Edwin Taylor Pollock Edwin Taylor Pollock ( October 25 , 1870June 6 , 1943 ) was a career officer in the United States Navy , serving in both the Spanish - American War and World War I . He was subsequently promoted to the rank of captain . Like many naval officers , his name was often abbreviated using initials : Pollock . As a young ensign , Pollock served aboard the during the Spanish - American War . After the war , he rose through the ranks , served on several ships , and did important research into wireless communication . In 1917 , less than a week before the United States entered World War I , he won a race against a fellow officer to officially receive the U . S . Virgin Islands from Denmark , and served as the territory ' s first acting governor . During the war , he was promoted to captain and a vessel under his command transported 60 , 000 American soldiers to France , for which he was awarded a Navy Cross . Afterward , he was made the eighth Naval Governor of American Samoa and then the superintendent of the United States Naval Observatory , before retiring in 1927 . Early career . Originally from Mount Gilead , Ohio , Pollock attended the United States Naval Academy and , as a midshipman , was assigned to the and the . He graduated with a rank of ensign in 1893 . After graduation , Pollock returned to Ohio and married Beatrice E . Law Hale on December 5 . Two weeks later , he was assigned to the cruiser during its initial shake - down . He was subsequently assigned to the gunboat for an expedition to China . He remained in China for two and a half years as part of the Asiatic Squadron , then transferring to the before returning home in 1897 . On his return home , the Spanish - American War was heating up and he was reassigned to the " New York " , to see service in Cuba and Puerto Rico , eventually taking part in the Battle of Santiago de Cuba . In January 1900 , he was promoted to lieutenant and assigned to the . Over the following year he served on the and the . On board the " Buffalo " , he returned to the Asiatic Squadron near China and was finally transferred to the , the squadron ' s flagship . He remained on board the " Brooklyn " , until its return home in May 1902 . After a brief leave , Pollock was assigned to the USS " Chesapeake " ( as the watch and division officer ) , a position he held for more than one year . He was subsequently transferred to the , serving for another year , and then to Cavite Naval Base . At Cavite , he was promoted to lieutenant commander in February 1906 . His first duty as a lieutenant commander was on the , as the navigator . In 1910 , Pollock was reassigned to the , where he was promoted to commander in March 1911 . On his promotion , Pollock commanded the and the , before being transferred to the United States Naval Observatory . During his command of the " Kearsarge " , Pollock briefly commanded the for a world - record setting wireless experiment . For this feat , the " Salem " was outfitted with 16 different wireless telegraph technologies and sailed to Gibraltar , with Pollock commanding . On arrival , they tested these technologies and set a world - record for longest wireless telegraph distance , , using a " Poulsen Apparatus " , based on principles by Valdemar Poulsen . Experiments were also conducted to determine wireless characteristics during inclement weather and during both the day and night . In 1916 , he was put in command of the , the ship on which he previously was the navigator . U . S . Virgin Islands . In the final days before the entrance of the United States into World War I , the US military was concerned that Germany was planning to purchase or seize the Danish West Indies for use as a submarine or zeppelin base . At the time , Charlotte Amalie on Saint Thomas was considered the best port in the Caribbean outside of Cuba , and Coral Bay on Saint John was considered the safest harbor in the area . Although the United States was not yet at war with Germany , the US signed a treaty to purchase the territory from Denmark for 25 million dollars on March 28 , 1917 . President Woodrow Wilson nominated James Harrison Oliver to be the first military governor . The United States announced plans to build a naval base in the territory to aid in the protection of the Panama Canal . Oliver was unable to travel immediately to the Islands and the honor of being the first Acting Governor of the United States Virgin Islands was decided in an unusual way . Both Pollock , commanding the , and B . B . Blerer ' s were dispatched to the Islands in a race . The commander of the ship that arrived first would officiate at the transfer ceremony and be Acting Governor . Pollock arrived first and the transfer ceremony took place on March 31 , 1917 , on Saint Thomas . Blerer officiated at a smaller ceremony on Saint Croix . Present for the handover was the crew of the Danish station cruiser " Valkyrien " and the former island legislature . The United States declared war on Germany on April 6 , less than a week after securing the islands . Oliver was confirmed by Congress on April 20 and relieved Pollock as Governor . World War I . During the war , Pollock was appointed as Captain on the , a German cruise liner which was seized by the United States government for use as a military transport ship . She was rechristened " George Washington " in September 1917 and Pollock was given her command on October 1 , 1917 . That December , she set out with her first load of troops . During the war , Pollock successfully transported 60 , 000 American soldiers to France in 18 round trips . In 1918 , the " George Washington " was tasked to deliver President Woodrow Wilson to the Paris Peace Conference , though Pollock would not make the trip . He was reassigned on September 29 , 1918 . While on board the " George Washington " , Pollock and Chaplain Paul F . Bloomhardt edited a daily newspaper . After the war , stories from the paper were assembled and published in 1919 by J . J . Little & Ives co . as " Hatchet of the United States Ship " George Washington " " . A short review of the work by " Outlook " magazine called the book " readable " and " admirably illustrated " . It " abounds in clever bits of fun , queer and notable incidents , and sound and patriotic editorials . " After the war , he was eventually reassigned to the battleship , to serve in the Pacific fleet . On November 10 , 1920 , Pollock was awarded a Navy Cross for his services during the war . American Samoa . On November 30 , 1921 , Pollock was transferred from command of the " Oklahoma " to become the Military Governor of American Samoa . Events both personal and political led to a previous Governor Terhune ' s suicide on November 3 , 1920 , and the appointment of Governor Waldo A . Evans to conduct a court of inquiry into the situation and to restore order . Pollock succeeded Evans , who had successfully restored the government and productivity of the islands after a period of unrest . At this time , American Samoa was administered by a team of twelve officers and a Governor , with a total population of approximately 8 , 000 people . The islands were primarily important due to the excellent harbor at Pago Pago . Beginning in 1920 , a Mau movement , from the Samoan word for " opposition " , was forming in American Samoa in protest of several Naval government policies which natives ( and some non - natives ) found heavy - handed . The movement itself may have been inspired by a different and older Mau movement in nearby Western Samoa , against the German and then New Zealand colonial powers . Some of the initial grievances of the movement included the quality of roads in the territory , a marriage law which largely forbade natives from marrying non - natives , and a justice system which discriminated against locals in part because laws were not often available in Samoan . In addition , the United States Navy also prohibited an assembly of Samoan chiefs , who the movement considered the real government of the territory . Surprisingly , the movement grew to include several prominent officers of Governor Warren Jay Terhune ' s staff , including his executive officer . It culminated in a proclamation by Samuel S . Ripley , an American Samoan from an " afakasi " or mixed - blood Samoan family , with large communal property in the islands , that he was the leader of a legitimate successor government to pre - 1899 Samoa . Evans also met with the high chiefs and secured their assent to continued Naval government . Ripley , who had traveled to Washington to meet with Secretary of the Navy Edwin C . Denby , was not permitted by Evans to enter the port at American Samoa and returned to exile in California , where he became the mayor of Richmond . After being appointed as Governor , Pollock ' s continued the colonization work started by his predecessor . Prior to traveling to the territory , he met with Ripley in San Francisco , California . Although Ripley maintained that American " occupation " of Samoa was usurpation , he agreed to allow Pollock to govern unfettered and to provide him with copies of his letters . Almost immediately after arriving on the island , Pollock and Secretary of Native Affairs S . D . Hall met with representatives of the Mau , becoming the first governor to do so . Shortly afterwards , some members of the Mau disbanded , though the movement would continue in some form for another thirteen years . Pollock ' s remaining time as governor was less eventful . While exploring Tonga in May 1923 , he discovered a turtle which had been branded by Captain Cook on his expedition there in 1773 . The turtle was thus known to have lived more than 150 years . He was ordered home on July 26 , 1923 . United States Naval Observatory . Immediately on leaving Samoa , Pollock was appointed superintendent of the United States Naval Observatory in Washington , D . C . , replacing outgoing Rear Admiral William D . MacDougal . On August 22 , 1924 , Mars came within of Earth . The US Naval Observatory made no formal observations of the planet , but Pollock and the son of astronomer Asaph Hall ceremonially re - enacted Hall ' s 1877 discoveries of the moons Phobos and Deimos with his original telescope . They also made observations to calculate the masses of the two moons . On January 24 , 1925 , Pollock commanded the dirigible on a flight from Lakehurst , New Jersey , to photograph a solar eclipse from an altitude of . This was the first time an eclipse had been photographed from the air . After retirement . Pollock retired from service in 1927 and was replaced as superintendent by Captain Charles F . Freeman . In 1930 , Pollock and his wife purchased a summer home in Jamestown , Rhode Island , remaining also in Washington , DC . In 1932 , he was made a director of the Jamestown Historical Society . He also became interested in genealogy and published several works on his family ' s history through the 1930s . He died on June 6 , 1943 , after a long illness and was buried in Arlington National Cemetery on June 7 , 1943 .