TOP: 



John Allen Midgett is pictured some years after the Mirlo rescue. 



BOTTOM: 



The lifesavers who participated in the Mirlo rescue are presented 

 American Grand Crosses of Honor in Manteo. July 23, 1930. 



This research takes him well beyond his woodwright skills. 

 To find the original records of the Outer Banks stations, he 

 shows the tenacity of a gumshoe detective and the enthusiasm 

 of a revival preacher. 



While he works alone inside the building, Wenberg uses faxes, 

 the Internet and e-mail to enlist the aid of dozens of professional and 

 amateur historians and archivists to track the records. Working from 

 homes and offices, they spend countless hours scouring libraries and 

 archives to solve mysteries of the missing maritime records. 



Their combined success goes beyond the history of this single 

 Outer Banks landmark. They are providing missing pieces in the 

 legacy of the U.S. Lifesaving Service and other federal agencies in 

 the 1800s. 



"Go back in the National Archives or the Library of Congress, 

 you will find virtually nothing," Wenberg says. "You can find lots 

 of things after 1915." 



EARLY LIFESAVERS 



Before the U.S. Coast Guard, there was the U.S. Lifesaving 

 Service. Wenberg' s research goes back even further to the Revenue 

 Cutter Service and local humane societies that rescued the crews of 

 ships lost along the dangerous shoals near the Outer Banks. 



In the late 1 840s, the federal government agreed to form a 

 lifesaving service, "but it never got off the ground," Wenberg 

 explains. For the first two decades, the service's activities were 

 focused in New York, New Jersey and the Great Lakes. 



The Civil War left the efforts stalled, but by 1 87 1 , there were 

 71 "red houses," also known as houses of refuge. The plain 

 buildings looked more like barns than stations. 



In the 1870s, as shipping activity along the North Carolina 

 coast increased, Sumner Kimball was given the helm of the U.S. 

 Lifesaving Service. New stations were ordered along the East Coast, 

 including areas along the Outer Banks that already were earning the 

 title "Graveyard of the Atlantic." 



The 1 874 plans offered a building much more detailed than a 

 bam. Eventually, they were used for about two dozen stations along 

 the East Coast. Seven were along North Carolina's Outer Banks — 

 Chicamacomico, Little Kinnakeet, Bodie Island, Nags Head, Kitty 

 Hawk, Caffey's Inlet and Currituck Beach, also known as Jones 

 Hill. 



Before he started the Chicamacomico station, builder James 

 Boyle had worked on a station in Little Kinnakeet, also on Hatteras 

 Island. "The marine revenue cutter inspector made him tear it down 

 because it did not conform to the military plans," Wenberg explains. 

 "There were multiple sets of plans floating around." 



Boyle was discharged before the Kinnakeet station was rebuilt 

 as a variation of the Chicamacomico design. That building now 

 belongs to the National Park Service, but it has not had the attention 

 of its sister station. 



Over the years, the other 1 874 design stations have met a 

 variety of fates. One was lost to the roaring sea. Several became 

 private residences or offices. 



Vf. Archives andMnorx 



14 WINTER 2000 



