Officers USCSS Walker-- Part 4: James Alden

JAMES ALDEN

Carlile Patterson was followed by Lieutenant James Alden (1810-1877), a promising naval officer who had been on the  Wilkes Expedition,  on board the USS Constitution during a global voyage and the Mexican War where he served withy the Home Squadron off Mexico.

Detached for Coast Survey duty from the summer of 1849 through late winter  1851, Alden commanded  the steamer John Y. Mason and then  the Walker.

After the Walker, he went on to command the Pacific Coast-based USCSS Active until 1860.

A distinguished Civil War career saw Alden promoted  to captain and then commodore. He was also at the two Battles of Fort Fisher.

 Postwar, he served as  a rear admiral  commanding the European Fleet of the U.S. Navy.

--Old B-Runner

So, Who Was This Jenny Lind the Nightingale Was Named After?

From the  SeaCoast NH.com "Saga of the Jenny Linn figurehead" by J. Dennis  Robinson.

Her triumphant arrival and tour of the United States in the early 1850s was quite the bit like the coming of the British Invasion Beatles a 110 years later for those of you who know nothing of the saga of Jenny Linn.

Jenny Lind was born in Stockholm, Sweden, in 1820 and lived a poor life as a child, but by her early 20s had become the toast of Europe as the soprano "Nightingale."   Rather plain-looking and painfully shy, she turned down a marriage offer from author Hans Christian Anderson.  Legend has it that he  penned "The Ugly Duckling" in her honor.  Jenny toured Europe with composer Felix Mendelssohn, whom she fell in love with, but he was married.

People mobbed her concerts.  She was very popular.

So popular that all this attracted the attention of one P.T. Barnum, who brought her to the United States in 1850.  Essentially, he had the role of Ed Sullivan and the Beatles.   She performed in over 100 concerts in the United States.  She was bigger than all of Barnum's acts that came before her and they were quite popular.  That would include the midget Tom Thumb, Jumbo the Elephant and even  Chang and Eng, the famed Siamese Twins.

That is surely saying a lot.

--Old B-Lind

Edward Simpson, USN-- Part 3: Postwar Service

I'd never heard of Edward Simpson before this.

After the war, Simpson alternated duty ashore and afloat with tours of ordnance work.  He also was on a mission to Europe in 1870-1872.    Command of the Navy's Naval Torpedo Station was in 1873-1875.

By 1880, he was officer in charge of Naval Station New London, Connecticut.  In 1883, he  was appointed president of a board  to select a site for a government gun factory and made another study trip to Europe.

Promoted to Rear Admiral on February 9, 1884, he served  as President of the Naval Advisory Board and President  of the Board of Inspection  and Survey until his retirement  on March 3, 1886.

Rear Admiral Simpson died  in Washington, D.C., on December 1, 1888, and is buried at Cypress Hills Cemetery in Brooklyn, New York.

--Old B-Runner

Bennett W. Green-- Part 6: Confederate Service

Service Abroad:  1863-1865.

CSS Stonewall:  1865

Service Abroad was in Europe where officers were detailed for operations on Confederate cruisers.

The CSS Stonewall was an English-built ironclad ship that arrived in the Confederacy too late.  It was powerful and would have been the Confederacy's best ironclad and mounted a 300 pdr. Armstrong rifle gun and two 70-pdr. Armstrong rifled guns.

--Old B-Runner

January 31, 1862: Effectiveness of Union Blockade Depends Upon Whom You Ask-- Part 2.

The two questions posed to various European maritime powers:  Was the sinking of the Stone Fleet in Charleston Harbor an outrage and is the blockade effective?

FRANCE:    "Pronounces the destruction of the harbor ... 'vindictive vandalism' .. the blockade to be  'ineffective and illegal'

"PRUSSIA winds up by declaring the sinking of the stone fleet to be a crime and an outrage against civilization....

"SARDINIA agrees with France, but ... in even stronger terms ...

"AUSTRIA declares 'the blockade altogether illegal' ....

"SPAIN declares blockade ... 'altogether ineffective' ...."

On the other hand, Secretary of the Navy Welles strongly maintained that the effectiveness of the blockade did "destroy any pretext on the part of the foreign governments to aid the Confederacy."

--Old B-R'er

January 31, 1862: Europe Looks At the Union Blockade At This Stage-- Part 1

JANUARY 31ST, 1862:  A British memorandum reaching the Confederacy, regarding the effectiveness of the Union blockade and sinking of the "Stone Fleet" in Charleston harbor, presented the views of various European nations:  "About ten days ago the English foreign office submitted the two following questions to the maritime powers of Europe:

"First.  Is the sinking of the stone fleet ... an outrage on civilization?  second.  Is the blockade effective ...  Is it now binding?"

Their Answers Next.  --Old B-Runner

Confederates Buy the Sea King (Which Became the Famed Raider CSS Shenandoah)

SEPTEMBER 16TH, 1864:  Commander Bulloch wrote Secretary Mallory from Liverpool:  "The loss of the Alabama occurred just at a time when the financial condition of the Navy Department began to improve and ...I took immediate steps to look up a successor.

"I now have the satisfaction of informing you of the purchase of a fine composite ship ship, built for the Bombay trade, and just returned from her first voyage.  She is 1,160 tons builder's measurement, classed A-1...frames, beams, etc., of iron, but planked from keel to gunwhale with East Indian teak....

"My broker has had her carefully examined by one of Lloyd's inspectors, who pronounced her a capital ship in every respect.... The log of the ship shows her to be a fast sailor with canvas, for with screw up, she has made 330 miles in 24 hours by observation."

Bulloch was describing the steamer Sea King, a ship which would become renowned as the raider CSS Shenandoah.

He also informed Mallory that contracts had been let for the torpedo boats which the secretary had ordered two months before.

Things Looking Up in Europe.  --Old B-R'er

Confederate Midshipmen Training Continues

AUGUST 10TH, 1864:  Reporting from Paris, Flag Officer Barron reported to Secretary Mallory that all Confederate midshipmen in Europe except the Alabama's had been examined for promotion.

Though its ships were few in numbers, the Confederacy continued an active and systematic training program for its young naval officers.

In his annual report to President Davis, Mallory stressed the value of training for naval service: "Naval education and training lie at the foundation of naval success; and the power that neglects this essential element of strength will, when the battle is fought, find that its ships, however formidable, are but built for a more thoroughly trained and educated enemy....

"While a liberal education at the ordinary institutions of learning prepares men for useful service not only in the Army, but in most branches of public affairs, special education and training, and such as these institutions cannot afford, are essential to form a naval officer."

The Confederate Naval Academy, on board the CSS Patrick Henry in the James River, performed this service for the stateside midshipmen.

--Old B-Runner

No More CSS Alabama, Bring On the CSS Rappahannock

JULY 13TH, 1864:  Flag Officer Barron, CSN, wrote Secretary Mallory from Paris: "In the course of this week...I hope to have the pleasure of reporting the Rappahannock at sea...She is strictly watched by Federal cruisers in the channel: Kearsarge at Dover, Niagara at or off Cherbourg, and Sacramento off Ushant.

"This disposition of the enemy's ships increases the risks and affords decided chances of capture; but if we be permitted to leave port with the number of officers and men on board I shall assuredly encounter all the chances and risks, knowing your anxiety and great importance of keeping a sufficient number of vessels afloat to keep up the rates of maritime insurance in the United States, and a wholesome dread of our active and enterprising little Navy amongst their commercial marine."

Despite Barron's strong efforts, however, the Rappahannock remained in port until the war ended.  Not only was the U.S. navy extremely vigilant, but there were also the unending efforts by Union spies and agents in Europe which caused the Confederacy problems.

--Old B-Runner

Confederate European Affairs

JUNE 20TH, 1864:  Secretary Mallory wrote Flag Officer Barron in Paris:  "I am surprised at the expression of your opinion that a battery for a certain vessel can not be purchased in England, because her laws permit the exportation of guns and ordnance stores daily, and no system of espionage, it would seem, could prevent the shipment for one port and their being landed at another, or placed at another on board the ship awaiting them.

"Could they not be shipped for any port in the United States, in the Mediterranean, China, Brazil, or Austria, and carried to a given rendezvous"  They will involve the carter of a steamer, or other vessel, and be thereby expensive; but such expense is not to be compared for a moment with the risks of her attempting, unarmed, to reach the Confederacy, watched as she is."

This procedure had been used before successfully in the case of the CSS Alabama.

Not sure which ship they were referring to in this case.

--Old B-Runner

Confederate Operational Problems in Europe

JUNE 3RD, 1864:  Commander Bulloch wrote Secretary Mallory about some of the difficulties he experienced as Confederate Naval Agent abroad:  "At no time since the completion of the Alabama has there been anything like money enough in hand, or within my control to pay for the ships actually under contract, and if no political complications had to delay the completion of these ships and they had been ready for delivery at the dates specified in the contracts, I should not have been able to pay for them....,

"If these were ordinary times and the agent of your department could treat openly and in person with the European governments, we could doubtless obtain very good ships from several of the Continental navies, but acting through intermediaries who care for nothing beyond their commissions, we can not get anything but the cast-off vessels of other services, which either possess some radical defect of design rendering them unfit for cruisers or are so delapidated as to be worthless."

So, in other words, a lack of money was a problem as was the fact that he had to operate through others instead of directly was another.

--Old B-Runner

Difficulties for Confederates in Europe

DECEMBER 15TH, 1863:

Captain Barron, CSN, wrote Sec. of Navy Mallory from Paris on the great difficulty encountered purchasing or repairing Confederate ships in Europe. The "difficulties and expense and some delay," he said, were due to the spies of U.S. Ambassador Charles Francis Adams in London.

Barron reported that they "are to be found following the footsteps of any Confederate agent in spite of all the precautions we can adopt...." Ambassador Adams continually frustrated Confederate efforts in Eirope.

--Old B-Runner

Problems Crewing Confederate Ironclads Being Built in Europe

JULY 9, 1863

Commander Bulloch wrote Mallory from Paris regarding ironclads being built for the Confederacy in Europe.  He noted that it had not been difficult to sign up crews for commerce raiders CSS Alabama and Florida because "not only the captivating excitement of adventure but the positive expectation of prize money."  Yep, money is always a great incentive motivator.

It was, however, a much greater problem to get crews for the ironclads, "Their grim aspect and formidable equipment clearly show that they are solely intended for the real danger and shock of battle...."

Let's see, do I go for the money or enemy shot and shell?

Decisions, Decisions.  --Old B-R'er