United States Navy Rear Admiral, Explorer. He was educated by the Brothers of the Christian Schools and later graduated from the Brooklyn Collegiate and Polytechnic Institute. He began his naval career as a Midshipman, and rose through the ranks as Master, Lieutenant Commander, Commander, Commodore, and, finally, Rear Admiral. During the Civil War, he served as engineering officer on the USS Wachusett. Later he was chief engineer on the USS Tigress, which brought home the 19 survivors of the ill-fated Polaris expedition which tried to find a route to the North Pole. The expedition's commander, Captain Charles Francis Hall, had been poisoned with arsenic. Hall's expedition was chronicled by fellow explorer and Philadelphian, Elisha Kent Kane. In 1879, Melville explored the Arctic He recounted his adventure in the work In the Lena Delta (1884). In that year he was Chief Engineer on the USS Thetis, the ship that saved the survivors of the Adolphus Greely expedition. He was the first Chief of the Bureau of Steam Engineering and a founder of both the Naval Surface Warfare Center and the Naval Postgraduate School.
United States Navy Rear Admiral, Explorer. He was educated by the Brothers of the Christian Schools and later graduated from the Brooklyn Collegiate and Polytechnic Institute. He began his naval career as a Midshipman, and rose through the ranks as Master, Lieutenant Commander, Commander, Commodore, and, finally, Rear Admiral. During the Civil War, he served as engineering officer on the USS Wachusett. Later he was chief engineer on the USS Tigress, which brought home the 19 survivors of the ill-fated Polaris expedition which tried to find a route to the North Pole. The expedition's commander, Captain Charles Francis Hall, had been poisoned with arsenic. Hall's expedition was chronicled by fellow explorer and Philadelphian, Elisha Kent Kane. In 1879, Melville explored the Arctic He recounted his adventure in the work In the Lena Delta (1884). In that year he was Chief Engineer on the USS Thetis, the ship that saved the survivors of the Adolphus Greely expedition. He was the first Chief of the Bureau of Steam Engineering and a founder of both the Naval Surface Warfare Center and the Naval Postgraduate School.
Bio by: rjschatz
Family Members
Advertisement
See more Melville memorials in:
Advertisement
