Dewey and Other Naval Commanders Part 14

Lieutenant Charles Wilkes was born in 1798 and died in 1877. He entered the American navy at an early age and in 1838 was made commander of the squadron which spent four years in sailing through the Pacific, along its American coasts and in the Antarctic regions.

Before giving an account of this memorable scientific expedition, let me add a little more information concerning this distinguished naval officer, since this is the only chapter which contains any reference to him. He was made a captain in 1855. In the month of November, 1861, while in command of the steamer _San Jacinto_, he stopped the British s.h.i.+p _Trent_ and forcibly took off the two Confederate commissioners, Mason and Slidell, who were on their way respectively to England and France to secure their aid for the Southern Confederacy.

Captain Wilkes was highly applauded for his act by his countrymen, but England was very indignant. It was an illegal proceeding on his part, since the deck of a s.h.i.+p is the same as the soil of the country whose flag she flies. Our Government was compelled to disavow his action and restore the commissioners to English custody.

In the War for the Union Captain Wilkes commanded the James River squadron, was made commodore in 1862 and was retired in 1864 and made rear-admiral on the retired list.

[Ill.u.s.tration: THE "SAN JACINTO" STOPPING THE "TRENT."]

The scientific expedition of which Lieutenant Wilkes was given command was intended, to quote the words of Congress, "for the purpose of exploring and surveying the southern ocean, as well to determine the existence of all doubtful islands and shoals as to discover and accurately fix the position of those which lie in or near the track of our vessels in that quarter and may have escaped the observation of scientific navigators."

Lieutenant Wilkes sailed from Hampton Roads on the 19th of August, 1838, his flags.h.i.+p being the 18-gun sloop-of-war _Vincennes_, the 18-gun sloop-of-war _Peac.o.c.k_, the 12-gun brig-of-war _Porpoise_, the stores.h.i.+p _Relief_, the tender _Sea Gull_ and the tender _Flying Fish_. Since one of the main objects was scientific research, the expedition was provided with a philologist, naturalists, conchologists, mineralogist, botanist, draughtsmen and a horticulturist.

A halt for a week was made at the Madeira Islands, when the s.h.i.+ps headed southward, reaching Rio Janeiro late in November. In January, 1839, they halted at Orange Harbor, Terra del Fuego, and made it their base of operations. On the 25th of February Lieutenant Wilkes, in the _Porpoise_, accompanied by the _Sea Gull_, started for the South Pole.

On the 1st of March considerable ice and snow were encountered and an island sighted, but the men could not land because of the surf. The next day the Ashland Islands were discovered and soon after the two vessels reached Palmersland. The following is the account of Lieutenant Wilkes:

"It was a day of great excitement to all, for we had ice of all kinds to encounter, from the iceberg of huge quadrangular shape, with its stratified appearance, to the sunken and deceptive ma.s.ses that were difficult to perceive before they were under the bow. I have rarely seen a finer sight. The sea was literally studded with these beautiful ma.s.ses, some of pure white, others showing all shades of the opal, others emerald green and occasionally, here and there, some of deep black. Our situation was critical, but the weather favored us for a few hours. On clearing these dangers we kept off to the south and west under all sail, and at 9 P.M. we counted eight large islands. Afterward the weather became so thick with mist and fog as to render it necessary to lie to till daylight, before which time we had a heavy snowstorm. A strong gale now set in from the southwest; the deck of the brig was covered with ice and snow and the weather became exceedingly damp and cold. The men were suffering not only from want of sufficient room but from the inadequacy of the clothing."

Naturally the further south they penetrated the greater became their danger from the increasing fields of ice and icebergs. The _Peac.o.c.k_ and _Flying Fish_ left Orange Harbor on the same day with the _Porpoise_ and _Sea Gull_. They were separated by a gale and the _Peac.o.c.k_ was continually beset by icebergs. Every rope and the deck, spars and rigging were thickly coated with ice. Some days later the _Flying Fish_ was met and she reported that she had penetrated to the parallel of 70 degrees. There was imminent danger of being frozen in, and, as they were short of provisions, they sailed northward. The _Flying Fish_ reached Orange Harbor in April, while the _Peac.o.c.k_ continued on to Valparaiso, where the stores.h.i.+p _Relief_ was found. In May the other members of the squadron arrived at the port, with the exception of the _Sea Gull_, which was never heard of again.

The squadron now crossed the Pacific, reaching Sydney, New South Wales, in the latter part of November. There, after consulting with his officers, Lieutenant Wilkes decided to make another Antarctic cruise.

The _Flying Fish_ proved so unseaworthy that, after pa.s.sing through a violent storm, she was obliged to return to port and took no further part in the enterprise.

Once more among the ice fields, the s.h.i.+ps were menaced by danger from every side. Some of the escapes were of the most thrilling nature. One of the s.h.i.+ps barely missed being crushed by hundreds of tons of ice which fell from the top of an overhanging iceberg. The weather was intensely cold and the snow and fine sleet which were whirled horizontally through the air cut the face like bird shot.

The _Vincennes_ prowled along the edge of the Antarctic Continent as far as 97 degrees east, when Lieutenant Wilkes headed northward and arrived at Sydney in March, 1840, and found the _Peac.o.c.k_ at anchor. The _Porpoise_ reached 100 degrees east and 64 degrees 65 minutes south when she turned her prow away from the inhospitable solitude and in March arrived at Auckland Isle.

The following summer was spent in exploring the islands of the Southern Archipelago. A party was engaged in a launch and cutter, when a tempest compelled them to run into a bay of the Fiji group for shelter. While working its way back the cutter ran upon a reef and was attacked by the natives. The ammunition of the Americans was wet and they abandoned the cutter and returned to the _Vincennes_.

Since these natives needed a lesson, Lieutenant Wilkes landed a force and burned the native village. A few days later an exploring party was again attacked while trying to trade with the natives. The men were forced to retreat to their boats, under a hot fire, many of the savages using muskets with no little skill. Reinforcements were landed and the savages put to flight, but in the fighting Mids.h.i.+pman Underwood and Henry Wilkes were mortally hurt and a seaman dangerously wounded.

Matters had now a.s.sumed so serious a shape that a detachment of seventy officers and men landed at another point on the island and marched upon the nearest village, laying waste the crops as they advanced. When the village was reached it was found to be defended by a strong stockade, with a trench inside, from which the crouching natives could fire through loopholes, while outside of the stockade was a deep ditch of water. Feeling their position impregnable, the savages flourished their weapons and uttered tantalizing whoops at the white men. The whoops quickly changed when the cabins within the stockade were set on fire by a rocket. The natives fled, leaving the village to be burned to ashes.

The Americans pushed hostilities so aggressively that on the following day the islanders sued for peace.

The squadron next sailed to the Hawaiian Islands, where several months were spent in exploration. Then the coast of Oregon was visited and the _Peac.o.c.k_ suffered wreck at the mouth of the Columbia. Doubling the Cape of Good Hope, the expedition reached New York in June, 1842, having been gone nearly four years and having sailed more than 30,000 miles.

THE WAR FOR THE UNION.

CHAPTER XXIII.

A New Era for the United States Navy--Opening of the Great Civil War--John Lorimer Worden--Battle Between the _Monitor_ and _Merrimac_--Death of Worden.

The War for the Union ushered in a new era for the American navy. Steam navigation had been fully established some years before. As all my readers no doubt know, the first successful steamboat in this country was the _Clermont_, made by Robert Fulton, which ascended the Hudson in the summer of 1807. The average speed of the pioneer boat was about five miles an hour, so that the trip occupied more than thirty hours. This great invention was a novelty, and, like many others of a similar nature, it required considerable time for it to come into use. The first western steamboat was built at Pittsburg in 1811. It gave an impetus to river navigation by steam, and before long the boats were ploughing the princ.i.p.al streams of the country. The first steamer to cross the Atlantic was the _Savannah_, which made the voyage in 1819, but ocean navigation was not fairly begun until 1838, when the _Sirius_ and _Great Western_ made the voyage from England to the United States. It is a noteworthy fact that one of the greatest of English scientists, after demonstrating that ocean navigation by steam was impossible, was a pa.s.senger on the _Great Western_ on her first trip across the Atlantic.

When the great Civil War burst upon the country the National Government not only failed to comprehend the gigantic nature of the struggle, but was almost wholly unprepared for it. The navy consisted of 90 vessels, of which only 42 were in commission, while 21 were unfit for service, and of those in commission there were but 11, carrying 134 guns, that were in American waters. The remainder were scattered over the waters of the globe, such being the policy of President Buchanan's Secretary of the Navy, who, like the Secretary of War and other members of the Presidential Cabinet, were secessionists who did all they could to pave the way for the establishment of the Southern Confederacy.

On the authority of Maclay, the total number of officers of all grades in the navy on August 1, 1861, was 1,457, in addition to whom an immense volunteer force was called for and 7,500 volunteer officers were enrolled before the close of the war. Three hundred and twenty-two officers resigned from the United States navy and entered that of the seceding States, of which 243 were officers of the line. The 7,600 sailors in the navy at the opening of the war was increased to 51,500 before the close of hostilities.

In a work of this nature the difficulty is to select the most striking and interesting incidents from the scores that formed a part of the War for the Union. One of the many heroes who was brought into prominence was John Lorimer Worden, who was born in Dutchess County, N.Y., March 12, 1818. He entered the navy when sixteen years old and became a lieutenant in 1840. His services in the Mexican War were unimportant and he was a first lieutenant of the Brooklyn Navy Yard when the Civil War broke out.

In the month of April, 1861, when a conflict was inevitable, the Government was anxious to send dispatches to Captain Adams commanding the fleet at Pensacola, who was waiting for orders to reinforce with two companies of artillery, that post being in danger of capture by the Confederates. The dispatches intrusted to Lieutenant Worden were orders for such reinforcements to be made.

It was so delicate and dangerous a duty, since Worden was compelled to make his way through the South which was aflame with secession excitement, that he committed the dispatches to memory and then destroyed them. He applied to General Bragg in command of the Confederate forces in that neighborhood for permission to make a verbal communication from the Secretary of War to Captain Adams. Permission was given, and, going on board, Worden delivered his message like a boy reciting his piece at school. Captain Adams gave him a written acknowledgment of the receipt of the dispatches, adding that the orders of the Government would be carried out.

Having thus cleverly eluded the suspicious watchfulness of the authorities, Lieutenant Worden started for home, but when near Montgomery, Ala., then the capital of the Confederacy, he was arrested, taken from the train and thrown into prison. This was on the order of General Bragg, who discovered how he had been outwitted, and the prompt reinforcement prevented the capture of Fort Pickens, for which Bragg had made every preparation. The post was held by the Unionists throughout the war and was the only one south of Mason and Dixon's line so held.

Lieutenant Worden was kept a prisoner until the 13th of the following November, when, his health having broken down, he was exchanged and sent North. There he remained, slowly regaining his strength until March, 1862, when it fell to his lot to become a leading actor in one of the most famous naval engagements in all history.

When war had fully begun the Union forces in charge of the Norfolk Navy Yard saw they were not strong enough to prevent its capture by the Confederates, who were arming for that purpose. They therefore set fire to the numerous and valuable s.h.i.+pping there. Among the vessels scuttled and sunk was the steam frigate _Merrimac_, at that time the finest vessel in the service. In truth, she went down so quickly that very little damage was done to her. The Confederates raised her, fastened a huge iron snout or prow at the front, cut down her deck and encased her with railroad iron, which sloped at an angle of forty-five degrees, and was smeared on the outside with grease and tallow. Her enormous weight made her draw more than twenty feet of water and when she was moving slowly through the bay or river her appearance suggested the mansard roof of a vast house. From what has been said it will be noted that the _Merrimac_ was a genuine ironclad, something which had never been heard of before.

[Ill.u.s.tration: BLOCKADE RUNNER--THE "MONITOR"--CAPTAIN ERICSSON.]

Regular news of the building of the _Merrimac_ (called the _Virginia_ by the Confederates) was telegraphed to Was.h.i.+ngton by friends of the Government. The authorities felt some uneasiness, but were far from suspecting the terrible power for destructiveness possessed by the monster. Captain Ericsson, the famous Swedish inventor, was constructing on Long Island an ironclad about one-fourth the size of the _Merrimac_, and he was urged to all possible speed in its completion. He kept his men busy night and day and had it finished a day or two before the completion of the _Merrimac_.

The _Merrimac_ carried ten guns, which fired sh.e.l.ls and had a crew of 300 men, under the command of Commodore Franklin Buchanan, a former officer of the United States navy. Late in the forenoon of March 8, 1862, a column of black smoke rising over the Norfolk Navy Yard gave notice that the _Merrimac_ had started out at last on her mission of destruction and death. As the enormous craft forged into sight it was seen that she was accompanied by three gunboats ready to give what help they could.

Five Union vessels were awaiting her in Hampton Roads. They were the steam frigates _Minnesota_ and _Roanoke_ and the sailing frigates _Congress_, _c.u.mberland_ and _St. Lawrence_, all of which immediately cleared for action. Turning her frightful front toward the _c.u.mberland_, the _Merrimac_ swept down upon her in grim and awful majesty. The _c.u.mberland_ let fly with her terrific broadsides, which were powerful enough to sink the largest s.h.i.+p afloat, but the tons of metal hurled with inconceivable force skipped off the greased sides of the iron roof and scooted away for hundreds of yards through the startled air.

The prodigious broadsides were launched again and again, but produced no more effect than so many paper wads from a popgun. The iron prow of the _Merrimac_ crashed through the wooden walls of the _c.u.mberland_ as if they were cardboard, and, while her crew were still heroically working their guns, the _c.u.mberland_ went down, with the red flag, meaning "no surrender," flying from her peak. Lieutenant Morris succeeded in saving himself, but 121 were lost out of the crew of 376.

Having destroyed the _c.u.mberland_, the _Merrimac_ now made for the _Congress_, which had been vainly pelting her with her broadsides. The _Congress_ was aground and so completely at the mercy of the _Merrimac_, which raked her fore and aft, that every man would have been killed had not the sign of surrender been displayed. As it was, her commander and 100 of the crew were slain by the irresistible fire of the tremendous ironclad.

By this time the fearful spring afternoon was drawing to a close and the _Merrimac_ labored heavily back to Sewall's Point, intending to return on the morrow and continue her work of destruction.

The news of what the _Merrimac_ had done was telegraphed throughout the South and North. In the former it caused wild rejoicing and raised hope that before the resistless might of the new ironclad the North would be compelled to make terms and save her leading seacoast cities from annihilation by acknowledging the Southern Confederacy. The national authorities were thrown into consternation. At a special meeting of the President's Cabinet Secretary of War Stanton expressed his belief that the _Merrimac_ would appear in front of Was.h.i.+ngton and compel the authorities to choose between surrender and destruction, and that the princ.i.p.al seaports would be laid under contribution.

But at that very time the hastily completed _Monitor_ was speeding southward under the command of Lieutenant Worden, who had risen from a sick bed to a.s.sume the duty which no one else was willing to undertake.

Her crew numbered 16 officers and 42 men, with Lieutenant S. Dana Green as executive officer. Her voyage to Hampton Roads was difficult and of the most trying nature to the officers and crew, who were nearly smothered by gas. The boat would have foundered had not the weather been unusually favorable, but she reached Hampton Roads on the night of March 8 and took a position beside the _Minnesota_, ready and eager for the terrific fray of the morrow. The _Monitor_ carried two 11-inch Dahlgren guns and fired solid shot.

[Ill.u.s.tration: THE BATTLE BETWEEN THE "MERRIMAC" AND "MONITOR."]

When the _Merrimac_ steamed back the _Monitor_ moved out from her position and boldly advanced to meet her. The huge monster and smaller craft, whose appearance suggested the apt comparison of a cheese box on a raft, silently drew near each other until within a hundred yards, when the smaller opened with a shot to which the larger replied. The battle was now between two ironclads. If the shots of the _Monitor_ glanced harmlessly off of the _Merrimac_ those of the latter were equally ineffective against the _Monitor_. The latter had the advantage of being so much smaller that many of the sh.e.l.ls of the _Merrimac_ missed her altogether. Those which impinged against the pilot house or turret did no harm, while the lesser boat was able to dart here and there at will, dodging the _Merrimac_ and ramming her when she chose, though such tactics accomplished nothing. All attempts to run down the _Monitor_ were vain. The novel battle continued for four hours, when the _Merrimac_, unable to defeat her nimble antagonist, steamed back to Norfolk and the strange contest--the first between ironclads--was over.

The _Monitor_ had proven her inestimable value and was held in reserve by the Government for future emergencies. But the first battle between the two proved the last. Some months later, when the Union troops advanced upon Norfolk, the _Merrimac_ was blown up to prevent her falling into the hands of the Federals, while at the close of the year the _Monitor_ foundered in a gale off Cape Hatteras.

This fight marked an era in the history of naval warfare. The days of wooden vessels were numbered. All nations saw that their wars.h.i.+ps to be effective must be ironclad, and the reader does not need to be reminded that such is the fact to-day respecting the navy of every civilized nation.

During this memorable fight a sh.e.l.l from the _Merrimac_ lifted the iron plate of the pilot house of the _Monitor_ and disabled Lieutenant Worden by driving the fragments into his face, while he was peering out of the peep-hole. He was compelled to give way to Lieutenant Green, who handled the little ironclad throughout the remainder of the fight.

Lieutenant Worden never fully recovered from the injuries received in his fight with the _Merrimac_. As soon as he was able to take an active command he asked the privilege of doing so. In charge of the _Montauk_, of the South Atlantic blockading squadron, he destroyed, while under a heavy fire, the Confederate steamer _Nashville_ and partic.i.p.ated in the unsuccessful attack upon Charleston. He received the thanks of Congress and was promoted to be a commander for his services with the _Monitor_.

From 1870 to 1874 he was superintendent of the Naval Academy at Annapolis, becoming commodore in 1868, rear admiral in 1872 and was retired in 1886. It was said that he never was without pain from the injuries received in the battle with the _Merrimac_ until his death, October 18, 1897.