Untitled Document

Dry Dock No 1, a Work Stoppage & the USS Delaware in Letters & Documents
including
Quarterly Report of Persons Confined & Punished aboard the U.S. Ship Delaware

June 17, 1833, Gosport Navy Yard USS Delaware enters dry dock
Lithograph by J G Bruff NNHC public domain

On June 17, 1833, with large crowds of national and local dignitaries naval officers and shipyard workers looking on the ship of the line, USS Delaware, becomes the first warship to enter a public dry-dock in the United States when she entered Gosport Navy Yard in Portsmouth, Va. The Delaware was something of a fixture and in her home element for she had been laid down at Norfolk Navy Yard in August 1817 and launched on 21 October 1820. Following her launch as a consequence of severe cuts in the naval appropriation she was roofed over and kept at the yard in ordinary until on 27 March 1827, when she was ordered repaired and fitted for sea. After an extended to cruise as the flag ship of the U.S. Mediterranean Squadron she was once again placed in ordinary at Norfolk until 1833. Recommissioned on 15 July 1833, she received President Andrew Jackson aboard on 29 July, firing a 24-gun salute at both his arrival and departure. The following day she set sail for the Mediterranean where she served as flagship for Commodore D. T. Patterson and cruised on goodwill visits and for the protection of the rights and property of American citizens until her return to Hampton Roads on 16 February 1836. She was placed in ordinary from 10 March 1836 until recommissioned on 7 May 1841 for local operations from Norfolk She was remembered by one seaman from her first voyage as though “ …it required some little time to get her trim and sailing. She turned out, however, to be a good vessel; sailing fairly, steering well, and proving to be an excellent sea-boat …”

The dry dock itself was a monumental project begun in 1827 at a cost of nearly a million dollars. Getting the Delaware ready for recommissioning was an involved project. Once the administration of President Andrew Jackson made the decision to bring the vessel back into the active fleet Commodore Lewis Warrington spent much of the Spring of that year repeatedly assuring the Secretary of the Navy (7 June 1833) “Every exertion, I assure you, shall be made to equip the Delaware as soon as she comes out of the Dock.” Warrington rightly fretted about delays on 20 June 1833 he acknowledged some of his workforce were unhappy “I am reluctantly compelled to announce that the Shipwrights of this yard struck work yesterday morning, very unsuccessfully, because they were refused higher wages then one given at the other yards…” On 18 June some of the shipwrights put down there tools and stated they deserved higher wages. The timing of this work stoppage was to coincide with a visit from the Board of Navy Commissioners. However this work stoppage was such that Commodore Warrington saw no need to negotiate. As he quickly explained in subsequent letters to the Secretary the workers were never a united; and through a combination of both intimidation and division all the men quickly resumed work. In this confrontation management would always hold the trump card. For even the most disgruntled white workers were keenly aware that as free labor they were in a precarious situation. Enslaved labor made up at least one third of workforce. Just two years previous Warrington had noted that “two hundred and forty six blacks employed in the Yard and Dock…” At Norfolk free labor could never compete as long as the shipyard master mechanics and even some of white laborers rented or leased their bondsmen to the shipyard. At the dry dock that celebratory June day to work and provide muscle power was George Teamoh. Teamoh a young enslaved African American later recalled many years of unrequited labor at federal shipyards and forts:

The following transcribed letters reveal something of the tension and struggle to get the frigate ready for sea and the conflicted and uneasy world of free and enslaved labor at Gosport Navy Yard that made both Dry Dock No. 1 and USS Delaware possible.

Transcription: This transcription was made from digital images of letters and documents received by the Secretary of the Navy, NARA, M125 “Captains Letters” and Officers Letters M148 RG 45 National Archives and Records. In transcribing all passages from the letters and document, I have striven to adhere as closely as possible to the original in spelling, capitalization, punctuation, and abbreviation, superscripts, etc., including the retention of dashes and underlining found in the original. Words and passages that were crossed out in the letters are transcribed either as overstrikes or in notes. Words which are unreadable or illegible are so noted in square brackets. When a spelling is so unusual as to be misleading or confusing, the correct spelling immediately follows in square brackets and italicized type or is discussed in a foot note.

William McNally an ex-Navy gunner’s mate in 1839 published an expose of the naval and merchant service which awakend the public. McNally’s Evils and Abuses in the Naval and Merchant Service Exposed; with Proposals for their Remedy and Redress was highly critical of corporal punishment and the treatment of seamen in the naval service.1 McNally’s graphic account of flogging aboard United States naval vessels focused the public on the brutal treatment that enlisted personnel endured for decades. In 1840 author Richard Henry Dana published Two Years Before the Mast which was "conceived as a protest and written to improve the lot of the common sailor.”2 Dana’s book quickly became a best seller and his record of a two year voyage aboard merchant ships reflected the harsh realities of nautical life and made the American public more sympathetic to the plight of seamen.3

In response to McNally, Dana and other critics, the Secretary of the Navy James K. Paulding in May 1840 issued an order to commanding officers directing “that punishment by flogging should be employed strictly in accordance with law and always in the presence of the captain. They were also to make reports to the Navy Department quarterly on the amount of punishment administered for infractions of discipline.” Below is the transcribed report on corporal punishment on board the frigate USS Delaware which in 1840 was stationed in Norfolk, Virginia. For some years the Delaware was a regular fixture in Norfolk Harbor. The Delaware was utilized as a “Receiving Ship” and such ships were used to house newly recruited sailors before they were assigned to other ships. While in Norfolk Harbor the Delaware was also used as a school for naval apprentices.4

In the U.S. Navy corporal punishment was a commonplace occurrence, typically awarded for being absent without leave, drunkenness, and disobedience. Such punishment could also be awarded for sleeping on watch, theft, smuggling and fighting. During the period 1799-1850 flogging was the most common punishment in almost all American men-of-war. The U S Naval regulation “Articles for the Government of the Navy” was passed in March 1799 and revised in April 1800. The Articles provided the requisite legal sanction for corporal punishment in the form of flogging for such offenses as “oppression, cruelty, fraud, profane swearing, drunkenness or any other scandalous behavior.” This act was again revised and approved on 10 April 1806 by the United States Congress. The result was a regulation of 101 Articles of War for use of the Army and the Navy. As a result flogging would remain in force for fifty years. The Articles comprise a varied collection of admonishments and rules that deal mainly with misconduct of officers and seaman.5

On the Delaware and other naval vessels, the Articles of War were regularly read aloud to the ship crew typically on Sundays prior to Divine Services. Many sailors recounted the solemn nature of this occasion where the crews were reminded that thirteen of the enumerated articles were capital and punishable by death. Flogging was carried out by the cat-of-nine tails made from a thick rope as a handle and nine pieces of light line knotted in places. The frigate crew was assembled with the Boatswain shouting, “All hands to witness punishment, ahoy!” Next the marines and boatswain mates led out the malefactor. The spectacle of flogging was meant to inspire fear in the ship crew thereby deterring misconduct and ensuring obedience to naval law. The seaman being punished was tied to a grating taken from one of the hatches. His wrists and ankles were tied to the grate and his back stripped. The boatswain was then ordered to cut him with the cat. Drunkenness and smuggling of liquor were a major problem aboard all naval ships and vessels and remained so until grog rations were abolished in 1862. Many of the punishments recorded in the report were connected to these two offenses. In 1840 the entire crew of the Delaware would have been forced to repeatedly witness such punishments. The instrument of punishment the “Cat of Nine Tails” was reserved for adult sailors 18 years or above and the “Kittens” for ship boys. The Kittens were a lighter model of a reduced cat, also known as “the boy's cat,” however some unfortunate boys were punished with the Colt.

In the Delaware report Captain McCauley notes five younger boys: Thomas Smith, Thomas Hulme, Edward Burrows, John Mooney and Thomas Smith were punished “at the gun.” In the parlance of the day, they “met the gunners daughter” or “kiss the gunners daughter”, that is they were forcibly laid over a large gun, their pants lowered and they were whipped by the Boatswain’s mate across the buttock with “Colt”, a long cord of rope until the sentence was carried out.

Not surprisingly there are few accounts of this cruel and humiliating punishment by the boys who actually were made “to kiss the gun.” One exception was Charles Erskine (1822 -1900) who left an account of this punishment and what he experienced while serving aboard the USS Porpoise in 1840. Erskine punishment “at the gun” was for displeasing Lt. Charles Wilkes the Porpoise commanding officer.

“As I passed over the gangway Lieutenant Boyle ordered the Boatswain to introduce me to the Gunner daughter. I was then seized and placed over the breech of a sixty two pound Paxton gun and whipped with the Colt so severely that I could not sit down with any comfort for several weeks. The Colt is a piece of rope about three feet long and half and inch thick. The Boatswain and his mates always carry one in their hats. I worked my right hand behind me and [received] several very painful cuts over the knuckles. On being released I went forward and one of the old sailors set me a bucket of water and put my hand in another. He said it would take the soreness out. When I went below I took off my clothes and found my trousers had been cut through and threads of them were sticking to my bruised flesh.”

Apprentice “App.”: The naval apprentice system was established by law in 1837 for enlisting boys neither under thirteen nor over eighteen year. These young sailors were to be instructed in steering, heaving the lead, knotting and splicing, in rowing, in the use of the palm and needle, etc., that they might become qualified for rating as seamen and petty officers. See The Gosport Navy Yard Apprentice Boys School and the question of foreign birth, June 7, 1839 http://www.usgwarchives.net/va/portsmouth/shipyard/nnysharp7.html

Boatswain “Bos”: A multipurpose petty officer, usually one of the best seaman, whose responsibilities included inspecting the ship sails and rigging each morning and reporting their state to the officer of the watch. The Boatswain was in charge of all deck activities, such as weighing or dropping anchor or handling sails. The boatswain’s role as the agent of official and unofficial punishment (see introduction) with no appeal, generally made him both loathed and feared.

Boy: The designation “Boy” in the early United States Navy was a rating given to young enlisted men 12 to 18 years of age who were in training as seaman. The naval apprentice bill was signed into law on 2 March 1837. The bill made it lawful to enlist boys for the navy not being under thirteen nor over eighteen years of age to serve until twenty-one. Within a few months there were several hundred apprentices on board naval vessels and the experiment gave promise of success. The secretary directed that the boys were to be "thoroughly instructed so as to best qualify them to perform the duties of seamen and petty officers." Most “Boys” were usually rated Ordinary Seaman at age 18. The rating Boy was divided into three pay grades: 3rd, 2nd and 1st Class Boy, with the 1st class usually reserved for the older boys. The pay for a third class boy was $5.00 per month, $6.00 per month for second class boys and those promoted to first class could expect $7.00 per month. Apprentice boys were not allowed to draw spirits (grog ration) or use tobacco.

Cat of Nine Tails or Cat: Until 1850 the Cat was authorized for punishment in the U.S. Navy. The Cat was composed of nine pieces of cord about half yard long affixed in a thick rope handle to use for punishing transgression of the Articles of War.

Kittens: A lighter version on the Cat O’Nine tails for use on boys.

Landsman abbreviated “Lds.”: Landsmen was the lowest rank of the United States Navy in the 19th and early 20th centuries given to new recruits with little or no experience at sea. Landsmen performed menial, unskilled work aboard ship. A Landsman who gained three years of experience or re-enlisted could be promoted to Ordinary Seaman. The rank existed from 1838 to 1921.

Ordinary Seaman or “O.S.”: Ordinary seaman was the second-lowest rank of the nineteenth century United States Navy ranking above landsman and below seaman. Promotion from landsman to ordinary seaman required three years of experience or re-enlistment. An ordinary seaman who gained six years of life at sea and “knew the ropes”, that is, knew the name and use of every line in the ship’s rigging, could be promoted to seaman. An ordinary seaman’s duties aboard ship included handling and splicing lines and working aloft on the lower mast stages and yards.

Seaman or Sea: In the nineteen century seaman typically had six years of experience at sea. A seaman was expected to be familiar with all the various stations aboard a vessel of war including battle stations, working aloft, to have an expert knowledge of lines and knots, to be able to handle small boats and be familiar with weapons such as cutlass and boarding ax.

School Master: The apprentice school employed a school master to teach the boys the rudiments of shop mathematics and improve their writing skills.

No.	Names	Rank	Offenses	Lashes	Remarks
1	John Burns	O.S	Disobedience	6
2	William Welsh	1st Class Boy	Disobedience	7
3	Henry Summers	O.S.	Disobedience	8
4	Riley Nash	O.S.	Disobedience	5
5	Thomas Smith	App	Desertion	12	At the gun on the back side
6	Thomas Hulme	App	Desertion	12	At the gun on the back side
7	Jacob Guiont	Landman	Abusing the Sentinel	9
8	Lewis Grunels	Landman	Fighting	12
9	Isaac Cunningham	App	Insolence to Gunner City	12
10	John Williams	O.S.	Disobedience	5
11	Hiram Goff	1St Class Boy	Disobedience	4
12	Franklin Smith	O.Sea	Fighting	6
13	Augustus Steiks	Landsman	Fighting	6
14	Martin Kessler	Landsman	Disobedience	9
15	Ignatius Grimes	Landsman	Making a noise	12
16	Rich Crook	Sea	Drunkenness	12
17	Henry Martin	Landsman	Desertion	12
18	Daniel Marr	Landsman	Desertion	12
19	Edward Burrows	App	Desertion	6	From the North Carolina at the Gun
20	John Mooney	Apr	Desertion	6	From the North Carolina at the Gun
21	Stephen Harrington	Sea	Insubordination	12
22	Andrew Turrnel	Sea	Insubordination	12
23	Thomas Porter	O.S.	Insolence to the Boatswain mate	11
24	George Gordon	O.S.	Insolence to the Mater at arms	12
25	James Huxham	Landman	Pumping Ship on Deck	12
26	George Palmer	O.S	Absent without Leave	6
27	William Oldfield	O.S.	Abusing the School Master	12
28	Jacob Mason	App	Absent without Leave	12
29	Thomas Smith	App	Abusing the School Master	9	At the Gun
30	Hiram Lord	Sea	Drunk, Disobedience and contemptuous

Chart Image A & Image B

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