Frank Brown, Gunner's Mate 1st Class, USS Adams, 1881 to 1884 Last Enlistment. Died at Naval Asylum Penn Ward 30
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Death Certificates Index, 1803-1915 about Frank Brown
Name: Frank Brown
Birth Date: abt 1821
Birth Place: Island of Fayal
Death Date: 24 Dec 1884
Death Place: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Age at Death: 63
Burial Date: 26 Dec 1884
Gender: Male
Race: White
Occupation: Bennificiary 16 S Naval
Street Address: Naval Asylum, Gray's Ferry Road
Residence: 30 Ward
Cemetery: Mount Moriah Cemetery
Marital Status: Single
FHL Film Number: 2070088
U.S. Veterans Gravesites, ca.1775-2006 about Frank Brown
Name: Frank Brown
Death Date: 24 Dec 1884
Interment Date: 24 Dec 1884
Cemetery Address: 62nd St & Kingsessing Ave Philadelphia , PA 19142
Buried At: Section 2 Row 19 Site 14
USS Adams was a screw gunboat and the lead ship of the Adams class.
Adams was built as a single screw, wooden-hull, bark-rigged steamer. The ship was laid down in February 1874 at Boston, Massachusetts, by Donald MacKay; and was launched on 24 October 1874. The new ship was commissioned on 21 July 1876 at the Boston Navy Yard, Comdr. John W. Philip in command.
Service history
North and South Atlantic, 1876–1878
Though initially assigned to the North Atlantic Station, Adams appears to have had no real mission on that station. She spent most of her time in a succession of ports getting ready for permanent assignment. She departed Boston on 6 August, visited Philadelphia between 9 August and 3 September, and then returned to sea, bound for the Norfolk-Hampton Roads area. The warship tarried there from 6 September to 17 November at which time she got underway for Port Royal, South Carolina. She arrived in Port Royal on 20 November and spent the winter of 1876 and 1877 there. On 9 March 1877, Adams headed back to Norfolk. She arrived there on the 12th and remained about five weeks.
On 21 April, the warship put to sea for duty on the South Atlantic Station. If her mission on the North Atlantic Station could be regarded as preparatory, her South Atlantic Station assignment might be called transitory. She arrived at Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, on 2 June. Over the next three months, Adams operated along the Brazilian coast, performing one search mission in June and a survey operation in July. On 8 September, she stood out of Rio de Janeiro and headed south toward the Strait of Magellan. Along the way, the warship called at Montevideo and Buenos Aires. She arrived at the Strait of Magellan on 12 November and remained in the vicinity almost a month to be available to provide assistance to Chilean government officials at Sandy Point during a mutinous situation there. Adams resumed her voyage on 8 December and entered port at Valparaíso, Chile, on the 14th.
Pacific Squadron, 1878–1882
On the first day of 1878, the warship stood out of Valparaíso bound for Callao and to begin cruising on the Pacific Station. She stopped at Callao from 11 January to 5 February and reached Panama City on 21 February. Adams remained at Panama for three months. On 10 May, the ship embarked the Samoan plenipotentiary, la Mamea , who had just completed negotiations in Washington on a treaty of amity and commerce between the United States and his island kingdom, and she set sail to return him and his delegation to Samoa. Adams arrived in Apia harbor on 28 June and stayed for a month to participate in the requisite ceremonies and celebrations. Between 29 and 30 July, she made the transit from Apia to Pago Pago, the harbor the rights to which the United States had acquired as a result of the recent treaty. Adams returned to Apia for two weeks from 7 to 20 August and then got underway to return to the west coast of South America.
The warship arrived at Valparaíso, Chile, on 15 October and remained there until late November. On 21 November, Adams stood out of Valparaíso bound for Callao, Peru, where she arrived on 2 December for a two-month sojourn. She returned to sea on 5 February 1879 to voyage to Panama, reaching her destination on 14 February. After nearly three months at Panama, Adams headed back to Callao on 11 May and entered that port on the 20th. A week later, on the 27th, she stood out to sea and laid in a course to Panama on the first leg of a leisurely voyage up the coast via Punta Arenas in Costa Rica, La Unión, El Salvador, and Acapulco and Mazatlán in Mexico. On 19 July, the warship arrived in San Francisco and, two days later, began a lengthy period of repairs at the Mare Island Navy Yard.
Adams concluded her long stay at Mare Island on 3 February 1880. She made the short trip back to San Francisco that same day and began preparations to return to duty on the Pacific Station. The warship put to sea again on 21 February and headed south. Voyaging by way of Pichilinque Bay and Mazatlan in Mexico, Adams arrived at the Gulf of Dulce in Costa Rica on 29 February and set about establishing a coaling point for ships serving on the Pacific Station. After completing that mission, the warship cruised on station between Costa Rica and Peru until the summer of 1881. On 11 June 1881, she departed Punta Arenas, Costa Rica, to return to San Francisco. She reached her destination on 12 July and entered the Mare Island Navy Yard on the 28th.
Adams left the yard on 23 August and returned to San Francisco for two days before heading back to the west coast of Latin America on the 25th. She arrived at Panama (then a part of the United States of Colombia) on 15 September to begin another seven months cruising along the Central American coast. On 11 April 1882, she concluded her assignment on the coasts of South and Central America by departing Panama and setting a course for California. The warship made stops in Mexico at Acapulco and Pichilinque Bay before reentering San Francisco Bay on 11 May. Two days later, she made the short trip to the Mare Island Navy Yard for a month of repairs.
Alaska, 1882–1884
Back at San Francisco on 11 September, Adams stood out to sea the following day. Instead of heading south to the coasts of Latin America, however, she pointed her bow north and made for Alaskan waters. The warship reached Sitka on 1 October and began a tour of duty in the northern Pacific of almost 23 months in duration. Her two main functions in Alaska seem to have been monitoring the seal fur industry and regulating the relations between the native Indian and Eskimo population and the multitude of white traders, trappers, prospectors, sealers, and whalers that had established themselves in the area since the United States purchased the territory from Russia in 1867.
Adams had not been on station a month before her commanding officer had to intervene in two incidents involving representatives of the Northwest Trading Company and the native population. Both cases involved the accidental death of an Indian while performing work for the company. In the first instance Comdr. Merriman, backed by Adams and her guns, simply informed the Indians that their custom of levying reparations in the event of an accidental death did not apply in relations with white men and warned them that attempts to do so would bring swift reprisal. That tribe submitted with ill-concealed malevolence.
The second instance, however, required a more emphatic response. When an Indian shaman died as the result of an accidental explosion during a whaling operation on 22 October, the natives of the village of Angoon seized two white men and two of the three company vessels involved and demanded a payment of 200 blankets. The superintendent quickly put to sea in the company's steam tug Favorite and made the voyage to Sitka. There, Comdr. Merriman armed Favorite with a howitzer and a Gatling gun and mounted an expedition comprising Favorite and Adams' launch reinforced with 50 sailors and 20 marines from Adams and soon augmented by the revenue cutter Thomas Corwin, commanded by Michael Healy.
Upon arrival at Angoon, the force collected as many of the Indians' canoes as possible, and Comdr. Merriman held a meeting with some of the Indians during which he made counter demands for the release of the hostages and a levy of 400 blankets in return for which the expedition would spare their canoes and village. To buy time, the Indians accepted the demands at first and released the hostages; however, after they had an opportunity to hide their canoes and gather their forces, the Indians refused to honor the agreement. Thereupon, Corwin and Favorite took the village under fire, destroying a number of houses. When the ships ceased fire, a landing party went ashore and set fire to some of the remaining houses. At that point the Indians submitted. Comdr. Merriman left a party of sailors at Angoon to insure continued good faith, and he and the remainder returned to Sitka in Corwin to reembark in Adams.
Adams patrolled Alaskan waters from her base at Sitka until late in the summer of 1884. On 19 August 1884, the warship departed Sitka and headed south along the coast of North America. She arrived in San Francisco on the 27th and moved to the Mare Island Navy Yard the following day. On 20 September 1884, Adams was placed out of commission at Mare Island
Click Link to see all The Lost Sailors I've Found
http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=vcsr&GSvcid=266131
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Death Certificates Index, 1803-1915 about Frank Brown
Name: Frank Brown
Birth Date: abt 1821
Birth Place: Island of Fayal
Death Date: 24 Dec 1884
Death Place: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Age at Death: 63
Burial Date: 26 Dec 1884
Gender: Male
Race: White
Occupation: Bennificiary 16 S Naval
Street Address: Naval Asylum, Gray's Ferry Road
Residence: 30 Ward
Cemetery: Mount Moriah Cemetery
Marital Status: Single
FHL Film Number: 2070088
U.S. Veterans Gravesites, ca.1775-2006 about Frank Brown
Name: Frank Brown
Death Date: 24 Dec 1884
Interment Date: 24 Dec 1884
Cemetery Address: 62nd St & Kingsessing Ave Philadelphia , PA 19142
Buried At: Section 2 Row 19 Site 14
USS Adams was a screw gunboat and the lead ship of the Adams class.
Adams was built as a single screw, wooden-hull, bark-rigged steamer. The ship was laid down in February 1874 at Boston, Massachusetts, by Donald MacKay; and was launched on 24 October 1874. The new ship was commissioned on 21 July 1876 at the Boston Navy Yard, Comdr. John W. Philip in command.
Service history
North and South Atlantic, 1876–1878
Though initially assigned to the North Atlantic Station, Adams appears to have had no real mission on that station. She spent most of her time in a succession of ports getting ready for permanent assignment. She departed Boston on 6 August, visited Philadelphia between 9 August and 3 September, and then returned to sea, bound for the Norfolk-Hampton Roads area. The warship tarried there from 6 September to 17 November at which time she got underway for Port Royal, South Carolina. She arrived in Port Royal on 20 November and spent the winter of 1876 and 1877 there. On 9 March 1877, Adams headed back to Norfolk. She arrived there on the 12th and remained about five weeks.
On 21 April, the warship put to sea for duty on the South Atlantic Station. If her mission on the North Atlantic Station could be regarded as preparatory, her South Atlantic Station assignment might be called transitory. She arrived at Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, on 2 June. Over the next three months, Adams operated along the Brazilian coast, performing one search mission in June and a survey operation in July. On 8 September, she stood out of Rio de Janeiro and headed south toward the Strait of Magellan. Along the way, the warship called at Montevideo and Buenos Aires. She arrived at the Strait of Magellan on 12 November and remained in the vicinity almost a month to be available to provide assistance to Chilean government officials at Sandy Point during a mutinous situation there. Adams resumed her voyage on 8 December and entered port at Valparaíso, Chile, on the 14th.
Pacific Squadron, 1878–1882
On the first day of 1878, the warship stood out of Valparaíso bound for Callao and to begin cruising on the Pacific Station. She stopped at Callao from 11 January to 5 February and reached Panama City on 21 February. Adams remained at Panama for three months. On 10 May, the ship embarked the Samoan plenipotentiary, la Mamea , who had just completed negotiations in Washington on a treaty of amity and commerce between the United States and his island kingdom, and she set sail to return him and his delegation to Samoa. Adams arrived in Apia harbor on 28 June and stayed for a month to participate in the requisite ceremonies and celebrations. Between 29 and 30 July, she made the transit from Apia to Pago Pago, the harbor the rights to which the United States had acquired as a result of the recent treaty. Adams returned to Apia for two weeks from 7 to 20 August and then got underway to return to the west coast of South America.
The warship arrived at Valparaíso, Chile, on 15 October and remained there until late November. On 21 November, Adams stood out of Valparaíso bound for Callao, Peru, where she arrived on 2 December for a two-month sojourn. She returned to sea on 5 February 1879 to voyage to Panama, reaching her destination on 14 February. After nearly three months at Panama, Adams headed back to Callao on 11 May and entered that port on the 20th. A week later, on the 27th, she stood out to sea and laid in a course to Panama on the first leg of a leisurely voyage up the coast via Punta Arenas in Costa Rica, La Unión, El Salvador, and Acapulco and Mazatlán in Mexico. On 19 July, the warship arrived in San Francisco and, two days later, began a lengthy period of repairs at the Mare Island Navy Yard.
Adams concluded her long stay at Mare Island on 3 February 1880. She made the short trip back to San Francisco that same day and began preparations to return to duty on the Pacific Station. The warship put to sea again on 21 February and headed south. Voyaging by way of Pichilinque Bay and Mazatlan in Mexico, Adams arrived at the Gulf of Dulce in Costa Rica on 29 February and set about establishing a coaling point for ships serving on the Pacific Station. After completing that mission, the warship cruised on station between Costa Rica and Peru until the summer of 1881. On 11 June 1881, she departed Punta Arenas, Costa Rica, to return to San Francisco. She reached her destination on 12 July and entered the Mare Island Navy Yard on the 28th.
Adams left the yard on 23 August and returned to San Francisco for two days before heading back to the west coast of Latin America on the 25th. She arrived at Panama (then a part of the United States of Colombia) on 15 September to begin another seven months cruising along the Central American coast. On 11 April 1882, she concluded her assignment on the coasts of South and Central America by departing Panama and setting a course for California. The warship made stops in Mexico at Acapulco and Pichilinque Bay before reentering San Francisco Bay on 11 May. Two days later, she made the short trip to the Mare Island Navy Yard for a month of repairs.
Alaska, 1882–1884
Back at San Francisco on 11 September, Adams stood out to sea the following day. Instead of heading south to the coasts of Latin America, however, she pointed her bow north and made for Alaskan waters. The warship reached Sitka on 1 October and began a tour of duty in the northern Pacific of almost 23 months in duration. Her two main functions in Alaska seem to have been monitoring the seal fur industry and regulating the relations between the native Indian and Eskimo population and the multitude of white traders, trappers, prospectors, sealers, and whalers that had established themselves in the area since the United States purchased the territory from Russia in 1867.
Adams had not been on station a month before her commanding officer had to intervene in two incidents involving representatives of the Northwest Trading Company and the native population. Both cases involved the accidental death of an Indian while performing work for the company. In the first instance Comdr. Merriman, backed by Adams and her guns, simply informed the Indians that their custom of levying reparations in the event of an accidental death did not apply in relations with white men and warned them that attempts to do so would bring swift reprisal. That tribe submitted with ill-concealed malevolence.
The second instance, however, required a more emphatic response. When an Indian shaman died as the result of an accidental explosion during a whaling operation on 22 October, the natives of the village of Angoon seized two white men and two of the three company vessels involved and demanded a payment of 200 blankets. The superintendent quickly put to sea in the company's steam tug Favorite and made the voyage to Sitka. There, Comdr. Merriman armed Favorite with a howitzer and a Gatling gun and mounted an expedition comprising Favorite and Adams' launch reinforced with 50 sailors and 20 marines from Adams and soon augmented by the revenue cutter Thomas Corwin, commanded by Michael Healy.
Upon arrival at Angoon, the force collected as many of the Indians' canoes as possible, and Comdr. Merriman held a meeting with some of the Indians during which he made counter demands for the release of the hostages and a levy of 400 blankets in return for which the expedition would spare their canoes and village. To buy time, the Indians accepted the demands at first and released the hostages; however, after they had an opportunity to hide their canoes and gather their forces, the Indians refused to honor the agreement. Thereupon, Corwin and Favorite took the village under fire, destroying a number of houses. When the ships ceased fire, a landing party went ashore and set fire to some of the remaining houses. At that point the Indians submitted. Comdr. Merriman left a party of sailors at Angoon to insure continued good faith, and he and the remainder returned to Sitka in Corwin to reembark in Adams.
Adams patrolled Alaskan waters from her base at Sitka until late in the summer of 1884. On 19 August 1884, the warship departed Sitka and headed south along the coast of North America. She arrived in San Francisco on the 27th and moved to the Mare Island Navy Yard the following day. On 20 September 1884, Adams was placed out of commission at Mare Island
Click Link to see all The Lost Sailors I've Found
http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=vcsr&GSvcid=266131
Frank Brown, Gunner's Mate 1st Class, USS Adams, 1881 to 1884 Last Enlistment. Died at Naval Asylum Penn Ward 30
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Death Certificates Index, 1803-1915 about Frank Brown
Name: Frank Brown
Birth Date: abt 1821
Birth Place: Island of Fayal
Death Date: 24 Dec 1884
Death Place: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Age at Death: 63
Burial Date: 26 Dec 1884
Gender: Male
Race: White
Occupation: Bennificiary 16 S Naval
Street Address: Naval Asylum, Gray's Ferry Road
Residence: 30 Ward
Cemetery: Mount Moriah Cemetery
Marital Status: Single
FHL Film Number: 2070088
U.S. Veterans Gravesites, ca.1775-2006 about Frank Brown
Name: Frank Brown
Death Date: 24 Dec 1884
Interment Date: 24 Dec 1884
Cemetery Address: 62nd St & Kingsessing Ave Philadelphia , PA 19142
Buried At: Section 2 Row 19 Site 14
USS Adams was a screw gunboat and the lead ship of the Adams class.
Adams was built as a single screw, wooden-hull, bark-rigged steamer. The ship was laid down in February 1874 at Boston, Massachusetts, by Donald MacKay; and was launched on 24 October 1874. The new ship was commissioned on 21 July 1876 at the Boston Navy Yard, Comdr. John W. Philip in command.
Service history
North and South Atlantic, 1876–1878
Though initially assigned to the North Atlantic Station, Adams appears to have had no real mission on that station. She spent most of her time in a succession of ports getting ready for permanent assignment. She departed Boston on 6 August, visited Philadelphia between 9 August and 3 September, and then returned to sea, bound for the Norfolk-Hampton Roads area. The warship tarried there from 6 September to 17 November at which time she got underway for Port Royal, South Carolina. She arrived in Port Royal on 20 November and spent the winter of 1876 and 1877 there. On 9 March 1877, Adams headed back to Norfolk. She arrived there on the 12th and remained about five weeks.
On 21 April, the warship put to sea for duty on the South Atlantic Station. If her mission on the North Atlantic Station could be regarded as preparatory, her South Atlantic Station assignment might be called transitory. She arrived at Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, on 2 June. Over the next three months, Adams operated along the Brazilian coast, performing one search mission in June and a survey operation in July. On 8 September, she stood out of Rio de Janeiro and headed south toward the Strait of Magellan. Along the way, the warship called at Montevideo and Buenos Aires. She arrived at the Strait of Magellan on 12 November and remained in the vicinity almost a month to be available to provide assistance to Chilean government officials at Sandy Point during a mutinous situation there. Adams resumed her voyage on 8 December and entered port at Valparaíso, Chile, on the 14th.
Pacific Squadron, 1878–1882
On the first day of 1878, the warship stood out of Valparaíso bound for Callao and to begin cruising on the Pacific Station. She stopped at Callao from 11 January to 5 February and reached Panama City on 21 February. Adams remained at Panama for three months. On 10 May, the ship embarked the Samoan plenipotentiary, la Mamea , who had just completed negotiations in Washington on a treaty of amity and commerce between the United States and his island kingdom, and she set sail to return him and his delegation to Samoa. Adams arrived in Apia harbor on 28 June and stayed for a month to participate in the requisite ceremonies and celebrations. Between 29 and 30 July, she made the transit from Apia to Pago Pago, the harbor the rights to which the United States had acquired as a result of the recent treaty. Adams returned to Apia for two weeks from 7 to 20 August and then got underway to return to the west coast of South America.
The warship arrived at Valparaíso, Chile, on 15 October and remained there until late November. On 21 November, Adams stood out of Valparaíso bound for Callao, Peru, where she arrived on 2 December for a two-month sojourn. She returned to sea on 5 February 1879 to voyage to Panama, reaching her destination on 14 February. After nearly three months at Panama, Adams headed back to Callao on 11 May and entered that port on the 20th. A week later, on the 27th, she stood out to sea and laid in a course to Panama on the first leg of a leisurely voyage up the coast via Punta Arenas in Costa Rica, La Unión, El Salvador, and Acapulco and Mazatlán in Mexico. On 19 July, the warship arrived in San Francisco and, two days later, began a lengthy period of repairs at the Mare Island Navy Yard.
Adams concluded her long stay at Mare Island on 3 February 1880. She made the short trip back to San Francisco that same day and began preparations to return to duty on the Pacific Station. The warship put to sea again on 21 February and headed south. Voyaging by way of Pichilinque Bay and Mazatlan in Mexico, Adams arrived at the Gulf of Dulce in Costa Rica on 29 February and set about establishing a coaling point for ships serving on the Pacific Station. After completing that mission, the warship cruised on station between Costa Rica and Peru until the summer of 1881. On 11 June 1881, she departed Punta Arenas, Costa Rica, to return to San Francisco. She reached her destination on 12 July and entered the Mare Island Navy Yard on the 28th.
Adams left the yard on 23 August and returned to San Francisco for two days before heading back to the west coast of Latin America on the 25th. She arrived at Panama (then a part of the United States of Colombia) on 15 September to begin another seven months cruising along the Central American coast. On 11 April 1882, she concluded her assignment on the coasts of South and Central America by departing Panama and setting a course for California. The warship made stops in Mexico at Acapulco and Pichilinque Bay before reentering San Francisco Bay on 11 May. Two days later, she made the short trip to the Mare Island Navy Yard for a month of repairs.
Alaska, 1882–1884
Back at San Francisco on 11 September, Adams stood out to sea the following day. Instead of heading south to the coasts of Latin America, however, she pointed her bow north and made for Alaskan waters. The warship reached Sitka on 1 October and began a tour of duty in the northern Pacific of almost 23 months in duration. Her two main functions in Alaska seem to have been monitoring the seal fur industry and regulating the relations between the native Indian and Eskimo population and the multitude of white traders, trappers, prospectors, sealers, and whalers that had established themselves in the area since the United States purchased the territory from Russia in 1867.
Adams had not been on station a month before her commanding officer had to intervene in two incidents involving representatives of the Northwest Trading Company and the native population. Both cases involved the accidental death of an Indian while performing work for the company. In the first instance Comdr. Merriman, backed by Adams and her guns, simply informed the Indians that their custom of levying reparations in the event of an accidental death did not apply in relations with white men and warned them that attempts to do so would bring swift reprisal. That tribe submitted with ill-concealed malevolence.
The second instance, however, required a more emphatic response. When an Indian shaman died as the result of an accidental explosion during a whaling operation on 22 October, the natives of the village of Angoon seized two white men and two of the three company vessels involved and demanded a payment of 200 blankets. The superintendent quickly put to sea in the company's steam tug Favorite and made the voyage to Sitka. There, Comdr. Merriman armed Favorite with a howitzer and a Gatling gun and mounted an expedition comprising Favorite and Adams' launch reinforced with 50 sailors and 20 marines from Adams and soon augmented by the revenue cutter Thomas Corwin, commanded by Michael Healy.
Upon arrival at Angoon, the force collected as many of the Indians' canoes as possible, and Comdr. Merriman held a meeting with some of the Indians during which he made counter demands for the release of the hostages and a levy of 400 blankets in return for which the expedition would spare their canoes and village. To buy time, the Indians accepted the demands at first and released the hostages; however, after they had an opportunity to hide their canoes and gather their forces, the Indians refused to honor the agreement. Thereupon, Corwin and Favorite took the village under fire, destroying a number of houses. When the ships ceased fire, a landing party went ashore and set fire to some of the remaining houses. At that point the Indians submitted. Comdr. Merriman left a party of sailors at Angoon to insure continued good faith, and he and the remainder returned to Sitka in Corwin to reembark in Adams.
Adams patrolled Alaskan waters from her base at Sitka until late in the summer of 1884. On 19 August 1884, the warship departed Sitka and headed south along the coast of North America. She arrived in San Francisco on the 27th and moved to the Mare Island Navy Yard the following day. On 20 September 1884, Adams was placed out of commission at Mare Island
Click Link to see all The Lost Sailors I've Found
http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=vcsr&GSvcid=266131
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Death Certificates Index, 1803-1915 about Frank Brown
Name: Frank Brown
Birth Date: abt 1821
Birth Place: Island of Fayal
Death Date: 24 Dec 1884
Death Place: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Age at Death: 63
Burial Date: 26 Dec 1884
Gender: Male
Race: White
Occupation: Bennificiary 16 S Naval
Street Address: Naval Asylum, Gray's Ferry Road
Residence: 30 Ward
Cemetery: Mount Moriah Cemetery
Marital Status: Single
FHL Film Number: 2070088
U.S. Veterans Gravesites, ca.1775-2006 about Frank Brown
Name: Frank Brown
Death Date: 24 Dec 1884
Interment Date: 24 Dec 1884
Cemetery Address: 62nd St & Kingsessing Ave Philadelphia , PA 19142
Buried At: Section 2 Row 19 Site 14
USS Adams was a screw gunboat and the lead ship of the Adams class.
Adams was built as a single screw, wooden-hull, bark-rigged steamer. The ship was laid down in February 1874 at Boston, Massachusetts, by Donald MacKay; and was launched on 24 October 1874. The new ship was commissioned on 21 July 1876 at the Boston Navy Yard, Comdr. John W. Philip in command.
Service history
North and South Atlantic, 1876–1878
Though initially assigned to the North Atlantic Station, Adams appears to have had no real mission on that station. She spent most of her time in a succession of ports getting ready for permanent assignment. She departed Boston on 6 August, visited Philadelphia between 9 August and 3 September, and then returned to sea, bound for the Norfolk-Hampton Roads area. The warship tarried there from 6 September to 17 November at which time she got underway for Port Royal, South Carolina. She arrived in Port Royal on 20 November and spent the winter of 1876 and 1877 there. On 9 March 1877, Adams headed back to Norfolk. She arrived there on the 12th and remained about five weeks.
On 21 April, the warship put to sea for duty on the South Atlantic Station. If her mission on the North Atlantic Station could be regarded as preparatory, her South Atlantic Station assignment might be called transitory. She arrived at Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, on 2 June. Over the next three months, Adams operated along the Brazilian coast, performing one search mission in June and a survey operation in July. On 8 September, she stood out of Rio de Janeiro and headed south toward the Strait of Magellan. Along the way, the warship called at Montevideo and Buenos Aires. She arrived at the Strait of Magellan on 12 November and remained in the vicinity almost a month to be available to provide assistance to Chilean government officials at Sandy Point during a mutinous situation there. Adams resumed her voyage on 8 December and entered port at Valparaíso, Chile, on the 14th.
Pacific Squadron, 1878–1882
On the first day of 1878, the warship stood out of Valparaíso bound for Callao and to begin cruising on the Pacific Station. She stopped at Callao from 11 January to 5 February and reached Panama City on 21 February. Adams remained at Panama for three months. On 10 May, the ship embarked the Samoan plenipotentiary, la Mamea , who had just completed negotiations in Washington on a treaty of amity and commerce between the United States and his island kingdom, and she set sail to return him and his delegation to Samoa. Adams arrived in Apia harbor on 28 June and stayed for a month to participate in the requisite ceremonies and celebrations. Between 29 and 30 July, she made the transit from Apia to Pago Pago, the harbor the rights to which the United States had acquired as a result of the recent treaty. Adams returned to Apia for two weeks from 7 to 20 August and then got underway to return to the west coast of South America.
The warship arrived at Valparaíso, Chile, on 15 October and remained there until late November. On 21 November, Adams stood out of Valparaíso bound for Callao, Peru, where she arrived on 2 December for a two-month sojourn. She returned to sea on 5 February 1879 to voyage to Panama, reaching her destination on 14 February. After nearly three months at Panama, Adams headed back to Callao on 11 May and entered that port on the 20th. A week later, on the 27th, she stood out to sea and laid in a course to Panama on the first leg of a leisurely voyage up the coast via Punta Arenas in Costa Rica, La Unión, El Salvador, and Acapulco and Mazatlán in Mexico. On 19 July, the warship arrived in San Francisco and, two days later, began a lengthy period of repairs at the Mare Island Navy Yard.
Adams concluded her long stay at Mare Island on 3 February 1880. She made the short trip back to San Francisco that same day and began preparations to return to duty on the Pacific Station. The warship put to sea again on 21 February and headed south. Voyaging by way of Pichilinque Bay and Mazatlan in Mexico, Adams arrived at the Gulf of Dulce in Costa Rica on 29 February and set about establishing a coaling point for ships serving on the Pacific Station. After completing that mission, the warship cruised on station between Costa Rica and Peru until the summer of 1881. On 11 June 1881, she departed Punta Arenas, Costa Rica, to return to San Francisco. She reached her destination on 12 July and entered the Mare Island Navy Yard on the 28th.
Adams left the yard on 23 August and returned to San Francisco for two days before heading back to the west coast of Latin America on the 25th. She arrived at Panama (then a part of the United States of Colombia) on 15 September to begin another seven months cruising along the Central American coast. On 11 April 1882, she concluded her assignment on the coasts of South and Central America by departing Panama and setting a course for California. The warship made stops in Mexico at Acapulco and Pichilinque Bay before reentering San Francisco Bay on 11 May. Two days later, she made the short trip to the Mare Island Navy Yard for a month of repairs.
Alaska, 1882–1884
Back at San Francisco on 11 September, Adams stood out to sea the following day. Instead of heading south to the coasts of Latin America, however, she pointed her bow north and made for Alaskan waters. The warship reached Sitka on 1 October and began a tour of duty in the northern Pacific of almost 23 months in duration. Her two main functions in Alaska seem to have been monitoring the seal fur industry and regulating the relations between the native Indian and Eskimo population and the multitude of white traders, trappers, prospectors, sealers, and whalers that had established themselves in the area since the United States purchased the territory from Russia in 1867.
Adams had not been on station a month before her commanding officer had to intervene in two incidents involving representatives of the Northwest Trading Company and the native population. Both cases involved the accidental death of an Indian while performing work for the company. In the first instance Comdr. Merriman, backed by Adams and her guns, simply informed the Indians that their custom of levying reparations in the event of an accidental death did not apply in relations with white men and warned them that attempts to do so would bring swift reprisal. That tribe submitted with ill-concealed malevolence.
The second instance, however, required a more emphatic response. When an Indian shaman died as the result of an accidental explosion during a whaling operation on 22 October, the natives of the village of Angoon seized two white men and two of the three company vessels involved and demanded a payment of 200 blankets. The superintendent quickly put to sea in the company's steam tug Favorite and made the voyage to Sitka. There, Comdr. Merriman armed Favorite with a howitzer and a Gatling gun and mounted an expedition comprising Favorite and Adams' launch reinforced with 50 sailors and 20 marines from Adams and soon augmented by the revenue cutter Thomas Corwin, commanded by Michael Healy.
Upon arrival at Angoon, the force collected as many of the Indians' canoes as possible, and Comdr. Merriman held a meeting with some of the Indians during which he made counter demands for the release of the hostages and a levy of 400 blankets in return for which the expedition would spare their canoes and village. To buy time, the Indians accepted the demands at first and released the hostages; however, after they had an opportunity to hide their canoes and gather their forces, the Indians refused to honor the agreement. Thereupon, Corwin and Favorite took the village under fire, destroying a number of houses. When the ships ceased fire, a landing party went ashore and set fire to some of the remaining houses. At that point the Indians submitted. Comdr. Merriman left a party of sailors at Angoon to insure continued good faith, and he and the remainder returned to Sitka in Corwin to reembark in Adams.
Adams patrolled Alaskan waters from her base at Sitka until late in the summer of 1884. On 19 August 1884, the warship departed Sitka and headed south along the coast of North America. She arrived in San Francisco on the 27th and moved to the Mare Island Navy Yard the following day. On 20 September 1884, Adams was placed out of commission at Mare Island
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