Scene on the Sound: USCGC John Midgett

Research and photo by Jan Hansen

USCGC John Midgett (WHEC-726), previously USCGC Midgett (WHEC-726), is the twelfth and latest of the United States Coast Guard's fleet of 378 ft (115 m) high endurance cutters.

With her crew of 24 officers and 160 enlisted men and women, she is homeported in Seattle, Washington under the operational and administrative control of Commander, Pacific Area (COMPACAREA).

Midgett is the third ship in her class (HERO) to be named for outstanding Coast Guardsmen.

Her namesake, the late Chief Warrant Officer John Allen "BOSN/Bosun" Midgett, Jr. was born in 1876 in Rodanthe, North Carolina, and served for nearly forty years with the United States Life-Saving Service and the Coast Guard.

He was awarded the Gold Lifesaving Medal, the country's highest award for saving a life, for his heroic rescue of thirty six crewmen from the torpedoed British tanker Mirlo in 1918.

Bos'n Midgett and his lifeboat crew rescued the entire crew, despite rough seas and flames from the tanker's cargo of refined oil and gasoline.