You may recall in Delaware we visited one of the few US Life Saving Service stations preserved as a museum. Today we visited another one, this one at Rodanthe, just north of our camp on Hatteras Island. This is the Chicamacomico Life Saving station. (The locals still know this area as Chicamacomico; the postoffice made them rename it to something more easily spelled and pronounced, and so it became postally Rodanthe.)
This station is noteworthy in that it contains seven well preserved buildings. The one in the picture was built in 1874 as the first station here. The extra support members are needed because an August lightening strike took out the “king” beam and caused a vapor expansion inside, resulting in joint separation throughout.
Life Saving Stations were once spaced at six mile intervals on the eastern seaboard, a few in the gulf, a few on the Pacific Coast, and a large number along the Great Lakes. The Chicamacomico station owes its fame to an incident in WWI when an English ship bearing tons of airplane fuel exploded and sank off shore. The station surfmen managed to save most of the crew while fighting high seas and burning gasoline. The station and its surfmen received many awards and international recognition for heroism.
The Indian River (DE) station was staffed mostly by surfmen named Lingo, a name still prominent in the area. Here, six of the seven 1917 surfmen were named Midgette; the seventh was named O’Neil, and was married to a Midgette. The Midgettes are still prominent in the area, but sadly seem not to be without their black sheep; while shopping at the local Food-o-Rama, we spied a notice on the cash register telling employees not to honor checks from one Mary Midgette.
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