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Samuel Humphreys (23 November 1778 – 16 August 1846) was a noted
Samuel Humphreys supervised the construction of the
Inventory of the Humphreys Family Papers, 1840-1918
in the Southern Historical Collection, UNC-Chapel Hill
Samuel Humphreys Letterbook, 1824-1845, MS 146
and hi
Directions for cutting Timber for a Frigate of the first Class, 1835, MS 194
held by Special Collections & Archives, Nimitz Library at the United States Naval Academy {{DEFAULTSORT:Humphreys, Samuel 1778 births 1846 deaths American naval architects United States Navy civilians American shipbuilders Burials at the Congressional Cemetery American people of Welsh descent
American
American(s) may refer to:
* American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America"
** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America
** American ancestry, pe ...
naval architect and shipbuilder in the early 19th century. He served the United States Navy as the Chief Constructor for the Navy from 1826 to 1846.
Naval architect
Samuel Humphreys supervised the construction of the frigate
A frigate () is a type of warship. In different eras, the roles and capabilities of ships classified as frigates have varied somewhat.
The name frigate in the 17th to early 18th centuries was given to any full-rigged ship built for speed and ...
, which was laid down at Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in 1798, and launched in 1799. He later constructed ships at the Philadelphia Navy Yard, and supervised the construction of the ship-of-the-line
A ship of the line was a type of naval warship constructed during the Age of Sail from the 17th century to the mid-19th century. The ship of the line was designed for the naval tactic known as the line of battle, which depended on the two colum ...
, the first ship to be laid down at the yard, in 1815.
In 1824, Humphreys turned down a very lucrative offer from Emperor Alexander I of Russia to create a Russian navy, saying: "I do not know that I possess the merits attributed to me, but, be they great or small, I owe them all to the flag of my country."
In 1826, Humpherys was elected a member of the American Philosophical Society.
Humphreys was Chief Constructor for the Navy from 1826 to 1846. He designed Americas first first-rate ship-of-the-line
A ship of the line was a type of naval warship constructed during the Age of Sail from the 17th century to the mid-19th century. The ship of the line was designed for the naval tactic known as the line of battle, which depended on the two colum ...
, , which was laid down in 1821, but not launched until 1837. He also designed the supply ship , which was laid down in 1835 and launched in 1836.
Around 1827, Humphreys took on John Lenthall as his apprentice to work as his assistant and draftsman, and in 1828 he nominated Lenthall for a position as one of the assistant naval constructors at the Philadelphia Navy Yard. Lenthall would go on to serve as Chief Constructor for the Navy from 1849 to 1853 and as Chief of the Navys Bureau of Construction and Repair from 1853 to 1871.Tucker, pp. 348, 349.
Family
Humphreys's father wasJoshua Humphreys
Joshua Humphreys (June 17, 1751 – January 12, 1838) was an American ship builder and naval architect. He was the constructor of the original six frigates of the United States Navy and is known as the "Father of the American Navy".
Humphreys wa ...
(1751-1838), the naval architect for the first six frigates of the U.S. Navy. Samuel, and his wife Letitia, had sons Andrew (1810-1883) and Joshua (1813–1873) who served in the Union Army and Confederate States Navy, respectively, in the American Civil War (1861-1865). His other children were Jane Murray McCrabb (1813–1897), Mary Yonge (1823–1866), and William Humphreys (1828–1897).
Samuel Humphreys is buried at the Congressional Cemetery in Washington, D.C., with his sons Andrew and Joshua.
See also
* United States naval architect * Naval architectureNotes
References
* * * Chapelle, Howard I. ''The History of the American Sailing Navy: The Ships and Their Development''. New York: W. W. Norton & Company, Inc., 1949. . * Tucker, Spencer C., ed. ''Civil War Naval Encyclopedia''. Santa Barbara, California: ABC-CLIO, 2011, .External links
Inventory of the Humphreys Family Papers, 1840-1918
in the Southern Historical Collection, UNC-Chapel Hill
Samuel Humphreys Letterbook, 1824-1845, MS 146
and hi
Directions for cutting Timber for a Frigate of the first Class, 1835, MS 194
held by Special Collections & Archives, Nimitz Library at the United States Naval Academy {{DEFAULTSORT:Humphreys, Samuel 1778 births 1846 deaths American naval architects United States Navy civilians American shipbuilders Burials at the Congressional Cemetery American people of Welsh descent