Charles Henry Davis

Background

Charles Henry Davis was born on August 28, 1845 and brought up in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. He was the son of Charles Henry Davis and Harriette Blake (Mills) Davis.

Education

At sixteen he entered the Naval Academy, then at Newport, graduating in November 1864.

Career

After ten years of routine assignments, Davis spent two years in astronomical and geodetic work at the Naval Observatory.

He then engaged in a series of expeditions (1877 - 85) in the North Atlantic, Far East, and on the west coast of South America, for fixing exact longitude by use of submarine cables, the results of which he published in three volumes, each prepared in collaboration with another officer, on Telegraphic Determination of Longitudes (1880, 1883, 1885).

He also published in 1877 a treatise, Chronometer Rates as Affected by Changes of Tempera-Hire and Other Causes.

This last duty was interrupted by the Spanish-American War, during which he commanded the auxiliary cruiser Dixie in Cuban waters and was in charge of the division which, on July 27, 1898, forced the surrender of Ponce, Porto Rico, preparatory to its occupation by the army.

He was made a rear admiral in August 1904, and thereafter commanded a division and then a squadron of the Atlantic Fleet.

Davis’s range of interests and attractive personal qualities led to his selection for various special duties, notably as representative of the president at the reception of the Infanta Eulalie on her visit to the United States in 1893, as a member of the joint army and navy board that reported favorably on the Langley flying machine in 1898, of the international commission that met in Paris in 1904-05 to investigate the Dogger Bank dispute between England and Russia, and of the Perry’s Victory Centennial Committee in 1912.

In later years Davis found his chief recreation in water-color painting, to which he devoted himself with notable success, selling many pictures and giving exhibitions in Newport, Boston, and Washington.

Achievements

• In the Civil War, Davis commanded the Western Gunboat Flotilla, winning an important engagement in the Battle of Memphis.

Works

More photos

• book

  • Telegraphic Determination of Longitudes in Mexico and Central America and on the West Coast of South America: Embracing the Meridians of Vera Cruz...

    ( This is a reproduction of a book published before 1923....)

  • Chronometer rates as affected by change of temperature and other causes

Personality

Nervous, irritable, and whimsical at times—his barred cabin had to be entered once through a port-hole to apprise him of an admiral’s call—Davis was enthusiastic in his pleasures, a delightful companion, thoroughly democratic, and had an extraordinary store of general information. On shipboard he was a strict but just disciplinarian, and drew his men to him by personal affection.

Interests

• In later years Davis found his chief recreation in water-color painting, to which he devoted himself with notable success, selling many pictures and giving exhibitions in Newport, Boston, and Washington.

Connections

On March 31, 1875 Davis married Louisa, daughter of Dr. John Quackenbush of Albany, New York. His elder son, Charles Henry Davis, entered the navy prior to his father’s retirement, so that in 1928 there had been one of that name in the navy continuously for 105 years.

Father:

Charles Henry Davis

naval officer

Mother:

Harriette Blake (Mills) Davis

Wife:

Louisa Quackenbush

Son:

Charles Henry Davis