GILROY
– The U.S. Coast Guard presented its highest lifesaving medal
Wednesday morning to city police Capt. Scot Smithee, who
single-handedly rescued seven people from beneath an overturned
catamaran on March 8 in Hawaii.
GILROY – The U.S. Coast Guard presented its highest lifesaving medal Wednesday morning to city police Capt. Scot Smithee, who single-handedly rescued seven people from beneath an overturned catamaran on March 8 in Hawaii.
Fellow officers kept Smithee unaware of the honor until 10:30 a.m. Wednesday, when Rear Admiral Charles D. Wurster, commander of the 14th Coast Guard District in Honolulu, presented the captain with a Gold Lifesaving Medal at the Gilroy police station.
Wurster was in Alameda on Coast Guard business and drove down to Gilroy for the presentation.
The Coast Guard commandant awards the Gold Lifesaving Medal to someone who has put his or her life in immediate danger to save others from peril in U.S. waters.
It has its roots in the original Lifesaving Medal, first presented in 1874. Revised in 1949, the medal is made of solid gold. In its 130 years of existence, it has been presented 691 times, an average of five a year.
Smithee and his wife were on a snorkeling cruise during their belated Hawaiian honeymoon when their catamaran overturned in rough seas off the small island of Lanai.
Smithee and the two-man crew made it to the surface, but the other seven passengers, including Smithee’s wife, were trapped in the submerged cabin with a shrinking air pocket contaminated by diesel fumes.
Smithee assembled a lifeline from pieces of rope and then repeatedly swam under the boat, avoiding dangerous loose rigging and debris. Using the lifeline, he guided the passengers – including a panicked non-swimmer – one-by-one to the surface.
After waiting for hours atop the catamaran, the people were rescued. Smithee loaded all the passengers and crew members aboard a fishing boat before getting aboard himself.
This is far from Smithee’s first heroism award related to the Hawaiian rescue. Previous honors have come from the Gilroy City Council, the Exchange Club of Gilroy and the American Policemen’s Hall of Fame.
Peter Crowley covers public safety for The Dispatch. You can reach him at pc******@************ch.com or 847-7109.
