USS Trenton Crew Stories

Ensign J. J. Blandin, USN (1862-1898)

He was a key person in the rescue of personnel of the Vandalia. Some 9 years later he was Officer of the Deck when the USS Maine blew up in Havana Harbor, Cuba, on Feb. 15, 1898, just 2 weeks after he was made Lieutenant. He died 5 months later from the blow that he received on that occasion. He is recorded in the Naval Historical Centre records as having survived the Maine explosion. His service record is: Cadet Midshipman, 28 June, 1878. Ensign, 1 July, 1884. Lieutenant, Junior Grade, 31 July, 1894. Lieutenant, 1 February, 1898. Died 16 July, 1898. He is mentioned by Hoyt in "The Typhoon That Stopped a War" on p. 69.

Details courtesy of Prof. Herman de Haas and the American Naval History and Heritage Command, page now removed.

Captain Norman von H Farquhar, USN (1840-1907)

Captain Norman von H Farquhar, USN, possibly before surviving the Samoa Hurricane on USS Trenton

Norman von Heidreich Farquhar was born in Pottsville, Pennsylvania, on 11 April 1840 and attended the U.S. Naval Academy during 1854-59. After graduation, he served with the Africa Squadron until September 1861 suppressing the slave trade, and was a Midshipman and Acting Master, 1859-61. He brought to the United States the captured slaver the Triton, with a crew of ten men and no other officer to assist him. Lieutenant Farquhar spent most of the Civil War off the U.S. Atlantic coast and in the West Indies, serving in the gunboats Mystic, Sonoma and Mahaska and the cruisers Rhode Island and Santiago de Cuba. He was promoted to the rank of Lieutenant Commander in mid-1865, a few months after the fighting ended, and was on duty at the U.S. Naval Academy from then until September 1868. For the rest of the 1860s and into the next decade, Farquhar served in the warship Swatara, was Executive Officer of USS Severn and USS Powhatan and Commanding Officer of USS Kansas. He also had two tours at the Boston Navy Yard on ordnance duty and as Executive Officer.

Advanced in rank to Commander in December 1872, Farquhar spent nearly five years at the Naval Academy. He commanded the training ship Portsmouth in 1877-78, and the steam sloops Quinnebaug and Wyoming in European waters in 1878-1881. Five more years of Naval Academy duty were followed by torpedo instruction at Newport, Rhode Island, in 1886. From May 1887 until her loss in the Samoan hurricane, Captain Farquhar commanded the steam frigate Trenton. He then served on several of the Navy's boards and, in March 1890 became the Chief of the Bureau of Yards and Docks. During 1894-97, he was Commandant of the Philadelphia Navy Yard, Commanding Officer of the cruiser Newark, and President of the Naval Examining Board.

While holding the ranks of Commodore and Rear Admiral, Farquhar was Commandant of the Norfolk Navy Yard in 1897-99, commanded the North Atlantic Station during 1899-1901 and was Chairman of the Lighthouse Board in 1901-02. He retired from active duty in April 1902, upon reaching the statutory service age limit of 62. Rear Admiral Farquhar died at Jamestown, Rhode Island, on 3 July 1907 and was buried in Section 1 of Arlington National Cemetery.

His wife, Addie Whelan Pope Farquhar (May 25, 1845 - July 12, 1909), is buried with him.

If family members object to me using this image, they should contact me and I'll remove it immediately.

Details originally courtesy of American Naval History and Heritage Command, page now apparently removed. See Arlington National Cemetary web-site.

Cabin Steward Fugi Hachitaro (?-?)

This man's heroism appears in a series of reports which exist in condensed form in the Report of the Secretary of the Navy for 1889, as well as the Record of Life Saving Medals Awarded, 1876-1944. In the plainest terms, Mr. Hachitaro dove into the storm-swept water from his ship to rescue an officer from USS Vandalia who had fallen overboard. In the language of military honors, Mr. Hachitaro acted, “...at great peril to his life, as the sea was running high, the ships rolling violently, and the main-mast to which the officer clung, was in danger of being carried away at any moment. It was actually carried away soon after he was taken off.”

The above text is taken directly from the Master's Thesis being compiled by an American researcher Tyler G. Miller at Norwich University, Northfield, Vermont, with his kind permission. Tyler has carried out extensive research into the political background to the situation in Samoa, and intends to carry out further research on this interesting gentleman, so watch this space!

Landsman James/Joseph Hewlett/Howelett (?-1889)

One of the African American sailors standing near the starboard "bridle port" when it was stove in by a massive sea and was killed instantly by the force of the blow at around 8.0 a.m. on the 16th March.

His body was repatriated to the United States in June, 1891, and buried with 18 others in a row at the Mare Island Navy Cemetery.

Sources: The Los Angeles Herald, 31 March 1889, Edwin P Hoyt, "The Typhoon That Stopped a War"; p.128 and San Francisco Call, Volume 70, Number 25, 25 June 1891.

Rear-Admiral Lewis A. Kimberly, USN (1830-1902)

Rear-Admiral Lewis A. Kimberly, USN, possibly after surviving the Samoa Hurricane on USS Trenton.

Lewis Ashfield Kimberly was born in Troy, New York on 2 April 1830. He was appointed a Midshipman in the U.S. Navy in December 1846 and served off Africa in the sloop Jamestown in 1847-50. He was in the Pacific on board the frigate Raritan during 1850-52, then returned to African waters in the sloops Decatur and Dale in 1853-1856. During the remainder of the decade and in the early 1860s, Lieutenant Kimberly was stationed at the Boston Navy Yard, in the East Indian Squadron with USS Germantown, and in the Mediterranean in USS Richmond. His Civil War service included duty with USS Potomac in the Gulf of Mexico in 1861-62 and extensive combat experience on board USS Hartford on the Mississippi River in 1863 and at Mobile Bay in 1864.

In early 1865, Lieutenant Commander Kimberly went to Europe with the frigate Colorado. Promoted to the rank of Commander in 1866, he commanded the receiving ship at New York in 1867-70, USS Benicia on the Asiatic Station in 1870-72 and the monitor Canonicus along the U.S. east coast in 1873-74. As a Captain, he commanded USS Monongahela on the South Atlantic Station in 1875-76 and USS Omaha in the Pacific in 1877-78. He also served at the New York Navy Yard during the early 1880s and was President of the Examining and Retiring Board in 1883-85.

Commodore Kimberly became Commandant of the Boston Navy Yard in 1885 and attained the rank of Rear Admiral in July 1887, a few months after he took command of the Pacific Station. He served there until the end of the decade and was senior officer present during the destructive Samoa Hurricane. He wrote a most entertaining pamphlet about his experiences in the hurricane, and made numerous sketches of the vessels. After duty as President of the Board of Inspection and Survey, Rear Admiral Kimberly retired in April 1892. He died at West Newton, Massachusetts, on 28 January 1902.

If family members object to me using this image, they should contact me and I'll remove it immediately.

Details originally courtesy of American Naval History and Heritage Command.

Machinist Charles H. Stoddard, USN (?-1891)

Machinist Charles Herbert Stoddard, USN, c. 1888.

Charles H. Stoddard was a machinist on the USS Saratoga and USS Trenton. He is buried in Thomaston, Maine, USA beside his father Seth Stetson Gerry, who was a shipbuilder and ship's captain. A letter from his uncle to his mother dated October 14, 1891 notes that he had been suffering for some time. His obituary in the newspaper noted, "His death was due to hardships he endured on the occasion of the hurricane hitting U.S.S. steamship Trenton at Samoa March 15-16, 1889."

Image and details courtesy of Clare L. Bromley.

USS Trenton Crew Members Present at Apia on 16th March, 1889

W.H. Allen	Lieutenant
G. Bart	Seaman	Broken Leg
Blanden (J.J. Blandin?)	Ensign	Later Lieutenant
S. H. Boutwell	Lieutenant
J. Brady	Pay Clerk
Brown	Sailmaker
A. J. Clark	Pay Inspector
B. C. Decker	Naval Cadet	Injured in fall to the deck
N. von H. Farquhar	Captain	Later Rear-Admiral
B. C. Fernald	Carpenter
Galt	Past. Assistant Engineer
W. Gibson	Coal Heaver	Scalded
S. L. Graham	Lieutenant
F. Hachitaro	Cabin Steward
E. Hendrickson	Lieutenat
J. Hewlett	Landsman	Killed
R.W. Huntington	Captain of Marines	Later Colonel
L.A. Kimberly	Rear-Admiral
H. W. Lyon	Lieutenant-Commander
H. Main	Past. Assistant Engineer
C. H. Matthews	Engineer
A. A. McAllister	Chaplain
J. McLaughlin	Boatswain
G. A. Merriam	Lieutenant
J. Nicholls	Corporal of Marines	Accidentally killed in Apia 4 May 1889
F. Noefleet	Past. Assistant Surgeon
L. L. Reamy	Lieutenant
B. Ricklin	Seaman	Accidentally killed in Apia 10 June 1889
H. Rittenhouse	Lieutenant
J. E. Rostedt	Ordinary Seaman	Broken Leg
B. O. Scott	Lieutenant
C. H. Stoddard	Machinist
H. J. Tressett	Acting Gunner
J. Westfall	Acting Gunner
Dr. C. A. White	Doctor of Pacific Station
S. S. White	Doctor of Pacific Station

Sources: JP Dunning account dated February 1890 (Do a "FIND" for Samoa); Admiral Kimberly's Special Report dated 16th April, 1889; Alexandria Gazette, 19 August 1889; Daily Alta California, 7 July 1889. Various family members.

USS Trenton in the Samoa Hurricane of 1889.