Henry Honychurch Gorringe

Background

Henry Honychurch Gorringe was born on August 11, 1841, in Barbados. He was the son of an English clergyman for many years rector of the established church at Tobago.

Career

Removing to the United States in early youth, Henry entered the merchant service and in the summer of 1862, joined the United States navy as acting master’s mate.

Assigned to the upper Mississippi, he fought through the war in Porter’s flotilla, with frequent promotions for courage and ability. From September 1863 to January 1865, he commanded the small gunboat Cricket, Porter’s flagship in the Red River campaign, which during the hot action at Deloach’s Bluff, April 26, 1864, was struck thirty-eight times in four minutes, suffering thirty-one casualties in a crew of fifty.

He was among those commended for special ability in this campaign. After the war, he stood fourth in examination for lieutenant in the regular service, and on January 13, 1869, was commissioned lieutenant commander to date from December 18, 1868.

After commanding the Portsmouth, 1869-71, in the South Atlantic Squadron, he served three years in the Hydrographic Office, preparing several volumes of sailing directions for the South Atlantic.

Similar work then took him on an enjoyable Mediterranean cruise in the paddle-wheeler Gettysburg, during which he visited Turkey, Egypt, and the African coast, gathering data for four volumes of sailing directions, and incidentally contributing several excellent travel letters to the New York Nation.

When in 1879 the Khedive of Egypt presented the obelisk, Cleopatra’s Needle, to the United States, and W. H. Vanderbilt offered to finance its transportation, Gorringe, who was keenly interested in the gift, volunteered to take complete charge of its removal from Alexandria to New York.

Granted six months’ leave, with a trusted subordinate, Lieut, Seaton Schroeder, he sailed in August 1879. Overcoming diplomatic obstacles and engineering difficulties with equal persistence, he lowered the monolith, sixty-nine feet long and weighing 220 tons, with machinery of his own devising; transported it in a caisson to a drydock in Alexandria; inserted it in the steamer Dessoug, purchased from the Egyptian government, through a hole made in the bow; secured it with heavy timbers; and on July 20, arrived with it in New York.

From Ninety-sixth Street, North River, to Central Park the obelisk was moved in iron channels, with cannon balls as rollers, and was elevated on its original pedestal and foundation stones, January 22, A full account of the transportation appears in Gorringe’s elaborately illustrated folio, Egyptian Obelisks (1882).

Subsequently his services were in demand as a consulting engineer. Becoming interested in ship-building, he engaged in press criticism of the government’s shipping policy.

His furlough had been several times extended, and a sharp interchange of notes with the secretary of the navy, W. E. Chandler, on his outside activities ended in his resignation, February 21, 1883.

He then organized and became manager of the American Shipbuilding Company, which began operations in Philadelphia but soon went into receivership.

During efforts at reorganization, Gorringe suffered a fall from a train in December 1884 which injured his spine and caused his death six months later in New York.

Achievements

• Gorringe came to fame in 1880 by his work in transporting and erecting the Egyptian obelisk "Cleopatra's Needle" that had been offered to the US by the Egyptian Khedive Ismail in 1879 at the opening of the Suez Canal. On October 16, 1879, with the assistance of 100 Arabs, he rigged the obelisk into the hold of the steamer "Dessoug". It arrived in New York on July 20, 1880. It took 5 months to rig it from the water to Central Park where it arrived on January 22, 1881. The monument over his grave is an exact scale model of the obelisk that he transported from Egypt.

Works

More photos

• book

  • Egyptian Obelisks

    (This book was originally published prior to 1923, and rep...)

  • The Rio De La Plata (Spanish Edition)

    (This book was originally published prior to 1923, and rep...)

Personality

Gorringe had not only mechanical genius but “unlimited self-confidence; never was it ‘Can this be done?’ but only ‘How shall this be done? ’”.

Quotes from others about the person

• According to his closest service friend, Admiral Schroeder, “He had such sterling qualities as to endear him to any one who could pierce the crust of an unfortunate sensitiveness. He enlisted as a seaman and worked his way to command by sheer bravery and capacity. ”

Connections

Gorringe was unmarried.

Mother:

Mercy Ann Thorp Gorringe

13 November 1818 - 6 March 1899

Sister:

Jem Blanche Gorringe Hiland

3 March 1850 - 7 February 1891