The
Atlantic waters off the Outer Banks of North Carolina
are infamous for shipwrecks. More than six hundred vessels
have been lost in this "Graveyard of the Atlantic"
to a combination of strong currents, dangerous shoals,
and sudden storms. In wartime, particularly during the
twentiety century, human malice exceeded even natural
catastrophe as a destroyer of ships and sailors. In both
World War I and World War II German submarines found the
vicinity of the banks a rich hunting ground and almost
100 ships were lost. Through the first half of the nineteenth
century aid to ships and seamen wrecked on the Outer Banks
came from local people acting as the need arose. In 1789
the Federal government assumed responsibility for the
construction of a string of lighthouses along the North
Carolina coast from Cape Hatteras to Cape Fear. In addition
to the lighthouses, seven lifesaving stations were constructed
along the coast from Currituck Beach in the north to Little
Kinnakeet in the south. At each location a station keeper
and at least six surfmen remained ready around the clock
to go to the aid of ships in distress. The lifesaving
crews operated from the beach piloting heavy lifeboats
through the surf and out to stricken vessels to save passengers
and crew.
Of the many daring rescues attempted by the Lifesaving
Service one of the most famous involved the sinking of
the British tanker Mirlo on August 16, 1918, off of the
shores of Bodie Island. The Mirlo was working its way up
the North Carolina coast bound for Norfolk with a load
of gasoline from New Orleans. She safely passed Cape Hatteras
and was near Wimble Shoals off Bodie Island when she struck
a mine layed by the German submarine U-117. The resulting
explosion was seen by Captain John Allen Midgett and the
crew of the Chicamacomico Lifesaving Station. Midgett and
his men launched their power lifeboat through the surf
into a rising wind and made for the Mirlo. Two boats had
been launched successfully from the ship, but a third had
capsized and remained floating upside down near the Mirlo
with a number of desperate sailors clinging to the keel
as burning gasoline from the sinking ship spread steadily
nearer. Captain Midgett found a narrow lane in the flaming
sea and guided his boat along it until it reached the overturned
craft. The sailors were taken safely aboard, and the Chicamacomico
lifeboat moved out of the burning gasoline, located the
other two boats and brought all three to safety on the
beach. For their courageous action and superb seamanship,
Captain Midgett and his crew were awarded Gold Lifesaving
Medals of Honor from the United States and Victory Medals
from the government of Great Britain. Later the men of
the Chicamacomico Station received Grand Crosses of the
American Cross of honor from the United States Coast Guard.
The Lifesaving Stations were abandoned by the Coast Guard
after World War II in favor of more modern and sophisticated
tools and methods of aiding ships in distress. The Chicamacomico
Station, however, has been carefully restored and stands
as a monument to the brave surfmen of the Lifesaving Service.
Harry McKown
August 2005
Sources
Mobley, Joe A. Ship Ashore! The U.S. Lifesavers of
Coastal North Carolina. Raleigh: Division of Archives
and History, 1994.
Stick, David. Graveyard of the Atlantic: shipwrecks
or the North Carolina coast. Chapel Hill: University
of North Carolina Press, 1952.
