Background
William Branford Shubrick was born on October 31, 1790 on his father's plantation, "Belvidere, " Bull's Island, South Carolina.
William Branford Shubrick was born on October 31, 1790 on his father's plantation, "Belvidere, " Bull's Island, South Carolina.
After schooling at Charleston and later at Dedham, Massachussets, he spent a year at Harvard.
In 1806 entered the navy as midshipman. Following a short Mediterranean cruise in the Wasp, he was on the American coast until 1810, serving under James Lawrence and as shipmate with James Fenimore Cooper, with whom he formed a lifelong friendship.
Cooper dedicated to him The Pilot and The Red Rover, took brief cruises with him, and much enjoyed his seaman's comment on the lee shore passage in the Pilot, "It's all very well, but you have let your jib stand too long, my fine fellow. " A brief cruise in the Hornet early in the War of 1812 was followed by promotion to lieutenant, January 5, 1813, and duty in the Constellation at Norfolk, during which he led a detachment of seamen in the successful defense of Craney Island, June 22, 1813, against a British boat attack.
Later that year he joined the Constitution at Boston; he served in her as third lieutenant in her brilliant capture of the Cyane and Levant, Feburary 20, 1815, and as first lieutenant when she escaped from two ships of the line and a frigate, March 11-12, near the Cape Verde Islands. His part in this cruise won him a congressional medal and mention in the vote of thanks to Commodore Charles Stewart and crew.
The next thirty years was a period of faithful routine service, marked by a cruise in the Washington, 1815-18; command of the Lexington and then the Natchez, 1826-29, in the latter of which he brought the body of Oliver Hazard Perry from Trinidad; promotion to captain, 1831; command of the West Indies Squadron, 1838-40; and administration of the bureau of provisions and clothing, 1845-46.
At the opening of the Mexican War he applied for sea duty and sailed in the Independence to relieve John Drake Sloat in command of forces on the California coast. These orders unfortunately conflicted with similar ones to his senior, James Biddle, who arrived at Monterey with the East Indies Squadron January 2, 1847, a week later, and assumed control.
Though chagrined, Shubrick remained, took charge of the Mazatl n blockade, April 17 - June 1, and was then recalled to California, where Biddle restored the command to him on July 19. The vigorous operations that followed included a hazardous night entry of Shubrick's squadron into Mazatl n harbor on November 10, the landing of 600 men next day, and the occupation or blockade of other coastal towns.
Relieved in May 1848, he became in 1849 head of the Philadelphia navy yard and later of the bureau of construction and repair, finding leisure in the summer of 1851 to visit Cooper during his last illness.
In August 1852 he was made chairman of the lighthouse board, an office he held during the next nineteen years. In the ensuing summer he went to Halifax with a small squadron and made temporary arrangements with Admiral Sir George Seymour, R. N. , for a fisheries treaty.
The fleet sailed in October 1858, and on January 25 following reached Asunción, where Shubrick and the American commissioner, Mr. Bowlin, secured a treaty settling all points in dispute. "To the zeal, energy, discretion, and courteous and gallant bearing of Flag-officer Shubrick and the officers of his command, " wrote Isaac Toucey, "is the country largely indebted not only for the success of the enterprise, but for the friendly feeling in that part of South America. "
His selection for these missions bears out the opinion expressed by Samuel Francis Du Pont, that "he represented us abroad with men of high rank better than any officer we ever had".
In December 1861 he was retired after fifty-five years' service, less than ten of which were unemployed. Promoted to rear admiral (retired) in July 1862, he lived subsequently in Washington, in his last years nearly blind.
He was a man of cultivated manners and fine presence; "feature, form, and carriage were all manly and distinguished".
Quotes from others about the person
"To the zeal, energy, discretion, and courteous and gallant bearing of Flag-officer Shubrick and the officers of his command, " wrote Isaac Toucey (Report of the Secretary of the Navy, 1859), "is the country largely indebted not only for the success of the enterprise, but for the friendly feeling in that part of South America. "
His marriage in September 1815 to Harriet Cordelia, daughter of John Wethered of the Eastern Shore of Maryland, continued happily for over fifty years. His only daughter married Dr. George Clymer of the navy, and a grand-daughter became the second wife of Thomas Francis Bayard.