Chicamacomico Life-Saving Station in Rodanthe on Hatteras Island served first in the United States Life-Saving Service and, after the January 1915 merger with the Revenue Cutter Service, in the Coast Guard until 1954. Now a museum, it is regarded as the country’s most complete Life-Saving Service site. Its best-known moment came during World War I, when the British tanker Mirlo was torpedoed offshore on August 16, 1918. Keeper John Allen Midgett Jr. and his crew saved 42 people from the burning vessel, earning major honors, including gold medals from King George V and six of the eleven Grand Cross awards ever given by the American Cross of Honor.