George W. Melville | |
|---|---|
.jpg) Melville in 1904 | |
| Chief of the Bureau of Steam Engineering | |
| In office August 9, 1887 – August 8, 1903 (1887-08-09 –1903-08-08) | |
| Preceded by | Charles Harding Loring |
| Succeeded by | Charles Whiteside Rae |
| Personal details | |
| Born | George Wallace Melville (1841-01-10)January 10, 1841 New York City,New York, U.S. |
| Died | March 17, 1912(1912-03-17) (aged 71) Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S. |
| Resting place | Laurel Hill Cemetery, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S. |
| Education | Brooklyn Polytechnic Institute |
| Notable works | In the Lena Delta (1884) |
| Military service | |
| Allegiance | United States of America |
| Branch |  United States Navy |
| Service years | 1861–1903 |
| Rank | Rear admiral |
| Wars | American Civil War |
| Expeditions | Jeannette expedition |
| Awards | Gold Jeannette Medal (1890) |
George Wallace Melville (January 10, 1841 – March 17, 1912) was aUnited States Navy officer, engineer andArctic explorer.
He joined the U.S. Navy in 1861 and served as an engineer during theAmerican Civil War. He was a member of three Arctic expeditions; thePolaris expedition in 1873, the ill-fatedJeannette expedition in 1879 and theLady Franklin Bay expedition in 1884. During the Jeannette expedition, in search of theOpen Polar Sea,Jeannette became icebound and was eventually crushed. Melville was one of the 13 survivors from the thirty-three men that began the expedition. TheUnited States Congress awarded Melville theCongressional Gold Jeannette Medal for his gallantry and resourcefulness. He published a book in 1884 titledIn the Lena Delta, about his experiences on the Jeanette expedition.
He was promoted to engineer in chief of the Navy in 1881, where he reformed the service and increased the professional status of Navy engineers. He established an engineering experimental station near theUnited States Naval Academy inAnnapolis to test machinery and equipment before its installation in Navy ships as well as to aid in training engineering officers.
He served as chief of theBureau of Steam Engineering from 1887 to 1903 and was promoted torear admiral in 1889. He oversaw the design of 120 ships and introduced innovations including thewater-tube boiler, the triple-screwpropulsion system, vertical engines, the floating repair ship, and thedistilling ship.
Melville was born inNew York City on January 10, 1841, the son of Alexander Melville, a chemist, and Sarah Wallace.[1] He was educated at the School of the Christian Brothers, a religious academy, where he studied mathematics, and at theBrooklyn Collegiate and Polytechnic Institute.[2]
He entered theU.S. Navy on July 29, 1861, and became an officer of the engineer corps, with the rank of third assistant engineer.[3] His first year afloat was spent on theGreat Lakes' gunboatMichigan, during which time he was promoted to second assistant engineer. Melville served in the sloops of warDacotah andWachusett from mid-1862 until late in 1864, taking part in the capture ofCSS Florida in October 1864.
He finished theCivil War in theHampton Roads, Virginia, area working with torpedo boats and as an engineer on the gunboatMaumee. After the war was over, First Assistant Engineer Melville served aboard several ships, among them the experimental cruiserChattanooga, gunboatTacony, steam sloopLancaster andAsiatic Squadron flagshipTennessee. For the remainder of his life, Melville belonged to theMilitary Order of the Loyal Legion of the United States, serving as national commander-in-chief of the Loyal Legion from 1911 to 1912.
In 1867, Melville married Henrietta Beatty Waldron of Buffalo. The couple had three children.[4]
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In 1873, he volunteered for duty as chief engineer ofUSS Tigress for her rescue inBaffin Bay of 19 survivors of thePolaris expedition to the Arctic.[5]
In the summer of 1879, he volunteered for the Jeanette expedition under Lieutenant CommanderGeorge W. De Long and left San Francisco aboardUSS Jeannette on August 7, 1879, to try to find a way to theNorth Pole via theBering Strait.Jeannette became icebound in theChukchi Sea off ofHerald Island.[3] After two years of effort to save her,Jeanette was crushed by the ice and sank June 12, 1881 – leaving the crew stranded on the ice floes in mid-ocean in three small boats and with scant provisions.[6]
Melville was the only boat commander to find safety in theLena Delta inSiberia. He and his boatmates were rescued byTungusic hunters.[7] Four months later, he mustered a rescue team in search of De Long and his men only to find them dead. However, he was able to recover and bring back the ships' logbooks which contained the records of the expedition. The logbooks are currently maintained at theU.S. National Archives.[8] The third boat, under the command ofCharles W. Chipp, was never found[9] and Chipp and seven other men were presumed dead.
TheUnited States Congress rewarded Melville for his gallantry and resourcefulness by advancing him 15 numbers on the promotion list and awarded him the goldJeannette Medal.[10] He published his experiences and hardships of the expedition in his book,In the Lena Delta, published in 1884.[11]
Melville was promoted to the rank of chief engineer during his time inJeannette and returned to the Arctic inUSS Thetis in 1884, for theLady Franklin Bay Expedition in search of the survivors of an Arctic expedition commanded by Army LieutenantAdolphus Greely.
He obtained the rank of chief engineer in 1881.[3] He served as Inspector of Coal in 1884–1886, then performed his final seagoing duty in the new cruiserAtlanta. PresidentGrover Cleveland appointed MelvilleChief of the Bureau of Steam Engineering August 9, 1887, with the relative rank of commodore.[3]
During more than a decade and a half in that post, he was responsible for the Navy's propulsion systems during an era of remarkable force expansion, technological progress and institutional change. Melville superintended the design of 120 ships of the "New Navy". Among the major technical innovations that he helped introduce, often in defiance of the conservative opinion within the naval establishment, were thewater-tube boiler, the triple-screwpropulsion system, vertical engines, the floating repair ship, and the distilling ship.
He was promoted to rear admiral March 3, 1899.[3] Melville entirely reformed the service, putting Navy engineers on a professional rather than an artisan footing.
TheAnnapolis laboratory was a brainchild of Melville. As engineer-in-chief of the Navy, he fought hard to get an appropriation of $400,000 for an experiment and testing laboratory to be located at Annapolis. In 1903, he finally was successful in obtaining the appropriation for the engineering experiment station.
His primary argument for the establishment of an experiment station was that it would increase the efficiency of the Navy. His idea was to establish a dependable means for testing—before installation—machinery and equipment designed for Navy ships. His secondary argument was that it could aid in training engineering officers and accordingly should be located in Annapolis near theNaval Academy.
Prior to his retirement, Melville headed a committee tasked with studying how to use fuel oil in Navy boilers instead of coal. They strongly recommended that a testing plant be developed to test methods of burning fuel in Navy boilers. On November 18, 1910, theSecretary of Navy authorized "... the construction and equipment, at an estimated cost of $10,000.00, of a structure simulating a naval fireroom, for the purpose of instigating the subject of fuel oil burning in connection with the design of proposed oil burning battleships" in an existing building at thePhiladelphia Navy Yard.
He retired from active duty on January 10, 1903, and spent his final years inPhiladelphia, where he continued to be engaged in matters relating to his profession. His first wife having died in 1882, Melville married Estella Smith Polis in 1907. She died two years later. There was no issue from their marriage.
Melville was the recipient of many honors during his lifetime, both in the United States and internationally. He was one of the 33 founding members of theNational Geographic Society.[12] He died in Philadelphia on March 17, 1912,[13] and was interred atLaurel Hill Cemetery.[14]
Melville was a companion of the District of Columbia Commandery of theNaval Order of the United States – a military society of naval officers and their descendants. In 1886, he became a companion of the Pennsylvania Commandery of theMilitary Order of the Loyal Legion of the United States and served as its commander from 1908 to 1909 and also served as national commander-in-chief of the Order from 1911 to 1912. He was a member of theGrand Army of the Republic and an honorary member of theAmerican Society of Mechanical Engineers and served as its 18th president. He was also an elected member of theAmerican Philosophical Society.[15]
The U.S. Navy has named two ships in his honor: the destroyer tenderUSS Melville[16] and theoceanographic research shipUSNS Melville.[17]Melville, Montana was named in his honor in 1877.[18]
The Navy's George W. Melville Award recognizes outstanding engineering contributions in the applications of knowledge toward research and development of materials, devices, and systems or methods; including design, development, and integration of prototypes and new processes. The Melville Medal is awarded periodically by the American Society of Mechanical Engineers in honor of the best original paper from its transactions.
Melville Hall, built in 1937 on the campus of theUnited States Naval Academy, was used as classroom and laboratory space for the steam and electrical engineering departments. The hall was razed in 1982[19] to make way for the Academy’sAlumni Hall. Melville's name lives on as the new hall's Melville Entrance.[20] A statue of Admiral Melville in Navy Park at thePhiladelphia Naval Shipyard was created bySamuel Murray.[2]
TheMelville Glacier andMelville Land in Greenland were named after him byRobert Peary.
Melville was the subject of a portrait painted byThomas Eakins in 1897.[21]
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