by Rev. Canon Dr. Robert Girard Carroon, PCinC
George Wallace Melville was irascible, short-tempered near genius, and to a great degree, as Chief Engineer, the father of the modern United States Navy. Of Scottish descent, he was born in New York City, the son of Alexander Melville and the former Sara Wallace, on January 10, 1841. He showed an early aptitude for mathematics and engineering and, following a high school education at the School of the Christian Brothers, enrolled in and graduated from the Brooklyn Collegiate and Polytechnic Institute (now the New York University School of Engineering). He began his career as an apprentice with the James Binns engineering works of East Brooklyn.
Melville’s employment was abruptly terminated with the outbreak of the War of the Rebellion. On July 29, 1861, he was commissioned a Third Assistant Engineer in the United States Navy. Barely twenty years of age, he went on to lead an active and important naval career during the Civil War. H is initial assignment was aboard the U.S.S. Michigan on the Great Lakes. He was then transferred to the sloop of war U.S.S. Dacotah in the North Atlantic Blockading Squadron. He participated in the attack on Lambert’s Point, the capture of Norfolk, Virginia, and assisted in clearing obstructions from the James River. He served with the fleet supporting General McClellan’s forces at Harrison’s Landing during the Peninsular Campaign. On December 18, 1862, he was appointed Second Assistant Engineer with the rank of Master.
His most heroic exploit during the war was his participation in the engagement between the U.S.S. Wachusett and the C.S.S. Florida in the harbor of Bahia, Brazil, on October 6, 1864. Despite being in a neutral port, Commander Napoleon Collins of the Wachusett determined either to seize the Florida or sink her. Dressed in civilian clothing, Melville rowed around the Confederate vessel in broad daylight to assess her strength. Collins decided to ram the Florida, though officers feared the shock might dislodge machinery and fatally scald those in the boiler room. George Melville volunteered to remain below to operate the machinery, accepting the risk. One enlisted man agreed to stay with him. Owing to an oversight involving anchor gear that reduced the ship’s speed, the impact did not seriously damage the Florida. Nevertheless, she was boarded, captured, and taken north, where she eventually sank in Newport News harbor.
Melville was appointed Chief Engineer of the Wachusett, remaining with her until transferred to Torpedo Boat No. 6, serving under Admiral David Dixon Porter. He was present at the capture of Fort Fisher and, for his services there, promoted First Assistant Engineer (Lieutenant) on January 30, 1865. At war’s end, he resolved to make the Navy his profession and continued in engineering assignments in the West Indies, Brazil, the East Indies, and at various Navy yards.
His interest in exploration culminated in participation in Arctic expeditions. He undertook two voyages in attempts to rescue prior expeditions – the Polaris expedition and the Jeannette expedition sent to relieve the Greely Expedition. During the Jeannette expedition, Melville commanded the whaleboat that brought the entire crew out alive. He then returned to recover the bodies of Lieutenant George W. DeLong and his companions, as well as the expedition’s records. For his heroism, Congress advanced him fifteen numbers in grade and awarded him a gold medal. He was appointed Lieutenant Commander on March 4, 1881.
On August 9, 1887, President Grover Cleveland advanced Melville over forty-four senior officers and appointed him Chief Engineer with the rank of Commander. On January 16, 1892, he was appointed Chief of the Bureau of Steam Engineering and Engineer-in-Chief of the Navy, with the flag rank of Commodore. On March 4, 1899, he was promoted to Rear Admiral. During his tenure, he designed machinery for approximately sixty percent (120 ships) of all U.S. Navy vessels. He invented the watertube boiler, the triple-screw propulsion system, vertical engines, and numerous other devices. He served as president of both the American Society of Mechanical Engineers and the American Society of Naval Engineers and received honorary degrees from six universities, including Harvard and Columbia. He retired on August 1, 1903, upon reaching the mandatory retirement age.
Admiral Melville’s later career centered at the Philadelphia Navy Yard, and he resided in Philadelphia for the final 25 years of his life. On May 5, 1886, he was elected a Companion of the First Class of the Military Order of the Loyal Legion of the United States through the Pennsylvania Commandery. He served as Senior Vice-Commander from 1892 to 1893 and as Commander from 1908 to 1909. On October 18, 1911, Rear Admiral Melville was elected Commander-in-Chief of the Order. After serving only five months as Commander-in-Chief, Rear Admiral Melville died at his home in Philadelphia on March 17, 1912.
In his will he wrote, “I devise and bequest that all paintings, relics and articles of vertu relating to my military, naval and Arctic service, including all my medals, orders, swords, bronze bust and statuettes, and other articles contained in my dwelling house in the city of Philadelphia, all said articles to be selected by my literary executor, Walter M. McFarland, and delivered to the Recorder of the Loyal Legion of the United States, Commandery of the State of Pennsylvania, and I hereby allot $2,000 out of my estate to properly place them in the museum of that Order.”
Previously, on December 13, 1905, Admiral Melville donated to the War Library and Museum, in a letter to Colonel John Page Nicholson, Recorder-in-Chief of MOLLUS, “[T]wo of the flags that were captured on the Confederate State Ship ‘Florida’ in the harbor of Bahia when the ‘Wachusett’ cut her out in the fall of 1864. These flags were taken from her signal chest by myself the day after the capture. I was serving on the ‘Wachusett’ at the time of the capture and was transferred to the ‘Florida’ to prepare her to make the voyage to the United States and so secured the flags.”
A large bronze statue of Admiral Melville stands in the Philadelphia Navy Yard. In 1970, a 2,075-ton oceanographic research vessel was commissioned at the Nimitz Marine Facility, Scripps Institution of Oceanography, University of California, San Diego, and named the Melville.
He was married twice, first to Henriette Beatty Waldron, from whom he was later divorced and by whom he had four daughters – Estella, Maude, Elsie, and Meta—and secondly to Estella Smith Polis, by whom he had no children. Meta married Herbert G. Stockwell, and their son, Melville Stockwell, was designated his grandfather’s successor in MOLLUS. He was laid to rest in Philadelphia at Laurel Hill Cemetery.