Seattle Press on Line - Fremont Tug's Freeman Gets Medal 44 Years Late

Fremont Tug's Freeman Gets Medal 44 Years Late

Mark Freeman wears the medal he was awarded 34 years late.

Nov 15, 2000 -- Last month, Captain Mark Freeman of Fremont Tugboat Co., Inc. received the Coast Guard Commendation Medal for Outstanding Performance of duty during the rescue operation for the SS Seagate during September 1956--44 years ago--while stationed at Grays Harbor Lifeboat Station in Wesport, Washington. The medal was forwarded from the Secretary of Transportation to Senator Slade Gorton, who was instrumental in working through the process. Senator Gorton's office then made sure Mark received his medal.

Captain Freeman remembers the incident well:

"I was officer in charge of the Coast Guard 40-foot utility boat 40423. I was on bar patrol at the entrance to Grays Harbor and it was a foggy morning. The lifeboat station called on the radio and told me to run up to Pt. Grenville to investigate a ship aground. Pt. Grenville was over an hour away at 21 knots. The Liberty Ship Seagate was ashore on Sonora Reef. What a sight that was to a young fellow of 22 years who had read about every wreck in northwest waters, and to be in the middle of one!

"I called the lifeboat station and said I was on scene and the Seagate was ashore with what looked like a lot of crew on board; not sinking yet but on the reef. They said to stay put and they would get help on scene. The 125-foot cutter McLain arrived later that day and the 255-foot cutter Wachusett and the 216-foot cutter Yocona were also sent.

"That night after the swell picked up, the entire crew, except for the captain, chief and one other, decided they wanted off. The only place I could pick them up was on the port side about the middle of the ship, as there were rocks ahead and a big rock alongside me. I ran a towline out as I came in and surged on it. By this time, there was a huge swell running, but off the crew came. My engineer, Dave Peake, was almost killed in the first shower of suitcases and duffel bags. It took about three trips to get everyone off. Of course the ship was trying to cross the reef, shortening up the space I had to work in and making horrible grinding noises as she broke her back and ground across the reef.

"The next day the ship had moved across the reef so far that the three men still on board got apprehensive that they might not be able to get off. They hung a Jacob's ladder off the very stern of the boat and just below it was a big rock that would cover and then bare in the swell. I came in and plucked them off one by one, timing it right so the swell had the rock covered. I definitely thought they had waited too long.

"During the four days we were there, the Yocona and Wachusett tried to pull the Seagate off, but were unable to dislodge her. The last night we were there a storm came up. After we left, the Seagate went across the reef and went ashore; later on she broke in half. I followed the Yocona south using her as a wave break and got off at Grays Harbor--one very tired young man."

Mark Freeman was at Grays Harbor Lifeboat Station for approximately three and a half years, leaving the Coast Guard in 1959. During that time, he attained the rank of Second Class Bosun Mate and received two letters of appreciation, one for a surf rescue and the other for rescue work on the Seagate. His final count of lives saved when he left the Coast Guard was 37. Of this record he remarks, "the pay was $167 per month and all you could eat--and I loved every minute of the rescue service."

The award was in transit and misplaced since February of 1999 and was received on the 16th of October, 2000.

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Rich Millsapps	Jan 15, 2004	Denver Colo	Deputy Sheriff
I also was assigned to the 40423,but in Ketchikan Alaska from 1965 to 1969.