Mayo was born in Provincetown, Massachusetts on September 28, 1826. As a Cape Cod mariner, he became a volunteer for the Humane Society of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, one of the precursors of the United States Life-Saving Service. On January 5, 1856, he was leader and coxswain of a five-man surfboat crew which rescued five survivors from the grounded schooner Clarendon. The Humane Society awarded Silver Medals to Mayo and his crew for their bravery.[7]
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.[8]
As the captain of the rescue boat, Mayo was also awarded what the Humane Society called a "Diploma."[9]
In 1880,[7] Mayo, his wife and grandson moved to North Dakota, where they took up farming.[10] Isaac Mayo died on April 6, 1912 in Tower City and is buried in nearby Oriska Cemetery.[7]
USCGC Isaac Mayo
In 2010, when the Coast Guard decided that all the new Sentinel class cutters would be named after Coast Guard personnel who had been recognized for their heroism, Mayo was one of those to be honored.[1][11][12]
The twelfth cutter in the class, named the USCGC Isaac Mayo, was commissioned on March 28, 2015.[13]
^Mary L. Landrieu (2012-03-05). "Tribute To Coast Guard Heroes". Capitol Words. Archived from the original on 2014-09-03. Retrieved 2013-01-10. 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.
^"Pursuing the Whale". Retrieved 2013-01-12. 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 Boston Almanac and Business Directory, Volume 45. Sampson, Davenport. 1879. p. 39. Retrieved 2013-01-12. 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.
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Bob Lind (2016-02-25). "Coast Guard cutter named after ND farmer who was also East Coast seaman". Retrieved 2016-02-27. In March 2015, a Coast Guard cutter named Isaac Mayo was commissioned in Key West, Fla. It was named for a man who had two widely different jobs in two widely different areas: He was a seaman on the Atlantic Ocean and a farmer in North Dakota.
^"FRC Plan B: The Sentinel Class". Defense Industry Daily. 2014-05-02. Archived from the original on 2014-07-07. Retrieved 2014-04-03. All of these boats will be named after enlisted Coast Guard heroes, who distinguished themselves in USCG or military service. The first 25 have been named, but only 8 have been commissioned...
