(Former owner name and date on front free endpaper. Dustja...)
Former owner name and date on front free endpaper. Dustjacket tattered and rubbed.
https://www.amazon.com/What-Finer-Tradition-Selfridge-Maritime/dp/0872495078?SubscriptionId=AKIAJRRWTH346WSPOAFQ&tag=prabook-20&linkCode=sp1&camp=2025&creative=165953&creativeASIN=0872495078
He was born on February 6, 1836 in Charlestown, Massachussets, United States, the son of Rear Admiral Thomas Oliver Selfridge and Louisa Cary (Soley) Selfridge.
His great-great-grandfather, Edward A. Selfridge, had emigrated to Massachusetts from Scotland in the early part of the eighteenth century.
He was appointed to the United States Naval Academy from Massachusetts on October 3, 1851, as acting midshipman, and was graduated at the head of his class in 1854.
He was promoted successively to the rank of passed midshipman in 1856, master in 1858, and lieutenant in 1860. His first sea duty was on the Independence in the South Pacific, from whence, after a short period spent in coast survey work, he was transferred to the Vincennes of the African Squadron, to assist in the suppression of the slave trade.
He returned to the United States early in 1860, being assigned to the sloop-of-war Cumberland the following September. On this ship he was present at the destruction of the Norfolk navy yard in April 1861, and participated in the bombardment and capture of the forts at Hatteras Inlet. In the famous engagement between the Cumberland and the iron-clad Merrimac, Selfridge was in command of the forward gun-battery, and in this position bore the brunt of the Merrimac's raking fire, saving himself only as the Cumberland sank with her flag flying. A vivid account of this battle is given by Selfridge in his Memoirs, published in 1924.
In June 1862 he was assigned to the torpedo boat Alligator, the first submarine to be tried out in the Civil War, but this craft proved to be a failure because of her lack of speed and insufficient ventilation. Promoted to the rank of lieutenant commander in July 1862, he was at once sent to the Mississippi Squadron and given command of the gunboat Cairo, operating against Vicksburg. This vessel was blown up by a torpedo in December, whereupon he was ordered to the Conestoga.
During the siege of Vicksburg he commanded a shore battery of naval guns. After the surrender he commanded a flotilla of gunboats with the Conestoga as flagship, and succeeded in capturing the Confederate steamers Louisville and Elmira. When the Conestoga was sunk by collision in March 1864 he was ordered to command the Osage, and participated in the Red River expedition, supporting General Banks's command. He assisted in the construction of the famous Red River dam, and commanded the entire fleet in the passage of the dam. When Admiral Porter was transferred to the East, he selected Selfridge to accompany him, giving him command of the gunboat Huron, in which he took part in both attacks on Fort Fisher.
In 1869 he was commissioned commander and ordered to conduct a survey of the Isthmus of Darien for an interoceanic canal. He explored all the country south of Panama and drew up a report which was published in 1874. Four years later he was selected to survey the Amazon and Madeira Rivers, and the following year was invited by Ferdinand de Lesseps to attend a congress on interoceanic canals, meeting in Paris.
In 1881 he was commissioned captain and given command of the Naval Torpedo Station at Newport. He was court-martialled in 1888 for conducting target practice in Japanese territorial waters, but was acquitted. In 1894 he was commissioned commodore and in 1896 rear admiral. As special representative of the United States he was present at the coronation of Tsar Nicholas II of Russia in 1896.
After his retirement in 1898, he resided in Washington, District of Columbia, died on February 4, 1924.
Durind American Civil War Thomas Oliver Selfridge participated in the ensuing bombardment of Fort Anderson and the capture of Wilmington, North Carolina, he conducted first numerous experiments with torpedoes and torpedo-nets. Besides, he successfully conducted a survey of the Isthmus of Darien for an interoceanic canal, explored all the country south of Panama to the headwaters of the Atrato River in South America. He was promoted to rear admiral, which made he and his father the first father and son to be admirals in the United States Navy. For his work on the Darien survey he was given the decoration of the Legion of Honor of France, and made an honorary member of the Royal Geographical Society of Belgium. Like his father, he was a Veteran Companion of the Military Order of the Loyal Legion of the United States and an Honorary Hereditary Companion of the Military Order of Foreign Wars. He was also a Chevalier of the French Legion of Honor.
(Former owner name and date on front free endpaper. Dustja...)
He was married to Ellen F. Shepley in August 1865, and had four sons by this marriage. She died in 1905, and in 1907 he married Gertrude Wildes, who survived him.
