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U.S.S. Saratoga (No. 3)
(Editor’s Note: The following account by Mr. Good, accompanied his generous contribution of the photograph which has been used on the cover of this issue of the Proceedings.)
Mr. John Good—This vessel was the third to bear the name Saratoga, the first being an 18-gun sloop-of-war which served in the Revolutionary War and was lost at sea, March, 1781. The second Saratoga was a 734-ton vessel carrying 26 guns. She was launched on April 11, 1814, served as the flagship of Commodore Thomas Mac- Donough in the Battle of Lake Champlain, receiving the surrender of the British squadron, and ended her naval career when sold in 1825.
The U.S.S. Saratoga was built as a sloop- of-war of 882 tons at the Navy Yard, Portsmouth, New Hampshire. She was launched on July 26, 1842, and at that time was larger than any ship of her class then in service. Her dimensions were as follows: length 150 feet, beam 36.9 feet, depth of hold 16.3 feet, and cost $159,169.00. Original armament comprised seven 8-inch guns and eighteen 32-pounders, but was changed so that at the time of the Civil War (June, 1863) she carried six 55 cwt. 8-inch guns, twelve 42 cwt. 32-pounders, one 32-pounder Dahlgren rifle, two rifled 12-pounders, and one light smooth-bore 12 pounder.
She first sailed from Portsmouth on March 16, 1843, under command of Captain J. Tatnall, U. S. Navy, of “blood is thicker than water” fame, but was dismasted by a gale and had to return for new spars. In June, 1843, she joined Commodore M. C. Perry’s squadron off the African coast, and returned to Norfolk, Virginia, in November, 1844. After considerable cruising off South America and the West Indies, she partook of the Mexican War Service in 1847 on the east coast of Mexico while under the command of Commander D. G. Farragut.
In September, 1850, after having left Norfolk, she joined the squadron of Commodore Aulick in the East Indies, Commander W. S. Walker, commanding. Command of the squadron was turned over to Commodore M. C. Perry in 1853, and in July of that year the Saratoga, together with the Susquehannah, Mississippi, and Plymouth anchored in Yodo Bay. Negotiations were opened with the Japanese and in April, 1854, the Saratoga sailed for the United States with Commodore Henry A. Adams, bearing the Treaty of Peace and Amity between our Government and Japan.
After this followed cruising with the Home Squadron, participation in the Nicaraguan expedition under General Walker and capture of the slaver Nightingale while again serving with the African Squadron. After returning to the United States in 1863, she was recommissioned to serve during the Civil War, at first off the Delaware Breakwater, and then with the South Atlantic Blockading Squadron until the close of the war. During this latter period boat expeditions were made to McIntosh Court House, Georgia; South Newport, Georgia; and Bethel, Georgia, which resulted in the capture of large quantities of stores, ordnance, prisoners, and the destruction of several bridges and shore establishments.
The period from 1866 to 1873 was uneventful, marked only by a few short cruises. From 1874 to 1876 she performed ordnance service at Annapolis, Maryland, followed by a twelve year period as a naval apprentice training ship on cruises along the Atlantic coast and to Europe. Her last sea service was that of a public marine school ship at Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, from 1890 to
1907. On August 14, 1907, she was sold and was beached by her owners at Revere, Massachusetts, being broken up in February,
1908. Last reports were that she was finally burned there in 1909.
This picture is an enlargement of a photograph taken by Mr. Bancroft Gherardi in 1888, when the Saratoga was drying her sails while moored to a pier in Brooklyn Navy Yard.
Pier, Wharf, and Dock
Mr. A. J. Durlacher, Maracaibo, Venezuela.—Down here in Venezuela, where I’ve been for nearly three decades, we get into all sorts of technical arguments concerning dynamite and its explosive effects, stress and pull, etc. There is one I believe the Institute can help me with, for I believe I’ve been correct.
Here is the question: What is the difference between (a) a pier; (b) a wharf; (c) a dock?
The dictionary is vague on the definitions and so are other people. We have a loading pier, for instance, on the Paraguaha peninsula. It projects out from shore nearly a mile, yet the Raymond Concrete Pile Company, when repairing it some time ago, called it “Las Piedras Wharf.” We have piers in the Maracaibo Lake basin where our small tankers come in to load. Some people call them piers, others call them wharfs, and still others, including the marine people, call them docks. The mate who tends the lines of vessels when loading and unloading is called a “Dock Master.”
Why does a steamship company say, “This ship will dock at Pier 10”? And why does a person say, “I want to go down to the wharves, to Pier 10, where the ship is docked”?
We all agree on the difference between a “mole” and a “quay,” but, as I said before, the dictionary is not too definite on piers, wharves, and docks. I would appreciate any information you could give me which would clear up these points.
* * *
(Editor’s Note: Mr. Durlacher’s inquiry was referred to Captain F. D. McCorkle, U. S. Navy, an associated editor of the Proceedings, who is the head of the Department of Seamanship and Navigation at the U. S. Naval Academy.) “
The interplay in the use of the words “pier,” “wharf,” and “dock” is startling. It is known for certain that these terms are frequently and incorrectly used by mariners and those who inhabit the coastal ports in all parts of the United States. Moreover, the misuse of these words appears frequently among other peoples, as well as those of the United States. This is all the more curious when it is appreciated that the following definitions appear to be pretty generally accepted by the more experienced seafarers irrespective of their nationality.
(1) Pier, (a) A mole or jetty carried out to sea to serve as an embankment to protect from the open sea vessels moored or at anchor in an inner harbor.
(b) A platform of timber or stone or other material on a support extending in a harbor or navigable stream where vessels may be moored alongside for loading or unloading.
(2) Wharf. A wharf is a platform on a
support alongside which there is sufficient depth of water for a ship to moor for the purpose of loading and unloading. A wharf may be parallel with and continuous to the shore margin when it is more especially called a “quay,” or it may project away from it with an opening underneath for a flow of water when it is distinctly called a “pier.” •'
(3) Dock. A dock is the water space between piers. It is the loading and discharge place of a vessel. There are a number of kinds of docks such as a dry dock, floating dock, or graving dock.
An examination of the above definitions discloses that under certain circumstances the words “pier” and “wharf” are synonymous. However, the word “pier” is more broadly defined to include “the protective mole or jetty which surrounds a harbor area,” while an additional meaning for the word “wharf” includes “a platform arrangement parallel to and continuous to a shore line better known as a ‘quay’.”
It is not understood how “This ship will dock at Pier 1 ” is a correct statement in the most accurate sense. It probably means “This ship will moor at Pier 10,” or that “This ship will go in dock at Pier 10,” meaning in the water space adjacent to Pier 10. Likewise, “I want to go down to the wharves, to Pier 10, where the ship is docked” could be more vividly and accurately expressed by stating “I want to go down to the waterfront, to Pier 10, where the ship is moored.”
Whereas the above definitions may remain somewhat controversial between people of different countries and different areas, they are supported in addition to the above expressed mutual understanding between seafarers by at least two authoritative sources The Century Dictionary, published about 1914, and Gershom Bradford’s A Glossary of Sea Terms, published by Yachting, Inc., in 1927.
Yellow Jack
(See page 1079, November, 1950, Proceedings)
Captain Frederick L. Oliver, U. S. Navy (Retired).—Rear Admiral Lucius W. Johnson’s interesting account of the ravages of yellow fever in bygone years brings to memory a story in which it was related that, twenty years before the means of transmitting the dread disease was ascertained, at least one man had the truth within his grasp, only to pass it by.
The reference in Admiral Johnson’s article to an outbreak of the scourge in the LT.S.S. Plymouth during 1878 carried my thoughts back to a conversation held many years ago.
The late Captain Samuel W. B. Diehl. U. S. Navy, who will be recalled by older officers as an authority on magnetic compasses and the author of a book which was long the Navy’s standard work concerning this instrument, as a lieutenant commander in 1901, was my first captain.
He was an excellent raconteur and loved to spin yarns, one of which ran as follows:
In the late 1870’s he was an ensign in the Plymouth when yellow fever appeared on board. The ship’s surgeon told the officers that he had been through several similar outbreaks, and it had been his experience that those who smoked excessively and who slept under mosquito nets, were less likely to contract the disease than were those who did not.
Diehl himself had never smoked until then, but he lost no time in cultivating the habit and became what could have passed for an animated chimney. He also used a mosquito net well tucked in. Fortunately, the fever passed him by.
Both of the precautions suggested by the Plymouth's surgeon are recognized mosquito inhibitors, and, favored by the advantage of retrospection, it has always seemed strange that this doctor, with his hand on the door leading to an understanding of the mysterious manner in which yellow fever was transmitted, failed to turn the knob and enter into fame that was reserved for another doctor many years later.
The National Flag of England
(See page 1255, November, 1950, Proceedings)
Commander Hilary P. Mead, Royal Navy.—Mr. Philip Chaplin’s comments are open to criticism. When the Sovereign goes on board one of His Majesty’s ships, the royal standard is hoisted at the main, as the King’s personal banner of arms. The Admiralty flag is at the fore, and means that the King still reserves to himself the title of Lord High Admiral, although the post itself has been placed in commission. The Union flag at the mizzen means that he is head of the British peoples; it does not denote that he is an admiral of the fleet, as in that case the flag must be at the main; furthermore, he could hardly claim to be lord high admiral and an admiral of the fleet at the same moment; the greater contains the lesser.
The story that the church pendant originated from a combination of the flags of England and Holland is a pretty legend, but unfortunately quite unfounded. Prior to 1864 ships hoisted red, white, or blue commission pendants according to whether they belonged to the Red, White or Blue squadrons. A ship on an independent mission, belonging to none of the three squadrons specifically, hoisted a pendant with a red- white-and-blue fly, that is a “common” pendant, common to the three colors. This common pendant was used to denote the performance of divine service.