Elliott and the USS Constitution-- Part 2: What Went On Aboard the Ship

Jesse Elliott received orders to sail to the Mediterranean Sea and take charge of the squadron there.  The next years, from 1835 to 1838, were a surreal experience for the Constitution's crew as Elliott repeatedly ignored regulations and abused his authority.

He took advantage of the annual circuits of Mediterranean ports to sightsee and gather memorabilia.  Along the way, he acquired antiques, "exotic" animals including donkeys, a set of papal busts, a stuffed ibis, a pair of Roman sarcophagi, antique coins and large marble spheres.

He toured parts of the Middle East with an entourage from the ship and swam in the Dead Sea.  Elliott also accepted unauthorized gifts from the Marmeluke ruler of Egypt.

Living in Style, That Elliott.  --Brock-Perry

Elliott and the USS Constitution: The President's Head

As you have read in recent pots, Jesse Elliott's time commanding the USS Constitution also led to situations.

This is from the USS Constitution museum blog.

Jesse Elliott took command of the Boston Navy Yard in 1833 where the USS Constitution was beginning its first major restoration.  To impress President Andrew Jackson, Elliott had a full-length figurehead of Jackson carved and installed on the ship's bow.

Bostonians who disliked Jackson were outraged.  To underscore the point, a local sea captain named Samuel Worthington Dewey climbed aboard the ship on the night of July 2, 1834, and beheaded the figurehead.

Jackson was infuriated and embarrassed by the controversy, but no charges were filed.

Elliott received orders to sail the USS Constitution and take command of the Mediterranean Squadron.

--Brock-Perry

Jesse Elliott, USN-- Part 7: A Duel, Command of USS Constitution and More Charges

In 1820, Elliott was second to Commodore James Barron when the latter fatally shot Stephen Decatur in a duel.  He was transferred to the Brazil Squadron in 1825, served as the captain of the USS Cyane for two years and commanded the West Indies Squadron from 1829 to 1832.

Elliott commanded the Boston Navy Yard in 1832 and then  to command of the frigate USS Constitution and the Mediterranean Squadron from 3 March 1835 to 18 August 1838.  During his Mediterranean assignment, he was charged for minor offenses by several of his junior officers, including using his official position for personal gain and  transporting animals he had purchased aboard the Constitution.

This looks like an interesting topic for more detail.

--Brock-Perry

John Downes, USN-- Part 4: A Questionable Period and Making Sumatra Pay

Downes took command of the USS Macedonian in 1818 and set out on a three year show of American power to South America and beyond.  On this trip he decided to make some money giving protection, passage and banking to pirates, privateers and others.  He became quite rich from this.  I am surprised he was able to keep his rank in the Navy for doing this.

Regardles of this other stuff, John Downes became commodore of the Mediterranean Squadron and from 1828-1829, commanded the USS Java.

From 1832-1834, he commanded the Pacific Squadron.  In 1832, he went to the coast of Sumatra in the USS Potomac to avenge the attack on the American merchantman Friendship, of Salem, Massachusetts.  He attacked four Malay forts, killing all their defenders and then bombarded a village until it caught fire.

He then took the Potomac on an around the world voyage, becoming the second American vessel to circumnavigate the globe.  (The first was the USS Vincinnes, commanded by William B. Finch.)

--Brock-Perry

Captain Thomas Gamble-- Part 3: One of Four Brothers Who Died in the Service and Friend of James Fennimore Cooper

From Find-a-Grave.

U.S. Naval officer, veteran of the War of 1812, friend and former messmate of writer James Fennimore Cooper ("Last of the Mohicans").

Born in Recklestown (now Chesterfield, New Jersey) on the first Christmas Eve following the American revolution, he was the eldest of four brothers who died in the service of their country.

Only 34 at the time of his death, he became fatally ill while in command of the  sloop USS Erie of the U.S. Navy's Mediterranean Squadron, and died in the naval hospital in Pisa, Italy,  during the autumn of 1818.

His friendship with James Fennimore Cooper had begun a decade earlier when they had served together as midshipmen on Lake Ontario.  There they assisted future Commodore Melancton Woolsey in the construction of the brig USS Oneida, the  first American warship on the Great Lakes.

--Brock-Perry

Timeline of Capt. Gwinn's Life-- Part 2: A Varied Career

1823-1825   Duty at United States Navy Yard, Charlestown, Massachusetts

1826   Duty on the USS Macedonian (frigate)

1829-1832  Executive Officer, United States Navy Yard, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

1837   Commanded USS Vandalia (sloop of war) Home Squadron

1839-1842   Master Commandant,  United States Navy Yard, Philadelphia. Pennsylvania.

1839   USS Dale (sloop of war) launched and commissioned at Philadelphia Navy Yard.  I saw no reference that he commanded the ship as shown in the USS Dale (1839)  entry in Wikipedia, but probably got his name as commander because he was in charge of the overall Navy Yard.

1842    Promoted to Captain

1844-1845   Commanded USS Potomac (frigate)   Home Squadron

1848   Commanded USS Constitution (frigate),  Mediterranean Squadron.

1849  , September 4    Died Palermo, Italy

--Brock-Perry

John Gwinn Papers-- Part 3: Rising Through the Ranks

1823-1825  Duty at  United States Navy Yard, Charlestown, Massachusetts.

1826   Duty on USS Macedonian (frigate) Brazil Station

1829-1832   Executive Officer, United States Navy Yard, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

1837  Commanded USS Vandalia (sloop-of-war), Home Squadron

1839-1842  Master Commandant , United States Navy Yard, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

1842  Promoted to captain. 1844-1845  Commanded USS Potomac (frigate), Home Squadron

1848  Commanded USS Constitution (frigate), Mediterranean Squadron

1849,  September 4  Died , Palermo, Sicily

--Brock-Perry

The John Gwinn Papers-- Part 1

The John Gwinn papers are at the Library of Congress, Manuscript Division.

Spans dates  1815 to 1864 with most dates from 1825 to 1849.

It includes 900 items.

Official correspondence includes  orders to duty, general orders, circulars, regulations,  as well as letters received and drafts of letters sent.

The letters document the Navy's peacetime mission of protecting American commerce and interests at home and overseas.

Gwinn commanded the Vandalia (sloop-of-war),  and Potomac (frigate), Home Squadron and the Pensacola, Fl., Navy Base, 

At home he protected American commerce from aggression and piratical acts.  Abroad, he commanded the USS Constitution, the Mediterranean Squadron and, again protected American interests.  Because of political unrest in Italy,  the American consul wrote him asking for  protection of American citizens and their interests.

--Brock-Perry

Richard Dale (Midshipman Richard Dale's Father) Was a Hero of the American Revolution

From Find A Grave.

BIRTH:  6 November 1756  Norfolk City, Virginia

DEATH:  26 February 1826  (aged 69)  Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

BURIAL:  Laurel Hill Cemetery, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania  (A lot of famous people are buried there.)

He was the father of Midshipman Dale who is buried in Bermuda and considered the last American casualty of the War of 1812.  I have been writing about him earlier this month.

Revolutionary War  Naval Officer.    Served in the British Navy from 1776 to 1777, when he took up the American cause.

Served as second-in-command to Captain John Paul Jones on the USS Bon Homme Richard in the famous battle with the HMS Serapis.

Later promoted to lieutenant and commanded continental vessels.

Promoted to captain, U.S. Navy in 1794 and led the Navy squadron in the Mediterranean Sea during the 1801-1802  Barbary Coast War.

Originally buried at  at the Christ Church Burial Ground in  Philadelphia, was reinterred in Laurel Hill Cemetery in 1888.

If you want to read about more details of this man's very interesting life, look him up in Wikipedia.

--Brock-Perry

The USS Constitution After the War of 1812

From History Link:  Frigate USS Constitution, on a tour of the Pacific ports, arrives in Seattle  on May 31, 1933"  by Daryl C. McClary.

After the War of 1812, the Constitution was refitted and served as the flagship of the Mediterranean Squadron.  In 1830, it was determined that the ship was unseaworthy and  Congress considered scrapping her.  But  public sentiment, and especially Oliver Wendell Holmes' memorable poem "Old Ironsides" (I had to memorize it while in fifth grade) saved it.

The Constitution was refitted and repaired, refitted and returned to commissioned status four times between 1832 and 1907.  From 1897 to 1925, she was on exhibition at Boston Naval Shipyard.

In 1924 it was found that she was again in dire need of repairs.  Congress authorized yet another rebuild, but by public subscription and a national voluntary  campaign to raise the necessary funds began.

--Brock-Perry

USS New York-- Part 1: Quasi War and First Barbary War

From Wikipedia.

A three-masted, wooden sailing frigate that saw service during the Quasi War with France and the First Barbary War.  It was built by public subscription by citizens of New York, one of five frigates built by states to supplement the original six provided for by the Naval Act of 1794.

Length 145 feet, beam 28 feet,  340 officers and men,  Armament:   twenty-six  18-pdr. guns and twenty 32-pdr carronades.

It was built in New York City and commissioned in October 1800 with Captain Richard Valentine Morris in command.  The Quasi War took place in the Mediterranean and Caribbean seas where French warships preyed on American shipping interests.  In 1800, the New York patrolled Caribbean waters.

In 1802, it went to the Mediterranean Sea.  Became flagship of the Mediterranean Squadron in 1803.

--Brock-Perry

Jacob Nicholas Jones Postwar Career

From Wikipedia.

He was a commodore in the U.S. Mediterranean Squadron 1821-1823 and in the Pacific squadron 1826-1829.  During the period between these sea duties, he was a Navy Commissioner in Washington, D.C..

He held commands ashore in Baltimore and New York in the 1830s and 1840s.  His final command assignment  was at the Philadelphia Naval Asylum from 1847 to his death in 1850.  That answers my question yesterday as to what he did at the asylum.

--Brock-Perry

Jacob Nicholas Jones

From Together We Served site.  List of and dates of U.S. Navy Service.

1799-1801   USS United States
1801-1803   USS Philadelphia
1801-1805   Prisoner of War, Algeria

1805-1810   U.S. Navy
1810-1812   USS Wasp
1813-1814   USS Macedonian

1815   USS Macedonian
1816-1818   USS Guerriere
1818-1821   U.S. Navy

1821-1823   Mediterranean Squadron
1823-1826   U.S. Navy Board of Commissioners
1826-1827   Pacific Squadron

1829-1847   U.S. Navy
1847-1850  U.S. Naval Asylum

Not sure about the last place he was.  Did he command it or was he in it?

--Brock-Perry

The USS Washington, Ship-of-theLine

From Wikipedia.

Earlier this week, I wrote about Portsmouth, New Hampshire, and the war and mentioned the construction of the Ship-of-the-Line USS Washington that started in 1813 which kept a lot of people working.

I'd never heard of it, even though at one time it was the most powerful ship in the US Navy.

It was authorized by Congress Jan. 2, 1813, and laid down in May at the Portsmouth Navy Yard.  Launched Oct. 1, 1814 and commissioned August 26, 1815.  So it saw no action during the War of 1812.

Its measurements were 190 feet long, 54-foot beam, crew of 750 and carried 74 guns.

In May of 1816, it voyaged to Annapolis, Maryland and received many distinguished visitors, including the President and Mrs. James Madison.

Then, it was off to the Mediterranean Squadron where it served as the flagship of Commodore Isaac Chauncey.  It was placed in ordinary back the the United States in 1820 and remained there until broken up in 1843.

Now, I Know.  --Brock=Perry