Tod Midgett is a long way from the wind-swept beaches and sandy dunes that he calls home. He is assigned to Station Humboldt Bay in Northern California, but his slow voice is peppered with the long vowels and musical inflections that characterize the Hatteras brogue, revealing him to be a southern man. His family is from Hatteras Island, part of the Outer Banks, the narrow-barrier islands that jut into the Atlantic Ocean and separate coastal North Carolina from the mainland.

Midgett is a surfman and has a deep tan, despite the winter months, earned from a life spent on the water. He is a first class petty officer who started in the Coast Guard as a reservist and transferred to active duty after Sept. 11. Midgett has served for 12 years, but his connection to the Coast Guard goes much deeper. He comes from a long line of maritime guardians. The Midgetts can trace their roots all the way back to the start of the Life Saving Service and the early history of the Outer Banks.

When Midgett was a boy, he learned a lot about of his family history from his grandfather.

“My grandfather told me,” Midgett explained, drawing out his words in a southern cadence, “that way back when, the first Midgetts to land on the Outer Banks were two brothers that escaped from Ireland to avoid Catholic persecution. They managed to gain passage on a ship heading toward America. Well, their ship grounded and wrecked near Rodanthe, and the brothers made it ashore. That was the start of the Midgetts on the Outer Banks.”

His grandfather also told him that when the Life Saving Service was created, the government had approached the Midgetts because they were expert watermen. They had lived on Hatteras Island for years in shacks made from lumber salvaged from shipwrecks, fished the waters that surrounded the island, and often helped troubled mariners in the dangerous area riddled with shallow shoals known as the "Graveyard of the Atlantic." The Life Saving Service was a good source of income for the Midgetts, earning 40 dollars a month for a half of a year and 10 dollars for each off-season rescue, said Don Wharton author of "The Mighty Midgetts of Hatteras."

“Throughout the history of the U.S. Coast Guard and its predecessor the Life Saving Service, it is unusual not to find at least one Midgett, or Midgette, in every station on the island, ready to risk his life for those in peril on the seas,” said Wharton.

There was Levene Midgett Sr., keeper of Station Hatteras Inlet, whose father, Joseph, was in the Life Saving Service and his son, Levene Jr., was in the Coast Guard. During World War II, Levene often spent 18 hours a day patrolling around the Outer Banks. He was looking for survivors from the ships that were damaged by the enemy submarines lurking around the coast, said Wharton.

Legend has it that Levene had a dog named Fondie, who could stand at attention and salute.

Ten Midgetts have been awarded the Life Saving Medal. John Midgett, for whom the Coast Guard cutter was named, received one, but there were other Midgett heroes. Rasmus Midgett was given a gold medal by the Secretary of the Treasury for rescuing some of the crew from the vessel Priscilla. The vessel hit a shoal off of Hatteras Inlet and broke into pieces. Rasmus heard the shipwreck victims' cries from shore and swam into a storming sea. He rescued 10 men from the broken boat, carrying them to shore, one at a time. The award read, “To Rasmus S.  Midgett for Rescuing Single-Handed Ten Men from the Wreck Priscilla, Aug. 18, 1899.”

Often, there was more than one Midgett serving at time, and, unlike Graves Midgett who had four brothers in the Coast Guard, they weren’t always directly related. In 1954, when the Honduran freighter Omar Babun ran aground and received a severe lashing from the sea, three Midgetts took part in its rescue. Ellery Midgett II discovered the troubled vessel, Edward Midgett fired a line to help save it, and Edison Midgett helped direct the rescue, said Wharton.

“None of these men is close kin, but they are all members of a fabulous family,” said Wharton.

There have been many Midgetts who have served in the Coast Guard; however, Tod is the last surfman.

"I think there are only six Midgetts in the Coast Guard today, and we are all related somehow" said Midgett. "Some distant cousin or uncle or something."

Midgett said he learned a lot about his family’s history from his grandfather, but he had also always heard tales about them by growing up on an island where his family is legendary.

“I have always known the history, but lately I have opened my eyes to the family history,” said Midgett. “It wasn’t until I was older that I realized how big of a deal it really was.”

Though Tod’s family history was not a motivating reason for him to join the service he still calls the connection neat.

“Whenever I get into an argument with some of the guys over how things are supposed to be done,” Midgett said, cracking a smile. “I always say, 'Listen, when they name a Coast Guard cutter after you, then come back and talk to me.’”

The Midgett history is a Coast Guard story and it has been woven deep in to the shores of the Outer Banks. The Midgetts are islanders and have been serving mariners for decades. Tod is just another Midgett in a long line of proud watermen.

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