Background
William Montgomery Crane was born on February 01, 1784 at Elizabeth, New Jersey, United States. He was the son of General William Crane, who fought under Montgomery at Quebec, and of Abigail (Miller) Crane.
William Montgomery Crane was born on February 01, 1784 at Elizabeth, New Jersey, United States. He was the son of General William Crane, who fought under Montgomery at Quebec, and of Abigail (Miller) Crane.
Crane entered the navy as midshipman May 23, 1799, served in the United States under Barry during the naval war with France, and remained on her until 1803. After promotion to lieutenant, July 20, 1803, he was in the Vixen in the Mediterranean, commanding gunboat No. 7 in the bombardment of Tripoli, August 7, 1804. He was later second lieutenant in the Chesapeake, and testified against Captain Barron in his court martial after the Chesapeake-Leopard affair of 1807.
At the outbreak of the War of 1812 he commanded the brig Nautilus, and sailed from New York July 15. Next day at sunrise the Nautilus ran into Broke’s blockading squadron and surrendered to the Shannon after a six-hour chase, during which Crane threw overboard his guns, and, according to the verdict of the subsequent court of inquiry, “did everything to prevent capture that a skilful and expert officer could possibly do”.
Exchanged soon afterward at Halifax, he was in temporary charge of the Charlestown Navy Yard in November 1812, and during the next spring commanded the John Adams at New York. Then with his crew he was ordered to join Chauncey on Lake Ontario, where he arrived July 3, 1813. In command of the Madison he took part in the desultory actions of August 9 and September 27-28 on the lake, and during Chauncey’s absence was in charge at Sackett’s Harbor through the following winter, showing great energy in pushing new construction in spite of illness among his force and threats of enemy attack.
He commanded the General Pike in the summer of 1814, and remained on Lake Ontario till the next spring. He was then given the Independence (74 guns), flagship of Bainbridge’s squadron against Algiers, which left Boston July 3, 1815. In the Mediterranean he transferred to the Erie, and took part in the naval demonstration off Algiers in the following April.
Noteworthy in his subsequent service was his command of the Mediterranean Squadron June 1827-October 1829, during which, in the winter of 1828-1829 he was joint commissioner with Consul Offley of Smyrna in negotiations for a commercial treaty with Turkey. He was Commandant of the Portsmouth (N. H. ) Navy Yard, 1832-1840; Navy Commissioner, 1841-1842; and chief of the Bureau of Ordnance and Hydrography, 1842-1846.
As ordnance chief he incurred some responsibility for the bursting of the new gun “Peacemaker” on the Princeton, February 28, 1844, which killed the secretaries of state and navy and several others. Though Crane had disapproved the gun and refused to witness the trials, his suicide by cutting his throat, in the Navy Department offices two years later, was attributed by his family to brooding over the accident. He was buried in the Congressional Cemetery.
Crane was married to Eliza King, sister to the wife of Commodore Warrington and daughter of Colonel Miles King of Norfolk, Virginia. He had no children.