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12 September 2023
Welcome back to our National Maritime Historical Society members and friends who share a love for naval history!
This Sunday marks an obscure milestone in naval history. In 1894 Philo McGiffin became the first American to command a battleship in combat when, in service with the Imperial Chinese Navy, he commanded Chen Yuen during the Battle of the Yalu. McGiffin’s story has been subsequently told in a special exhibit at the Naval Academy Museum. A USNI Naval History recap of that exhibit is our “In Case You Missed It” feature for this week.
Across from that museum in Sampson Hall, the McMullen Naval History Symposium kicks off next week on Thursday morning and wraps up on Friday afternoon, followed by the Commodore Dudley W. Knox Dinner at the US Naval Institutes Jack Taylor Center. The program for the McMullen Symposium is here. There are still seats available for the dinner here.
A huzzah to William S. Dudley, Charles E. Brodine Jr., and Christine F. Hughes who, over a span of four decades, published the four volume series The Naval War of 1812: A Documentary History. The NHHC announcement is our feature article!
Naval History Book Reviews is offering Dr. John Satterfield’s review of two Texas A&M publications authored by Warren Riess on the colonial-era merchantman that wound up buried
underneath the New York financial district. Enjoy! If you have recently published a naval history-related memoir or history—let us know! As always send your requests to david.winkler@usnwc.edu.
Tuesday Tidings is compiled by Dr. David F. Winkler and Jessie Henderson as a benefit for members of the National Maritime Historical Society and friends of naval history. If you are one of those friends who have considered joining the Society or have wanted to recommend membership to friends, the Society is offering a 60th anniversary membership sale: ten bucks! See: Anniversary Membership Special Offer.
As always, comments are welcome at nmhs@seahistory.org.
| ITEMS OF IMMEDIATE INTEREST | |
The Naval War of 1812: A Documentary History | |
“Battle of Lake Borgne.” Oil painting by Thomas L. Hornbrook, 1815–1844 (courtesy of the Historic New Orleans Collection, New Orleans, LA, #1950.54) | |
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Capturing that sweep of the Navy’s 1812 history is the goal of The Naval War of 1812: A Documentary History, a series originally conceived in 1978 and researched and written over more than four decades. The first volume of the series treats events of the war through 1812, the second through 1813. Volume III examines the final 14 months of the conflict on the Northern Lakes, Chesapeake Bay, and Pacific Ocean theaters. The final volume of the series surveys the war at sea for the Atlantic and Gulf Coast theaters in 1814 and 1815.
Volume I: 1812 (prelude to war, Atlantic, Northern Lakes, Gulf Coast), edited by William S. Dudley, published 1985, PDF (12 MB)
Volume II: 1813 (Atlantic, Chesapeake Bay, Northern Lakes, Gulf Coast, Pacific), edited by William S. Dudley, published 1992, PDF (17 MB)
Volume III: 1814–1815 (Northern Lakes, Chesapeake Bay, Pacific), edited by Charles E.
Brodine Jr., and Christine F. Hughes, published 2002, PDF (18 MB)
Volume IV: 1814–1815 (Atlantic, Gulf Coast), edited by Charles E. Brodine Jr., and Christine F. Hughes, published 2023, 508-compliant PDF (20 MB)
On 18 June 1812, the United States declared war on the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland to defend its rights as a neutral maritime nation. The contemporary expression “Free Trade and Sailors’ Rights” pithily captures the ideals the American government sought to protect by force of arms in 1812. Ironically, the Madison administration envisioned little role for the US Navy in winning this war fought for freedom of the seas. Instead, it trusted that the quick seizure of Upper Canada by US regulars and militiamen, coupled with a robust privateering campaign against Britain’s oceanic trade, would secure an easy American victory. These hopes were soon dashed by the US military’s failed attempts to invade Canada in the summer and fall of 1812. For this reason, and others, President Madison recognized that the war against Britain could not be won without the contributions of the infant republic’s sea service.
Although government leaders may have considered the Navy an afterthought at the beginning of the war, a string of stirring ship-to-ship victories by US warships between August and December of 1812 catapulted the nation’s sea service into the consciousness of an admiring public. The Navy’s triumphs continued through each year of the war, with two in particular—the battles of Lake Erie and Plattsburgh Bay—yielding important strategic results in favor of the United States. At war’s end, Navy sailors helped rout an invading British army at the Battle of New Orleans, preserving Louisiana’s state capital from enemy occupation.
This record of combat success, though impressive, represents just a part of the US Navy’s 1812 story. The Navy also performed valuable service in defending the nation’s maritime frontier, in protecting American seaborne trade, and in providing logistical and tactical support to the US Army. In addition to these accomplishments, one must also note that the Navy experienced its own share of wartime frustrations, setbacks, and humiliating defeats. Taken as a whole, then, the US Navy’s role in waging the War of 1812 was complex, wide-ranging, and eventful.
For well over a century, the Navy Department has supported the publication of documentary editions that capture its operational history. Of the nation’s military services, the Navy stands alone in publishing its history in this unique format. The Naval History and Heritage Command and its predecessor offices have published, and will continue to publish, records relating to the Navy’s role in major conflicts. These collections make available documents that tell a fuller, more detailed and nuanced story of the fighting Navy than any narrative history can capture.
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NAVAL HISTORY BOOK REVIEWS | |
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Studying the Princess Carolina: Anatomy of the Ship That Held Up Wall Street By Warren C. Riess, Texas A&M University Press, College Station, TX, (2023)
The Ship That Held Up Wall Street By Warren C. Riess with Sheli O. Smith, Texas A&M Press, College Station, TX, (2015)
Reviewed by John R. Satterfield, DBA
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Dr. Riess spent ten years examining the ship’s morphology (dimensions, capacity and construction materials and techniques), biological evidence (remains of shipworm species that bored into the hull timbers), and artifacts, and in archival research, piecing together the vessel’s identity with evidence of its origin, voyages, ports of call, and uses. Riess believes the ship was the Princess Carolina, designed and built in the Charleston, South Carolina, colony in 1717 by master shipwright Benjamin Austin. Austin was also a part-owner and captained the ship on its first two voyages. Riess was able, after much trial and error, to replicate Austin’s design process using straight lines and arcs of circles proportional to the 24-foot beam of the vessel. The ship’s capacious cargo holds and shallow draft were ideally suited to voyages between Charleston and London, helping South Carolina to survive through hostilities with Native Americans and pirate depredations. The wood used in construction, records of voyages and cargos, and even the remains of shipworms in the hull enabled Riess to eliminate other possibilities and focus on Princess Carolina. Records indicated the ship was lost during a storm in 1729, but Riess believes it survived, made it to New York harbor although damaged beyond repair, and served as a storage hull for years before becoming landfill.
The follow-up book, published this year, covers a wealth of technical information about later research, Princess Carolina’s design, hull components and assembly, and features in the hull. Riess replicates his intense conversational writing style and has produced a book that makes learning a joy. Both volumes left this reviewer wishing he could hear Riess lecture on the subject he obviously loves.
Okay, this may not be the general reader’s cup of tea, but it should be. Dr. Riess, research professor emeritus in the departments of history, anthropology, and marine science at the University of Maine, has a wonderful story to tell, and he tells it very well. He writes as if he is with the reader, describing his commitment to this unique project. His ability to explain the intricacies of nearly forty years of archeological research, from digging through 300-year-old Manhattan mud and grime in freezing winter storms to sifting through piles of obscure archival material, to spending months in laboratories to define materials and artifacts precisely and conserve them for the future, is fascinating and inspiring. His enthusiasm for his life’s work is infectious, and any reader should be impressed.
Read full review>>
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NAVAL HISTORY BOOKS AVAILABLE FOR REVIEW | |
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Philo McGiffin: A Man of Wit and Dash
By Jonathan Hoppe
The US Naval Academy Museum’s galleries in Preble Hall are replete with the biggest names in US naval history—James Lawrence, David G. Farragut, Chester W. Nimitz—and, for a limited time, the lesser-known but fascinating Philo N. McGiffin. He is the subject of the museum’s temporary exhibit, “Philo McGiffin: A Man of Wit and Dash.” Bringing artifacts from the museum’s collections together with those of the Washington County (Pennsylvania) Historical Society, the small, two-room exhibit provides a glimpse into the tumultuous world of a man whose humor and tenacity made him the stuff of legend.
McGiffin bore remarkable witness to history. Born in Washington, Pennsylvania, in 1860, he entered the US Naval Academy in 1877. During the course of his studies, his impish yet rebellious nature quickly became known to his classmates and instructors—including Professor Albert A. Michelson, whose 1879 Experimental Determination of the Velocity of Light is on display as part of this exhibit. McGiffin may not have excelled academically, but he did excel in the execution of pranks—conduct that earned him a trip to the brig, a repeated academic year, and a place in Naval Academy lore. Many artifacts from his Academy days, such as his uniform vest, are on display in the exhibit.
By the time McGiffin was ready to be commissioned in 1884, following two years of training cruises, the Navy, in a time of post-Civil War retrenchment, had no more billets to fill, and he was denied a commission. Undeterred, he sought other ways to prove his merit.
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Naval Academy graduate Philo McGiffin was denied a commission in 1884 because there were no billets to fill, but he went on to prove his merit in other ways. Photo: PD | |
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He found his opportunity in the long-simmering conflict between China and France for control of northern Vietnam, which had erupted into open conflict in the summer of 1884. Following the economic and internal devastation wrought by the Taiping Rebellion and the Opium Wars, China had embarked on a program of self-strengthening, leveraging Western techniques and technologies to build up its industrial base and professionalize its military as a counter to an increasingly bellicose Japan and encroaching European interests. For its program of modernization, China needed Western militarists, such as McGiffin, to advise and train its people in those weapons, strategy, and tactics. McGiffin proffered his expertise to Chinese Foreign Minister Li Hung-chang.
On Li’s recommendation, McGiffin was commissioned into the Imperial Chinese Navy. After teaching seamanship and gunnery, he was put in charge of planning and building a new Chinese Naval Academy at Wei-Hai-Wei. At the age of 28, McGiffin found himself implementing the very regulations against which he had rebelled to train the next generation of sailors for China’s rapidly expanding navy; the country’s Beiyang (northern ocean) Fleet, with its Western-built ironclads, battleships, and cruisers, was thought to be the strongest in Asia. It was on board one of these vessels that McGiffin would propel himself into the public imagination.
Read full article>>
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NAVAL HISTORY CALLS FOR PAPERS | |
UPCOMING NAVAL & MARITIME HISTORY GATHERINGS | |
PREBLE HALL NAVAL HISTORY PODCAST | |
A naval history podcast from Preble Hall – the United States Naval Academy Museum in Annapolis, Maryland. Preble Hall will interview historians, practitioners, military personnel, and other experts on a variety of naval history topics from ancient history to more current events.
Click here for the latest episode: 194: Captain Benjamin Armstrong: Naval Presence and the Interwar US Navy and Marine Corps>>
Click here for all Preble Hall Podcasts >>
| NAVAL HISTORY AND HERITAGE COMMAND H-GRAMS | DRACHINIFEL YOUTUBE CHANNEL | |
Welcome to Navy History Matters, Naval History and Heritage Command’s biweekly compilation of articles, commentaries, and blogs related to history and heritage. Every other week, they gather the top-interest items from a variety of media and social media sources that link to related content at NHHC’s website, your authoritative source for Navy history.
Click here for most recent article>>
| INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF NAVAL HISTORY | |
The International Journal of Naval History (IJNH) provides a preeminent forum for works of naval history, researched and written to demonstrable academic standards, with the goal of stimulating and promoting research into naval history and fostering communication among naval historians at an international level. IJNH welcomes any scholarly historical analysis, focused on any period or geographic region, that explores naval power in its national or cultural context. The journal is independent of any institution and operates under the direction of an international editorial board that represents various genres of naval history.
Click here to read the February 2023 edition and archived issues on the IJNH website >>
| SUPPORTING US NAVAL HISTORY & HERITAGE | |
With the 250th anniversary of the US Navy on the horizon, NMHS seeks your support as we plan to honor those who have provided for our maritime security.
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