File:Coast watch (1979) (20471927628).jpg

Title: Coast watch
Identifier: coastwatch00uncs_13 (find matches)
Year: 1979 (1970s)
Authors: UNC Sea Grant College Program
Subjects: Marine resources; Oceanography; Coastal zone management; Coastal ecology
Publisher: (Raleigh, N. C. : UNC Sea Grant College Program)
Contributing Library: State Library of North Carolina
Digitizing Sponsor: North Carolina Digital Heritage Center

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The Kitty Hawk station has been moved twice and now sits across the road as the Black Pelican restaurant. The building has its own footnote in history — it is where the Wright Brothers came to send a telegram announcing their first flight. And the building, which now has an addition, may have a ghost. "I have seen a wine glass move two feet down the bar," says Tommy Matthews, general manager of the restaurant. The original Caffey's Inlet station, built in 1874, burned. But its replacement, built in 1899, still stands in its original location in Duck. Now it serves as the restaurant at the Sanderling Inn. A TOWN'S LIFEBLOOD For generations, the Chicamacomico facilities were the heart of the community. Town leaders were those who made lifesaving their career, such as Zion S. Midgett, who was in the service for 30 years. "He had five sons, four were in the Coast Guard," says his granddaughter, Jackie Wenberg. "Most everybody was in the Coast Guard." In particular, the Chicamacomico lifesavers were known for daring rescues. In 1891, they were credited with saving seven members of the Strathairly, which had been lost in wind, fog and high surf. In 1898, they rescued the crew of the schooner Fessenden. In 1899, they were able to save the entire crew of the Mini Bergen by using the Lyle gun and "breeches buoys." "If the surf was dangerously high or the vessel wrecked close to shore, a Lyle gun was used," explains a history prepared by the Chicamacomico association. The gun was actually a bronze cannon mounted on a wooden carriage. It could fire a projectile and line 450 yards. "The surfmen on shore fired the projectile over the wreck, where the crew secured it to the wreck," the report adds. Once the crew was able to secure a rope, known as a hawser, the rescue could begin. "Underneath the hawser rode the rescue device known as the breeches buoy, a life ring with trouser legs. One victim at a time could be pulled ashore in the breeches buoy by the rescuers on the beach." Such rescues are recreated on Thursdays throughout the summer as members of the historical association demonstrate the lifesaving drills. The rescues are a delight to tourists, who also view artifacts including a ship's door, a life car, uniforms and the boat used in the station's most famous rescue — the Mirlo in 1918. Legends honor the surfmen who, led by Captain John Allen Midgett, saved the 42 members of the Mirlo, a British tanker that had hit a World War I German mine. The rescue, which came in the face of fire and turbulent seas, brought honors from the British and United States governments. "They received the American Grand Cross of Honor — six of the 11 ever presented," Ken Wenberg says. When Jackie Wenberg was young, the focus of the Chicamacomico station was the shingled building built in 1911. "When I was a child, this building was the boathouse out on the beach," she says of the original station. Continued TOP: This east view of the old station in 1983 also shows the 1911 station. BOTTOM: Restoration work progresses.
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COASTWATCH 15

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