MIDGETT AND CREW

R 160743 AUG 18
FM COMDT COGARD WASHINGTON DC//CG-092//
TO ALCOAST
UNCLAS //N05700//
ALCOAST 284/18
COMDTNOTE 5700
SUBJ: 100TH ANNIVERSARY OF MIRLO RESCUE BY KEEPER MIDGETT AND CREW
1. August 16 marks the 100th anniversary of the famous Gold Lifesaving Medal
rescue of SS MIRLO’s crew by the men of Chicamacomico Lifesaving Station.
2. In the afternoon of Friday, August 16, 1918, British tanker SS MIRLO was steaming
through heavy seas north of Cape Hatteras off North Carolina’s Outer Banks. At about
4:30 p.m., a torpedo ripped into her hull shooting-up a column of water seen seven
miles away by the lookout at the Chicamacomico Coast Guard Station in Rodanthe, N.C.
Flames leaped into the sky as her cargo of fuel caught fire.
3. Within minutes of sighting the explosion, Station Keeper John Allen Midgett
mustered his crew and initiated rescue operations. Veteran keeper of the
Chicamacomico Station, Midgett came from a long line of lifesavers. Members of
Midgett’s extended family had served as surfmen for over 40 years. In fact, all
of John’s surfmen were related to him and all but one bore the Midgett name.
4. Midgett’s crew launched the motor surfboat into the breakers within a half-hour
of sighting the MIRLO burst into flames. Motoring out from the surfline seven miles
to the fiery wreck, Midgett spotted the first of MIRLO’s lifeboats and directed its
occupants to row closer to shore to await his arrival for passage through the surf.
5. As Midgett steered his boat close to the wreck he saw through a wall of fire
a capsized lifeboat with six victims clinging to it. He forced his way through
the flames and rescued the men, then motored downwind to search for a third lifeboat.
He found it drifting before the wind so overcrowded with survivors that there was no
room to row. Midgett took the boat in tow while carrying the first six victims and
headed to shore where the first lifeboat remained at anchor. Even though seas were
heavy and darkness had fallen, Midgett and his men skillfully ferried the victims ten
at a time through the heavy surf to the beach where surfmen waited to assist the survivors.
6. Midgett and his five-man boat crew went in harm’s way, braving high seas and a nearly
impenetrable wall of fire, to save 42 British merchant mariners without the loss of a
single surfman. For their heroism, each Chicamacomico man was awarded the Gold Lifesaving
Medal and a similar gold medal from the British government. For more information, see
the Coast Guard Historian’s Office web page at:
https://www.history.uscg.mil/Commemorations/World-War-I/.
7. One hundred years ago on this day, August 16, Keeper John Midgett and his heroic
crew saved over 40 souls who might otherwise have perished. Next year, the Service
will honor Keeper Midgett by commissioning the newest National Security Cutter,
MIDGETT (WMSL 757), which will continue the legacy currently upheld by CGC JOHN
MIDGETT (WHEC 726).
8. Today, the selfless devotion to duty of Keeper Midgett and the Chicamacomico
crew resonates with the men and women of the U.S. Coast Guard striving to be ready,
relevant and responsive.
9. RDML Melissa Bert, USCG, Director of Governmental and Public Affairs, sends.
10. Internet release authorized.