Journal of a cruise of the United States schooner Dolphin among the islands of the Pacific Ocean: and a visit to the Mulgrave Islands in pursuit of the mutineers of the whaleship Globe
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Hiram Paulding was born on December 11, 1797 in Cortland, Cortland County, New York, United States. He was a descendant of Joost Pauldinck who came from Holland to New York before 1683, the seventh child of John Paulding, celebrated as a captor of Major André in the Revolution, and his second wife, Esther Ward.
Career
Hiram Paulding was appointed midshipman September 1, 1811, after which he studied mathematics and navigation in New York. In 1813 he was ordered to Lake Ontario but was transferred soon afterward to the Champlain Squadron. In recognition of his gallant services in the battle of Lake Champlain as acting lieutenant in the Ticonderoga, he received $1500 prize-money and a sword from Congress. He served in the Constellation against the Barbary powers, was promoted in 1816 to the rank of lieutenant, and spent the next three years in cruising in the Macedonian of the Pacific Squadron. He then took advantage of an opportunity to study at Capt. Alden Partridge's military academy at Norwich, Vermont, graduating with the class of 1823. While on duty again in the Pacific in the United States, he carried Admiral Hull's dispatches from Callao to General Bolivar's headquarters in the Andes, a commission which entailed a journey of 1500 miles on horseback. He volunteered the following year, 1825, for a long cruise in the South Seas as first lieutenant of the Dolphin, pursuing mutineers from the whaleship Globe. This voyage brought novel and exciting experiences one of which was described by Charles Henry Davis, 1807 - 1877, as "the boldest act he ever witnessed".
In the face of several hundred infuriated savages, Paulding seized one mutineer and marched him to a boat, using the body of his captive as a shield. Descriptions of these activities appear in Paulding's Bolivar in his Camp (1834) and his Journal of a Cruise of the United States Schooner Dolphin (1831). Both narratives reveal a gift for writing and a fondness for poetry and reading. In 1837 purchased a farm on the Sound near Huntington, Long Island, where with his family of four daughters and two sons, he enjoyed brief intervals of home life. His sea duty, meanwhile, included two Mediterranean cruises in the Constellation, 1830 - 1832, in the Shark, 1834 - 1837, and, after his promotion to the rank of captain, a China cruise in the Vincennes from 1844 to 1847.
His sound judgment, conciliatory temper, and fine presence made appropriate his next assignment to command the new frigate St. Lawrence, the first American warship to visit Bremen, and, according to her captain, also the first to venture the "experiment of social intercourse with the people of any part of England". Paulding visited Frankfort during the parliament of 1848, and was earnestly consulted on the subject of building up a German navy, in which, it appears, he was offered a high command. In December 1848 his ship went to Southampton, England, where for a month there ensued cordial exchange of hospitalities. Four years in charge of the Washington navy yard were followed by the command of the Home Squadron, 1855 - 1858, operating mainly in the Caribbean. The chief episode of this command was Paulding's seizure of Gen. William Walker and about 150 filibusters who had landed in defiance of the United States sloop Saratoga, at Grey Town, Nicaragua.
Upon his arrival Paulding threw a force of 350 men ashore, compelled Walker's surrender without bloodshed on December 8, 1857, and sent him and his followers home. This bold action met with approval in the North, but the Buchanan administration set Walker free and soon relieved the commodore of his command. The Nicaraguan government demonstrated its gratitude by presenting Paulding with a jewelled sword. Though above the age for active command, he was appointed head of the Bureau of Detail in March 1861, with the responsibility of selecting dependable officers for wartime duties. Other duties were added, notably that of leading the expedition which on April 21, 1861, evacuated the Norfolk navy yard. In the complete demoralization there, ships already scuttled and lifting shears cut away, Paulding can hardly be blamed for executing his orders, which were to evacuate after removing or destroying whatever possible, but it meant leaving nearly 3, 000 cannon in Confederate hands and subjecting himself to severe criticism.
On the board for the construction of new ironclads, Paulding, along with Commander Davis and Commodore Joseph Smith met his responsibilities creditably by the selection of the Monitor and New Ironsides models for immediate completion. John Ericsson, the designer, wrote to Paulding, November 26, 1862, "Without your firm support the Monitor would not have been built". He referred chiefly to his advocacy of the design, but commended also his energy in pushing its construction and equipment while head of the New York navy yard, to which he had been appointed in the autumn of 1861. He remained at this post until April 1865, carrying out the important work of supply and repair for the blockading fleets. During the Draft Riots of July 1863, naval forces under his direction aided effectively in protecting lives and government property. Though retired in December 1861 with promotion to rear admiral (retired) the following July, Paulding was thus actively employed throughout the war.
Afterwards, Hiram Paulding served as governor of the United States Naval Asylum at Philadelphia, 1866-69, and as port admiral at Boston, 1869 - 1870. Death from heart trouble at his Long Island home on October 20, 1878 ended a long and honorable career, at the close of which he was senior on the retired list and the last officer survivor of the engagement on Lake Champlain.