Created: 11/16/2009 11:02:09 AM 
NAVAL STATION MAYPORT, Fla. -- It happened more than 66 years ago, and this weekend, the U.S. Coast Guard honored one of the men who took courageous action to save lives.
On April 24, 1943, Seaman First Class Franklin P. Elliot was aboard the Coast Guard tug Hudson in New York Harbor.
Nearby, the S.S. El Estero, a 325-foot freighter from Panama, caught fire. Onboard the flaming freighter were 1,300 tons of explosives, and nearly 5,000 tons were on the pier.
Water was useless in fighting the oil fire. Elliot and the crew of the Hudson towed the freighter, despite the fact that it could explode any second.
The crew towed the El Estero away from the harbor and filled it with water, forcing it to sink and preventing an explosion. The Coast Guard said the move saved "countless lives."
Saturday, Rear Admiral Michael Seward, deputy commander, Mobilization and Reserve Affairs Pacific Area, awarded the Coast Guard Commendation Medal to Elliot's son, Steven M. Elliot, a Jacksonville native.
Read more about the account of the 6-hour ordeal to prevent disaster in America's most populated area.
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