A Civil War Gunboat in Pacific Waters: Life Aboard the USS Saginaw

Index

Abandoned Shipwreck Act, 311 Acapulco. See Mexico Alabama, CSS (commerce raider): Thomas Hogg to coordinate with, 108–9; prizes taken by, 146; sunk by USS Kearsage (Winslow commanding), 219–20 Alaska: Alcohol smuggling along Alaskan coast, 160; Chilcat-kon, confrontations with, 168–69; Chinook language, Mitchell lexicon of, 160; Growler wreck, investigation of, 156–58; Haida Indians, 150, 156; illness, rheumatism among crew, 152, 170, 174–75; Inuit Indians, 150; Kake/Kake-kon (see Kake War); “kon,” defined, 154; Kootznahoo , coaling operations at, 161; Lynn Canal, 159–60; need for Saginaw in (Craven note), 175–76; North Pacific Squadron resupply problems, 153–54; Peril Straits, near grounding at, 170; purchase of, 4, 148; Sitka, events at (see Sitka); slipshod administration of, 149–50; sovereignty transferred to U.S., 149; tension between Navy and natives, 161; Tlingit Indians, 149–50, 154–55, 160. See also Coal/coaling; Kake War Albatrosses, Laysan. See Gooney birds Alcatraz, fortification of, 84 Alcohol/alcohol abuse: aboard Saginaw, 55, 91, 94–95, 98, 106, 183, 197; aboard schooner Louisa Downs, 159–60; James Campbell accidental drowning, 48; daily whiskey ration (U.S., British), 88; drunkenness, punishment for, 33, 91, 94–95, 98; as escape from conditions of service, 55, 94–94; grog and “Bob Smith,” 88; Schenck charged with, 55; smuggling aboard and concealment of, 98; Index smuggling along Alaskan coast, 4, 155, 160; “sucking the monkey,” 98; U.S. Army experience at Sitka, 155; Lt. Westcott, drunkenness of, 54–55 Anaconda Plan (naval blockade of Confederacy ), 80–81 Andrews, John: coxswain on rescue gig, 245–46; lost as rescue gig capsizes, 251– 52; body washed ashore (at Kapapala, Hawai`i), 253; interred at Nu`uanu Cemetery , 272, 284, 285i; son’s letter to Sicard, 284–85; U.S. Naval Academy memorial, 296; name cut on rescue gig coaming, 298i Antiquities Act, 311 Arrow war. See Opium War, second Atlantic cable, 126–27, 134 Baldwin, Cmdr. Charles H.: relieves Hopkins as Saginaw commander, 116; leaves Saginaw, returns to Mare Island, 121; rear admiral commanding Saginaw, 284 Baldwin, USS (DD-624), 284 Black Flag Decree, 124–25 Bligh, Capt. William, 248 Boston, USS, 288 Britain/British: attack on Taku (Peiho) Forts, 38, 43–44; attempt to annex Hawai`i, 186; and devastation of Nanjing area, 60–61; humiliation of Meade by (Victoria BC), 167; hydrographic surveys of Hawai`i, 185; ransom of Shanghai by, 42; surrender of Shenandoah to (1865), 118, 126; Trent incident , response to, 70–71 Brockway, Ensign J. H., 114 Brooks, Charles W., 188 350 u Index Brooks Island: Brooks’s accolade for, 194; Brooks lands on, claims, 188; Captain Daggett description of, 188–89; Pacific Mail station on, 192–93; Reynolds possession of (for U.S.), 193. See also Midway Island/ Midway Atoll Brunel, Isambard Kingdom, 19, 134 Burditt, Capt. Henry, 192 Butterworth, James: biographical sketch of, 199; post-Saginaw career of, 283 California: Baja, grey whales at, 140–41; Baja, mining activity at, 139; Channel Islands, 90, 121; coastal forts, 81–82; French/British designs on, 128–29; gold shipments, importance of, 82; Gulf of California, Saginaw ordered to, 123; Lower California, Confederate interest in, 69, 86; passage to (Cape Horn, Panama), 10–11; San Francisco (see San Francisco); Santa Barbara, 29, 90, 122; Southern sympathizers in, 83–84. See also Mare Island Naval Shipyard Cape Horn, passage around: difficulties of, 10; by Pacific Squadron, 126; USS Oregon, 282; by Yankee merchant vessels, 185 Carrollton (bark), 292 Casserley, Tane, 297i, 311, 319i Central America: Confederate threat to, 85, 94, 113–14; Nicaraguan incursions in, 96; “piratical hordes” in (Pearson note), 96, 331n59; political instability of, 96; Saginaw on station in, 97–98, 119; Noel Wilson ill health in, 96. See also Panama Changmao (long hairs). See Taiping Rebellion Channel Islands, 90, 121 China: Chinese civilians, employment of (by U.S. Navy), 47–48; civil war in (see Taiping Rebellion); foreign concessions, granting of, 38; Nanjing, diplomatic negotiations at, 58–60; Nanjing area, devastation of, 60–61; opium trade, prohibition of (by Taiping), 59; Qing Dynasty, disintegration of, 77; Shanghai , privateer fitting out at, 68; Shanghai, Saginaw arrives at, 41; Shanghai, Saginaw defense of, 44–45; Shanghai waterfront, perils of, 48; southern China climate, crew illness from, 41–42, 47; Treaty of Tianjin, 38; treaty ports, 13; Union commerce with, protection of, 69; U.S. commercial interest in, 78–79; Yangtze River, Saginaw ascent of, 57–58, 60–62; Yangtze River, Western trade on, 13, 59–61. See also Cochin China; Opium; Opium...