The United States Coast Guard has presented the Gold Lifesaving Medal, the agency's highest civilian award, to John Dacuag, a Filipino-American mariner from Hawai'i who saved a cargo ship crewman from drowning in the Pacific Ocean at the height of Typhoon ManYi in 2007.

Rear Adm. Mason K. Brown, 14th Coast Guard District commander, awarded the medal to Dacuag at a formal ceremony in the agency's headquarters in Honolulu.

Dacuag is the 713th recipient of the award in the Coast Guard's history.

The Horizon Falcon, where Dacuag was a crew member, received a distress call on July 10, 2007, from another vessel, The Hai Tong No. 7.

Both vessels were traversing the Philippine Sea along with a typhoon.

Hai Tong was about 375 miles northwest of Guam.

Horizon Falcon changed course to help Hai Tong. Dacuag rescued a crew member of Hai Tong when Dacuag jumped into the 24-foot seas and 40-knot winds to rescue him.

The Coast Guard, meanwhile, saved 13 Hai Tong crew members.