Description: Captain Samuel Chester Reid scuttled his ship, the General Armstrong, rather than surrender to the British during the War of 1812. The boatswains mate removed the ship's figurehead and carried it safely ashore.
Description: This reproduction is similar to the firman Lynch received from Sultan Abdul Mejid. These highly decorated documents were granted to visiting guests, dignitaries, and explorers allowing them official permission to perform a task. Lynch was under orders to obtain a firman granting him permission to...
Description:
The Continental brigantine Andrew Doria, Captain Isaiah Robinson, upon entering the port of St. Eustatius in the Dutch West Indies on November 16, 1776, fired a salute of eleven guns, which the fort returned with nine. Although later...
Date Created: 1740
Description: This can, appropriately, be called a "Decatur gun." No. 11 is a French 12-pounder, made at Douay in 1740 for Louis XV, and taken by Decatur during his operations against Algiers in 1815. The French 12-pounder was, as the Latin inscription on its breech rings show, made at Douay in 1740 by...
Date Created: 1740
Description: This can, appropriately, be called a "Decatur gun." No. 12 is a French 12-pounder, made at Douay in 1740 for Louis XV, and taken by Decatur during his operations against Algiers in 1815. The French 12-pounder was, as the Latin inscription on its breech rings show, made at Douay in 1740 by...
Description: In 1848, Jerusalem had four functioning gates set in the 60 to 70 foot-high walls: the Damascus Gate on the road leading north, the St. Stephen Gate on the eastern road, the Zion Gate on the south road, and the Jaffa Gate for the western road. The Golden Gate on the city's east side had been...
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Invented by Richard J. Gatling of Indiana in 1861, the Gatling Gun was ironically designed for humanitarian reasons. Gatling was sickened by the large number of Union infantry casualties and set about creating a weapon that he believed would require...
Description: This cane was made from wood of the brig Lawrence, Commodore Perry's flagship, at the Battle of Lake Erie. The silver plate repats Perry's words, "We have met the enemy and they are ours."
Description: Caesar Wentworth, a U.S. Navy gunboat cook during the War of 1812, drank his daily grog (rum) ration from this tin-plated cup. Wentworth served with the Navy from September 10, 1813, until the war ended.
Description: During the War of 1812, the officer or petty officer in charge of firing the gunboat's cannon used a pick for cleaning the artillery pieces' touch holes. The discovery of this small pick and a swivel gun mount proved that the gunboat carried lighter artillery pieces in addition to its two...
Description: Named for the defeated British vessel, Guerriere was launched at Philadelphia on June 20, 1814.
Description: The navy's first ship of the line since 1792, Independence was launched two days after Guerriere, on June 22, 1814. She served in the navy for nearly a century.
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In 1858 the city fathers of Hartford, Connecticut, presented the sloop with this plaque of the city's coat of arms carved from Connecticut's historic charter oak. The hart (male deer) fording the stream refers to the origin of the city's name. The grapevine at the bottom is...
Description: Iron hand grenades, like this American-made one, contained a charge of blackk powder and were used by boarding parties to devastate the enemy's crew. Dropped from the fighting tops into the hatches of the enemy's gun deck, the shell, weighing 2.5 pounds, could also cause severe fires or...
Date Created: April 30, 1864
Description: In October 1863, the British government seized control of Laird's hulls 294 and 295, which were being built for the Confederate navy. These two double-turreted ironclad rams--North Carolina and Mississippi--would have helped the Confederacy break the...
Description: Istanbul had been the imperial capital of the Ottoman Empire for almost five hundred years when Lynch arrived in 1848. Other than his audience with the Sultan, the lieutenant treated his stay purely as a tourist, viewing many of the city's major attractions. Gaspare Fossati, a Swiss architect...
Description: An unusual Japanese gun, its bore is 6.875 inches in diameter; this would enable it to fire a 39-pound solid shot. It bears no mark other than the numeral "8" on the right trunnion and a trophy inscription on the first reinforce. This powerful gun formed part of the armament of the...
Description: The ancient ruins at Jericho reinforced Lynch's belief that the Biblical cities of Sodom and Gomorrah also existed. The landscape around Jericho is typical of the terrain traversed by Lynch and his expedition during their survey from the Dead Sea to the Mediterranean Coast.
Date Created: C. 1842
Description: This sword, which belonged to John Dahlgren, is similar to the one Lynch wore when he met Sultan Abdul Mejid. During the private audience, the sultan allowed Lynch the unusual honor of wearing his uniform sword during the meeting.
Date Created: August 1785
Description: Letter of August 1785 from John Paul Jones to the Minister of Foreign Affairs, John Jay, reporting that the Algerians had declared war on the United States. This was one of several copies sent by Jones to ensure that one arrived safely. At the direction of Congress, Jay passed copies to the states...
Date Created: 1912-1920
Description: This bronze statue of Captain John Paul Jones, America's first well-known naval fighter, was designed by Charles Henry Nichaus and cast by Gorham Company of Providence, Rhode Island, between 1912 and 1920. Congress appropriated $50,000 for the heroic-size version of the statue in West Potomac...
Description: The Continental fleet, consisting of eight warships under Commodore Esek Hopkins in flagship Alfred, sailed in February 1776 from the Delaware Bay to the island of New Providence, Bahamas. On March 4, the royal governor, taken by surprise and reassured by a promise of safety for...
Description: The screw frigate Merrimack was launched at the Boston Navy Yard on June 15, 1855. For two years, Merrimack visited the Caribbean and Western Europe before being transferred to the Pacific. Decommissioned in Norfolk on February 16, 1860, she burned to the...
Date Created: c. 1802
Description: This powder bucket, marked "Washington Navy Yard 1802," was used on the U.S.S. Constitution until the rebuilding of the ship in 1927.
Date Created: c. 1790s
Description: The initials on the lid of this box stand for James Sever, who commanded Congress, one of the first six frigates authorized the the U.S. Government in 1794.
Description: Made in Britain, this walnut desk belonged to Commodore Thomas MacDonough. His name is engraved on a brass plate on the lid.
Description: Commissioned in August 1841, Marlin served in the Atlantic Ocean during World War II. Walt Disney Studios designed the insignia for Marlin. Each crew member signed the roster. A special envelope was also printed to commemorate the commissioning of the ship. As one of the first submarines to serve...
Description: French flintlock pistol made by Nante Duval in Loire between 1760 and 1770. The beautifully worked brass trim and eagle's head pommel are typical of guns from this period. The pistol reportedly belonged to the Marquis de Lafayette.
Description: A decade before Lynch reached the Dead Sea two Americans had identified the butte of Sebbeh as Masada, where the Jewish garrison had chosen suicide over capture by the Romans in 73 A.D. Lynch sent three members of his group to explore the site.
Date Created: 1864
Description:
In 1862 Congress approved a medal for valor for enlisted men. During the Civil War, 327 Medals of Honor were issued to Navy personnel for a wide variety of actions. The ribboned medal here shows the obverse.
Sixteen members of
Description: Captain John Paul Jones gained prominence in the Continental Navy's Alfred and Providence in 1776. Sailing off Nova Scotia, he captured over fifteen vessels, including the heavily armed Mellish. After the French Alliance enabled the Navy...
Description: These miniature depictions of Captain Matthew Parke and his wife were painted by an unknown Parisian artist. Parke, Captain of Continental Marines, sailed in 1777 in sloop Ranger under John Paul Jones, whom he had come to know in Alfred the year before. In 1779...
Description: This was the first armed vessel fitted out in the service of the United States, in 1775. In all available historical information there is not a single specific description of Hannah's design and appearance. The only physical fact known about her is that she was rated at 78...
Description: The U.S. government and other private companies often used lifeboats to rescue victims of maritime accidents. Lynch and his men used two of Joseph Francis' metal lifeboats as their means of transportation while navigating the River Jordan and the Dead Sea. Their lifeboats were named Fanny...
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Seventy four-gun model. The original ship was designed by William Doughty, built at the Boston Navy Yard from 1818-1848, and launched September 14, 1848.
The Vermont was one of...
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Shark was launched in 1821 at the Washington Navy Yard. With Matthew C. Perry, her first commander, she sailed to Africa to suppress the slave trade and piracy. In 1822 she joined Commodore James Biddles' squadron in the first of many cruises to...
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Considerably larger than previous American armored cruisers, USS Pennsylvania was commissioned on March 9, 1905. Pennsylvania contributed to the beginnings of naval aviation. This model captures the historic...
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Laid down in San Francisco, California, in 1898 and first commissioned in 1902 as USS Wyoming, the monitor initially underwent trials and exercises off the West Coast. Steaming south, she protected American citizens and interests...
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Several of these mustard bottles were discovered near the ship's galley, and one was found in the sediment near the ship. Starting in 1818 each sailor was allowed to buy two pounds of mustard and one quarter pound of pepper from the purser each year.
Description: Nansen bottle designed to take water samples at predetermined depths. The device was named for Fridtjof Nansen, the Norwegian explorer who developed it.
Date Created: c. 1800s
Description: On this ax, the blade is marked 'NYW' over the initials of the naval officer who inspected the weapon. The markings on the reverse of the blade indicate that the weapon was returned to the New York Navy Yard in 1832 for inventory or refurbishing.
Description: The Navy's uniform regulation issued on February 19, 1841, specified the design for officers' swords for the first times. At the same time, a gilded brass belt buckle for a black leather sword belt, complimenting the sword's design, was also authorized. Commodore Stephen Champlin (...
Description: In 1813, James Madison promoted Oliver Hazard Perry to captain in the U.S. Navy.
Description:
This pepper bottle was found in the sediment near the USS Monitor. Starting in 1818 each sailor was allowed to buy two pounds of mustard and one quarter pound of pepper from the purser each year.
Description: Supported by Admiral George Dewey, John P. Holland persuaded Congress to fund seven new, improved submarines in June 1900. The boats of Plunger-class, represented by this model, could dive 150 feet and fire a torpedo through a bow tube covered with a cap which looked like a fish's mouth. The...
Description: A fervent Protestant, temperance supporter, and abolitionist, Lieutenant Andrew H. Foote was captain of the brig Perry. He commanded the Western Flotilla during the Civil War.
Description: With four decades of ship decks under his feet, the 59-year-old Commander Peck was definitely an old sea dog. In August 1849 the Navy ordered Peck to his last sea duty as captain of the sloop-of-war Portsmouth in the West African Squadron. Although Peck and his crew patrolled off...
Description: John Y. Mason had been a successful lawyer and landowner in Virginia before becoming involved in national politics. He served as Secretary of the Navy from 1844-1845, and again from 1846-1849. Mason continued the Navy's age of scientific exploration, started by the Wilkes Expedition to...
Description: At age 55, Joshua Barney commanded a small flotilla on the Chesapeake Bay. He and his men made a brave stand hear Bladensburg against a British force of 2,500 troops.
Description: This portrait of Perry shows the 27-year-old officer after his victory on Lake Erie.