Isaac Mayo | |
|---|---|
| Born | c. 1828 |
| Died | 1912 (aged 83–84) |
| Nationality | American |
| Occupation(s) | seaman, farmer |
| Known for | heroic life saving |
Isaac Mayo (c. 1828-1912) was a junior surfman in the United States Life-Saving Service, one of the agencies later amalgamated into the United States Coast Guard in 1915.[1][2][3][4][5][6] On April 4, 1879, he led multiple and eventually successful efforts to rescue seamen stranded in an offshore wreck at the height of a violent storm.
The schooner Sarah J. Fort was wrecked on a sandbank just off Cape Cod.[1] Initial attempts to row a rescue boat out to the wrecked and disintegrating schooner failed, with two boatmen lost overboard. By the time the tide had gone out the initial rescue crew was exhausted, and Mayo was part of a second boat crew. The boat was swamped and wrecked. Mayo rallied and led a third rescue attempt in a smaller rescue boat that was ultimately successful at rescuing the last four survivors of the schooner's crew.
To honor his bravery and leadership, the Life–Saving Service honored Mayo with a Gold Lifesaving Medal.[1] The Humane Society of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts awarded Mayo and the rest of the rescue boat's crew Silver Medals.[7] As the captain of the rescue boat, Mayo was also awarded what the Humane Society called a "Diploma."[8]
In 1879 Mayo, his wife and grandson, moved to North Dakota, where they took up farming.[9]
In recognition of the services he rendered in this rescue, Captain Mayo received the Gold Lifesaving Medal.
Others, such as Isaac Mayo and Joseph Napier, returned to shore multiple times to reembark on new boats after previous attempts caused them to capsize and several of their fellow crewmen to perish in the punishing waves. Both men eventually completed their rescue missions successfully.
What has made the sailors of Cape Cod and the islands of Nantucket and Martha's Vineyard world-renowned as the best men that ever trod the deck of a vessel? Qne of the great reasons is that from boyhood they are accustomed to being in boats and to seeing deeds of valor and heroism performed that have gone with them through life. Among the many such scenes that I witnessed when a young man, one stands out that made the greatest impression upon me: the rescue by Captain Isaac F. Mayo and a volunteer crew of the crew of the Sarah J. Fort, ashore at Peaked Hill Bars off Cape Cod.
The heroic conduct of Capt. Isaac F. Mayo, of Provincetown, and his boat's crew, who rescued the survivors on the wreck of the schooner Sarah J. Fort, at Peaked Hill Bars, Cape Cod, April 4, has been acknowledged by the presentation of a silver medal to each man by the Humane Society of Massachusetts.
To Captain Isaac F. Mayo, Murdock Kemp, Benjamin W. Atkins, Kenneth McPhee and Allen McLeod, for their successful efforts in saving the crew of the schooner Sarah J. Fort, on the 3d of April, the Silver Medal. And, in addition, a Diploma was presented to Captain Isaac F. Mayo, of Provincetown, in recognition of the great energy, efficiency, and courage shown by him in organizing and leading a boat's crew to the schooner on the same occasion.
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