Career
He is best known for commanding a naval squadron which was wrecked with three German warships at Apia, Samoa in 1889. After graduating from the Naval Academy in June 1859, he served with the Africa Squadron until September 1861 when he sailed a prize slaver home to the United States. Lieutenant Farquhar spent most of the Civil War off the United States. Atlantic coast and in the West Indies, serving in the gunboats Mystic, Sonoma and Mahaska, and the cruiser Rhode Island.
At the close of the war, he was executive officer of the gunboat Santiago de Cuba.
He was promoted to the rank of Lieutenant Commander in August 1865, a few months after the fighting ended, and was on duty at the United States. Naval Academy from then until September 1868. Foreign the rest of the 1860s and into the next decade, Farquhar served in the screw sloop Swatara, was Executive Officer of the sloop Severn and the frigate Powhatan, and Commanding Officer of the gunboat 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 1877-1878, 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 March 1889 Samoan hurricane, Captain Farquhar commanded the steam frigate Trenton. Farquhar was commended for his fine handling of his ship during that disastrous 1889 hurricane at Apia, Samoa, in which she and a number of other American and foreign naval vessels were lost.
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 1894-1897, 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 1897-1899, commanded the North Atlantic Squadron during 1899-1901 and was Chairman of the Lighthouse Board in 1901-1902.
Rear Admiral Farquhar retired on 11 April 1902, and died at Jamestown, Rhode Island on 3 July 1907. Farquhar was buried in Section 1 of Arlington National Cemetery.
Two ships have been named United States Ship Farquhar for him.
