 The rest proved themselves to be quite alive once given the benefit of warmth, dryness, and medical attention.In all, "Escanaba" plucked 133 survivors from the water that day, only one of whom went on to die aboard the cutter after rescue.For their work in supervising and organizing the rescue, commanding officer Lieutenant Commander Carl U. Peterson received the Legion of Merit and executive officer Lieutenant Robert H. Prause Jr., whose experiments in a tethered rubber suit off a dock at Bluie West One had paved the way for this new "retriever method," received a letter of commendation.