The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1903-08-09
NAVYS CHIEF ENGINEER RETIRES

| They call him "the good gray chief"
but in the naval register he is put down
as George w. Melville, rear admiral,
engineer in chief of the navy. He has
signed his name as head of the bureau
of steam engineering for the last time
for he has retired, and he retires with
a record opposite his name that few
Of the naval officers of today or yes
terday can boast.
| Rear Admiral Melville has been in
harness since ninety days after the
outbreak of the civil war, when, at
| twenty, he became an officer of the
engineer corps.
He was for a time on the sidewheeI
steamer Michigan, and was later as
signed to the sloop Of war Dakotah,
Of the North Atlantic fleet, and served
on that vessel at the attack on Lam
bert's Point and the capture of Nor
folk. The Dakotah served as guard
ship during the fateful night and
morning Of the defeat of the Merrimac
off Craney island in Norfolk harbor.
Rear Admiral Melville continued to
serve with this fleet until after Farra-
gut made his passage up the Missis-
sippi. 1t was on his return from carry
ing dispatches to Farragut that he was
attacked with typhoid fever and trans
ferred to the hospital in Key West.
was attached to the Santiago de Cuba,
and from her was transferred to the
screw sloop Wachusett, aboard which
he went to Brazil to keep a lookout
for and capture of Confederate vessels.
1t was on this duty that the young
engineer performed one of the most
valiant deeds of his career.
49, Proved His MettIe.
I It had been determined to ram the
Confederate cruiser Florida, which had
obtained permission to remain in the
harbor of Bahia for tWenty-fo four hours.
when the Wachusett struck the enc
my's vessel her boilers would be
wrenched from their fastenings by the
shock, break steam joints and proba-
bly, kill many below. This was not
Melville's idea, but he said to the cap
tain:
It do not believe the boilers will
break loosessbut if they do there need
be but one sacrificed, for after the
alone and will order all hands on
deck"
To determine the strength of the
Florida's battery, Melville, disguised,
boarded the vessel in broad daylight,
inspected her guns and returned to his
ship with the desired information, but
not before he had been ordered off the
vessel. Had his identity been discov
kered his captors would probably have
hanged him then and there.
The engineers theory about the boil
Eers proved correct. He ordered all men
sup and remained alone below, one fire.
man standing by him, refusing to leave
him. The Florida was successfully
rammed and the Wachusett was none
the worse for the blow.
When he was detached from the Wa
chusett, Melville, when Porter called
for men to volunteer for death, glory
and promotion" was among the first
to answer, and was assigned to tor
pedo boat No. 6, serving with Porter's
fleet at the capture of Fort Fisher and
later in the clearing and buoying Of
the channel Of Cape Fear. Afterward
he was assigned to the gunboat Maui
NEE, the first vessels to force her way up
the James as far as the rockets below
Richmond.
The war ended, Rear Admiral Mel
vile served in the Mexican gulf dur
ing the occupation and evacuation Of
Mexico by the French; cruised to Bra
zil in the Lancaster, to the Arctic in
the Tigress, to China and Japan in the