The Washington times., 1914-03-24
SOME NAVAL HEROES.

The announcement by the Secre-
tary of the Navy. that the six new
torpedo boat destrcyers will be
named Porter, Tucker, Conyngham,
Wadsworth, Jacob Jones snd VAIN
wright is likely to make the ordi-
nary middlc-aged citizen realize that
he has gone rusty on his history, 50
unfamiliar are some of the names.
Yet the old fogy need not worry. We
venture that 30 per cent of gram
mar school graduates could not tell
him, offhand, anything about Jacob
Jones, and that 90 per cent would
be stumped on Conynghan.
Yet Jacob Jones (please don't
confuse him with John PauD was
the commander of the Wasp when
that bold little ship captured the
Frolic, a feat for which Jones re-
ceived from Congress a vote of
thanks and a gold medal.
Gustavus Conyngham was a hero
whose origin and early life are so
wrapped in mystery that the bulk
lest of American biographical cyclo-
pedias have nothing to tell about
him up to the time when he ap-
peared as the commander Of the
Surprise, a vessel which was pur-
chased in i777 at Dover, England,
by agents Of the American Commits
sioners in Paris.
With the Surprise Conyngham
captured the British brig Joseph
and the packet Prince of Orange, the
latter prize being taken off the coast
of Holland. Later Conyngham cap
tained the Revenge, which secured
the English and Scotch coasts, TAX
ing prizes, selling them in Spanish
ports and sending the money to John
Adams and his colleagues.
Conyngham was such terror to
British shipping that insurance rates
went up 25 per cent because of his
activities. As an example of his
nerve, when the battered Revenge
needed overhauling he took her into
British port and had her refitted.
Eventually he was captured and
sent to England for a long and Sc
we're Imprisonment. His history
after that is like the story of his
youth, untold. Even his death,
which occurred "toward the close Of
the century," has no fixed date.
Samuel Tucker was another Revo-
lutionary captain. He commanded
the Franklin, the Hancock and later
the Boston, which carried John
Adams to France
There were three Porters of fame
in the Navy, and all of one family.
The father, Commodore David Por-
ter, commanded the Essex in the
war of 1912. One son, William
David Porter, organized the United
States lighthouse system and in the
civil war commanded another Essex,
an ironclad. on the Mississippi. His
brother, the most famous of the
family. was Admiral David Dixon
Porter, whose ships nurled 10000
shells into Forts Jackson and St.
Philip and enabled Farragut to pass
them and capture New Orleans.
There were two Jonathan May
hew Wainwrights, father and son.
The elder was commander of the
Harriet Iane in the taking of New
Orleans. VicksourS ard Galveston,
and he was killed when his ship was
captured by General Magruder on
January l, 1869. The son, Il gradu-
ate of Annapolis, was killed in an
action with pirates near San Bias.
Mexico, in 1870.
A more recent Wainwright, Rich
ard, was executive officer of the
; Maine when that ship was blown up.
: Later he commanded the Gloucester,
and at Santiago was largely respon-
sible for the destruction of Cervera' s
torpedo boat dcstroyers, the Pluton
and the FIror. He became a rear
admiral in 1908 and was retired
| three wears apO