Joseph S . Skerrett Rear Admiral Joseph Salathiel Skerrett ( 18 January 1833 - 1 January 1897 ) was an officer in the United States Navy . He participated in one of the most successful actions of the African Slave Trade Patrol , fought in the American Civil War , twice played a prominent role in the history of the Kingdom of Hawaii , and served as Commander of the Pacific and Asiatic Squadrons . He had the reputation of being the best navigator in the U . S . Navy in his day . Naval career . Skerrett was born in Chillicothe , Ohio , on 18 January 1833 . As a child , he was a schoolmate of Lucy Webb , who later would become First Lady of the United States as the wife of President Rutherford B . Hayes , and the two were lifelong friends . Early career . Skerrett was appointed as a midshipman on 12 October 1848 . At the time , the United States Naval Academy curriculum required more years spent at sea than on shore at the school itself , and he went to sea immediately . During his midshipman years Skerrett was attached to the frigate in the Mediterranean Squadron from 1848 to 1852 and to the sloop - of - war off the west coast of Africa from 1852 to 1854 , serving as navigator and officer of the watch on the two ships . He graduated from the Academy in 1853 at the head of his class , being promoted to passed midshipman on 15 June 1854 . He then served at the Naval Academy until 1855 , and was promoted to master on 15 September 1855 and to lieutenant the following day . Skerrett served aboard the flagship of the Home Squadron , the frigate , from 1855 to 1856 , then aboard the sloop - of - war in the Brazil Squadron from 1856 to 1859 . Later in 1859 , he was on the bark , serving as a stores ship in the North Atlantic Squadron . African Slave Trade Patrol . From 1860 to 1862 , Skerrett was assigned to the sloop - of - war off the coast of Africa , and participated in the African Slave Trade Patrol . During his tour , " Saratoga " seized the slave ship " Nightingale " at the mouth of the Congo River at Cabinda on the night of 20 – 21 April 1861 , freeing 961 African slaves . He was promoted to lieutenant commander on 16 July 1862 . American Civil War . While Skerrett was aboard " Saratoga " , the American Civil War broke out in April 1861 . Eager to see action in the conflict , Skerrett requested a transfer that would allow him to see combat . United States Secretary of the Navy Gideon Welles , however , suspected that the sympathies of Skerretts wife , the former Margaret Love Taylor ( 18 April 1838 – 28 November 1905 ) , might lie with the Confederate States of America , and so he refused to place Skerrett in a combat position . Skerrett transferred to the Washington Navy Yard in Washington , D . C . , in 1862 to serve as ordnance officer , but was so eager to get into action that he asked to be allowed to resign from the Navy and join a battery of artillery from Ohio . Welles threatened him with imprisonment at Fort Mifflin if he did not withdraw his resignation , and Skerrett remained on duty at the navy yard . In 1863 , Welles relented and allowed Skerrett to be assigned to the screw sloop , which participated in the Union blockade of Wilmington , North Carolina , and in hunting Confederate States Navy ships raiding merchant shipping in the West Indies . He then transferred to the gunboat in the Western Gulf Squadron , which was enforcing the Union blockade of Confederate ports in Texas . Aboard " Aroostook " , he finally saw action on 27 June 1864 during combat against Confederate forts at the mouth of the Brazos River in Texas . He served aboard " Aroostook " in Texas waters though the end of the war in 1865 . Apprenticeship system . After leaving " Aroostook " , Skerrett did much to establish a system of apprenticeship in the U . S . Navy . He was assigned to the Naval Rendezvous in Washington , D . C . , from 1866 to 1867 and was promoted to commander on 9 June 1867 . He then was the commanding officer of the sloop - of - war , operating as an apprentice ship , from 1867 to 1868 before serving as head of the Department of Seamanship at the U . S . Naval Academy from 1868 to 1872 . While at the Academy , he commanded the sloops - of - war and USS " Saratoga " on two practice cruises . Surveying the Pacific . From 1872 to 1875 , Skerrett commanded USS " Portsmouth " on a lengthy surveying voyage in the Pacific Ocean , which " Portsmouth " reached by steaming around Cape Horn , during which she encountered one of the worst storms ever experienced there , enduring 27 days of severe weather and drifting so far south that some of her men suffered frostbite . In the Pacific , " Portsmouth " operated as far north as the Territory of Alaska – where Skerrett rendered assistance to an Inuit settlement – and made the first accurate surveys of many parts of the Pacific for which accurate charts had been lacking , and the voyage was regarded at the time as one of the most conspicuous and successful in U . S . Navy history . Skerrett suffered problems with his eyesight during the voyage , and never fully regained his vision . During her long Pacific surveying voyage , " Portsmouth " arrived at Honolulu in the Kingdom of Hawaii in 1874 , joining the sloop - of - war and the Royal Navy corvette there . Skerrett impressed other ship captains by bringing " Portsmouth " safely to her mooring without the help of a trained pilot , a feat previously thought impossible in Honolulu Harbor . An Imperial Russian Navy admiral who witnessed the exploit sent Skerrett a letter complimenting him on the achievement . Hawaiis King Lunalilo had died on 3 February 1874 , and when the Hawaiian legislature met on 12 February to elect a new monarch , supporters of Queen Emma rioted when King Kalakaua was elected . The U . S . minister to Hawaii , H . A . Pierce , had anticipated trouble and established a pre - arranged signal for Skerrett and the commanding officer of " Tuscarora " , Commander George Belknap , to put United States Marines ashore to quell any disturbance . After the Hawaiian Minister of Foreign Affairs , Charles Reed Bishop , requested assistance in putting down the riot , 150 Marines from " Portsmouth " and " Tuscarora " joined a landing party of 70 men from " Tenedos " in dispersing the rioters and securing government buildings without bloodshed , and Kalakaua ascended the throne without further violence . Hayes administration . " Portsmouth " returned from the Pacific voyage by again rounding Cape Horn and proceeding to New York City , arriving there in 1875 . Skerrett then served a second tour at the Washington Navy Yard from 1875 to 1878 , was promoted to captain on 5 June 1878 , and was a lighthouse inspector in the First District in Maine from 1878 to 1881 . His friendship with Lucy Webb Hayes made him a welcome visitor at the White House throughout the presidency of Rutherford B . Hayes ( 4 March 1877 – 4 March 1881 ) , and at one point President Hayes offered to make him a bureau chief in the United States Department of the Navy . With what was described as characteristic modesty , Skerrett declined on the grounds that he was too junior in rank for the position . Asiatic Squadron and Samoa . Skerrett returned to sea in 1881 as commanding officer of the flagship of the Asiatic Squadron , the steam sloop - of - war . Assuming command of " Richmond " at the Isthmus of Panama , he took her under orders of the Department of the Navy to Apia , Samoa , where he settled troubles the United States Consul was experiencing and began negotiations for the establishment of a coaling station at Pago Pago . He succeeded to command of the Asiatic Squadron in October 1883 , and played a conspicuous role in protecting American interests in Indochina during the Sino - French War . Naval Asylum and navy yard duty . Relinquishing command of the Asiatic Squadron in 1884 , Skerrett moved on to a tour at the Philadelphia Naval Asylum in Philadelphia , Pennsylvania , from 1884 to 1888 , serving as its governor from 1886 to 1888 . He then was a member of the Naval Advisory Board during 1889 and was promoted to commodore on 4 August 1889 . He then went on to be commandant of the Portsmouth Navy Yard in Kittery , Maine , from 1889 to 1890 and of the Washington Navy Yard from September 1890 to December 1892 . Pacific and Asiatic Squadrons . Skerretts next assignment was command of the Pacific Squadron in Honolulu , where he immediately became involved in unrest in the Kingdom of Hawaii again when revolutionaries overthrew Hawaiis last reigning monarch , Queen Liliuokalani , on 17 January 1893 , with the assistance of the U . S . minister to Hawaii , John L . Stevens , and a landing party from the protected cruiser . The raising of the United States flag in Honolulu to establish American protection of the islands spurred international opposition and the British and Japanese each sent a warship to Honolulu . Over the next several weeks , the new Provisional Government of Hawaii , consisting mostly of American residents of the islands , sought annexation by the United States , but shortly after assuming office on 4 March 1893 , President Grover Cleveland , who disapproved of the overthrow , dispatched James H . Blount as a special envoy to Hawaii with authority to act on Clevelands behalf . Blount ordered Skerrett to have the American flag hauled down on 1 April 1893 and directed that the provisional government receive no further U . S . government support . Skerrett wrote favorably about the new government on 25 July 1894 , but was reminded not to favor it over others contending to govern the islands . Perhaps because he favored the provisional government , Skerrett suddenly and unexpectedly was relieved of command of the Pacific Squadron by John Irwin and replaced Irwin in command of the Asiatic Squadron , which Skerrett assumed on 30 October 1883 . Skerrett was promoted to rear admiral on 16 April 1894 . His mandatory retirement from the Navy upon reaching the age of 62 was scheduled for 18 January 1895 , but he voluntarily requested an earlier retirement based on time in service in order to make room for Commodore Joseph P . Fyffe to be promoted to rear admiral before Fyffes mandatory retirement at age 62 on 26 July 1894 . Skerrett thus was placed on the retired list early , on 9 July 1894 , allowing Fyffe to be promoted to rear admiral shortly before his own mandatory retirement . Retirement and death . In retirement , Skerrett resided in Washington , D . C . , where he died of what was diagnosed as " paralysis " at midnight on 1 January 1897 . He is buried with his wife and daughter , Edith W . Skerrett ( 8 November 1879 – 4 November 1956 ) , at Arlington National Cemetery in Arlington , Virginia .