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Built in 1859, \hc Iroquois was a 1.575-ton wooden screw sloop of war, 198 feet in length. During the Civil War. the Iroquois took part in the seige of Vicksburg and engaged the Confederate ram Arkansas. She also participated in a blockade of the East Coast against enemy raiders. After the war, she was decommissioned and recommissioned several times, as U. S. needs changed. In 1882, the ship was assigned to the Pacific Station. While thus deployed, the following drama unfolded.
On 20 November 1889. the Iroquois cleared Honolulu harbor bound for Samoa to relieve the Adams. En route, she was to show the flag in the Gilbert and Marshall Islands, settling any disputes between natives and missionaries. The muster rolls of the Iroquois showed 14 officers, 4 midshipmen, and 147 sailors and marines. Commander Joshua Bishop was the captain.
For a more detailed account of this incident, see Commander Robert B. Carney. The Cruise of the USS Iroquois. 1889-1890.” Proceedings. March 1939. pp. 351-357.
After uneventful stops in the Marshall and Gilbert Islands, the Iroquois steamed south for Apia, Sa* moa. Then, two days out of Butaritari on 23 cember 1889, the breakdown occurred. One of th£ piston rods that drove the huge four-bladed prop^' ier broke and fell into the machinery. When th£ wreckage was cleared away, it was discovered tha1 the second piston rod was badly bent. Determini11? that repairs could not be made at sea. Bishop uij' furled canvas and made for Hawaii. The Iroqu°l$. was square-rigged on the fore and main masts, an£ fore and aft rigged on the mizzen mast. Although the Iroquois carried enough canvas aloft to m°%e through the water, the fact that the ship was drag' ging a large propeller made the process of workin? to windward tedious. Under such conditions, Iroquois could not tack. When Bishop wished change the wind from one bow to the other, he ha to bring the stern of the ship into the wind.
Nevertheless, with easterly winds the lroqtlc1,s
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^dually made progress north toward Hawaii. But ln January 1890. the winds began to blow to the south causing the ship to drift to the west. Then, for luree weeks, the ship rode the crest of a tropical storm. Torrential rains and high winds buffeted the ship; the waves rose above the poop. At times, the officers on watch had to climb the rigging to avoid being washed overboard. On one terrifying night, the Iroquois passed directly through the center of a hurricane. The Iroquois fell into the trough of the Sea and barely survived a 45° roll.
By 11 February 1890, the Iroquois had been r*Ven 700 miles north and west of Honolulu. Bishop Abandoned any hope of reaching repair facilities in the Hawaiian Islands and headed for San Francisco. ®ut southeasterly winds continued to pummel the sh*p, driving the Iroquois away from California ^ters. Only once was another ship sighted. Since he Iroquois had no steam to blow her whistle, the Passing steamer failed to notice her feeble bell or he banging of wash pans.
Once in northern waters, discomfort for the offers and crew grew daily. No one was prepared °r such foul weather: pea coats and rain gear were 'P short supply. Coal had to be saved for distilling ^Pter and thus could not be used to heat the ship, he only way to get warm was to stay wrapped in Junkets in bed or in a hammock. Numbing cold and °redom became routine.
.Although the Iroquois was well-stocked with protons, Bishop was by no means certain how long he ship would drift at the mercy of unfriendly seas. P 18 January, he ordered half rations. As food sPpplies dwindled, items in the crew’s diet previ- °usly thought unpalatable became treats. Even the ^usional weevil in the rice or hard tack was ac-
The Iroquois and crew braved both hurricane and nearstarvation during their 80-day trauma at sea. Two of her crew members, Second Lieutenant George Barnett, left, and Naval Cadet Ben H. Fuller, right, later became Commandants of the Marine Corps.
ceptable because, as one officer recalled, “hard tack with a few weevils in it was better than no hard tack and we took it as it came.”
The mess treasurer had made up 20 gallons of tutti-frutti preserves in Honolulu. Made by placing alternating layers of fruit and sugar in a vessel, and adding rum, the concoction smelled frightfully for a few days. Expectedly, the youthful mess treasurer attracted the derision of the wardroom. Later, the odor disappeared and when rations grew shorter and more monotonous, a spoonful of tutti-frutti provided the only bright spot on the menu.
Hard tack and “salt horse” (corned beef) became the staples. By the end of February, Bishop was forced to cut even this uninspiring fare to one-third ration. Lobscouse, made by soaking hard tack in water, adding a few pieces of fat salt pork, and then baking it in the oven, became a delicacy. When land was sighted, the Iroquois had three days rations remaining.
On the morning of 10 March 1890, a tug was sighted and, after talking the owner down from $1,000 to $500, the ship was towed to Port Townsend at the entrance of Puget Sound. The day before the Iroquois arrived, the San Francisco mail packet had departed Port Townsend and was not due to return for another month. Thus, with no way of notifying naval authorities and anxious relatives, memorial services continued to be held for the “lost” crew of the Iroquois.
When the anchor was dropped off Port Townsend, the ship had been at sea continuously for 80 days, 70 of them out of sight of land. Although scurvy was prominent at the end of the voyage, the crew remained remarkably fit. Only one life was lost, that of a stranded mariner picked up in the Gilberts.
There is an interesting postscript to this vignette of American naval history. Two future Commandants of the Marine Corps were counted on the muster rolls. Second Lieutenant George Barnett, an 1881 graduate of the Naval Academy, was the commander of the Iroquois's marines. He would serve as commandant from 1914 to 1920. Naval Cadet Ben H. Fuller was commandant from 1930 to 1934. One can only wonder if the cruise of the Iroquois influenced young Fuller’s decision to accept a commission in the Marine Corps rather than join the ensigns of the Naval Academy class of 1889.