Introduction
The sloop of war USS Ganges was among the first vessels the United States put to sea as part of its reconstituted Navy. After the American Revolution, the county’s small Navy was disbanded, other financial priorities taking precedence, particularly the new nation’s significant war debt. However, following the French revolution and the overthrow of Louis XVI, the country was less inclined to repay its debt to France, especially since the foreign policy of the Federalist administrations of Washington and Adams tended to favor British over French interests.
The French, with debts of their own, began a series of provocative acts at sea by awarding letters of marque to French privateers allowing them to prey on American merchant shipping . The United States, without a Navy, was not in a position to respond. The Congress then renewed construction of four American Frigates – they had been put on hold after disputes with the Barbary States was settled in 1795 – and authorized the purchase of merchant vessels to be fitted out for naval service.
The Ganges was one of these vessels. Built in Philadelphia in 1795 by Thomas Penrose, she was designed as an armed merchantman to escort commercial convoys to the Far East. In 1798, The United States purchased her from Willing and Francis of Philadelphia for $58,000. While not the first vessel commissioned for the new Navy, the Ganges was the first to put to sea. Under the command of Richard Dale, she set sail from Philadelphia on May 24, 1798, patrolling the coast in search of privateers.[1]
Over the next several years the Ganges completed three voyages, first under the command of Richard Dale, and then Thomas Tingey. Both had commanded the Ganges as civilians prior to her commissioning. Captain John Mullowny[2] of Philadelphia assumed command of the Ganges in November 1799 and completed a voyage to the West Indies, returning to Philadelphia in early May, 1800 to refit.
The Voyage
We now turn to the Ganges’ voyage that resulted in the rescue of the enslaved Africans who took her name.
On May 25, 1800, the Ganges weighed anchor and proceeded from her mooring off Queen Street, Philadelphia, and down the Delaware, pausing at Gloucester Point the next day to take on an additional 30 crew members from Commodore Barry’s USS Constitution. Capt. Mullowny’s orders from Secretary of the Navy Benjamin Stoddard were to convoy a fleet of merchantmen to Cape Francois on the island of Santo Domingo
The vessels under your convoy have very valuable cargoes. – pay to them, all the attention in your power – If they leave you, the fault wilI not be yours but do not let it be said, that you neglected them[3]
Having seen the convoy safely to its destination, the Ganges was to proceed on to Havana and relieve the USS Warren, Captain Newman. In closing his orders, Stoddard took care to observe that:
the way to render the most important services to your Country, most effectually to protect its Commerce, & acquire personal honors is to keep constantly cruising — to go into port as seldom as possible — this also will best preserve the health of your Crew[4]
As we shall see, Stoddard had sound reasons for this recommendation. The dangers of calling at Caribbean ports were all too real.
Arriving at the mouth of the Delaware and pausing a few days to allow the convoy to assemble, the Ganges and its convoy set sail from the Capes of Delaware on June 3, 1800 taking a southeasterly course well away from the coast before turning south. Capt. Mullowny’s original orders were to keep close to shore as far as Charleston, in accordance with a request from South Carolina Senator Charles Pinckney for a Navy escort to accompany his ship to Charleston. Pinckney, claiming he was unable to travel by land, feared capture by the French at sea.
The ship’s log records a mostly uneventful voyage south. The Ganges intercepted five vessels that came within range of the convoy — four brigs and a ship – all American, not French privateers. One June 10th, one convoy vessel, the brig Susannah, required a tow from the Ganges and nine days later reported the death of her captain. Capt. Mullowny sent one of his officers, Mr. Samuel Cummins to command of the Susannah for the remainder of her voyage, along with two other men.[5]
On June 21st, the Ganges turned west towards the islands, sighting the Turks and Caicos on the 25th. The log reported that a marine, Andrew McGuire, had gone missing. The crew “made a strict search after him but to no purpose.” This was the first casualty of the voyage.[6]
The following day, off Cape Francois,[7] “At 1/2 past 8 saw a sail on the Lee bow. Made the signal of the day which was answered by the above sail. At 1/2 past 9 spoke the US Ship Constitution Commodore Talbot.“ [8] Capt. Mullowny went aboard and presumably delivered the orders Secretary of the Navy Stoddert had entrusted to him for the Commodore. In turn, Mullowny must have received last minute instructions – and perhaps a meal — from Talbot, returning to the Ganges after two hours.[9]
Having seen the convoy safely to Santo Domingo, the Ganges was now free to continue her mission to Havana. Continuing west off the southern shore of Cuba, celebrating July 4th off the Isle of Pines, and then rounding the western tip of Cuba at Cape Antonio on the 5th, the Ganges reached Havana, on the 9th, anchoring “at the Mora.”[10]
Wasting no time, the Ganges began to refit, taking on 28 butts of water[11], and was ready to resume her voyage three days later. Nonetheless, the brief time ashore afforded seaman John Holland the opportunity to desert while on duty. So, on July 12th, after pausing briefly to render medical assistance to the Sloop Supply of Philadelphia, the Ganges headed out into the Strait of Florida and began her patrols between Havana and Matanzes, 90 miles to the east.
On Patrol
After a brief stop at Matanzes on the 15th, the Ganges set to work in earnest, capturing three prizes: the two Guineamen, the slaving schooners Prudent and Phoebe, on the 19th and 21st, respectively and the brig Dispatch on the 20th. Each vessel was assigned a small prize crew from the Ganges and ordered to Philadelphia, to be condemned by the Federal Court and prize money awarded. The details of the Prudent’s and Phoebe’s voyages are treated elsewhere on this site and, of course, form the opening chapter of the Ganges’ Africans lives in America.
Following these captures, the Ganges’ patrol continued as before, with most day’s activities being reported as having “pleasant weather” with “nothing material” occurring. On July 23rd, the Ganges fired on and boarded the Ship Penelope bound from Jamaica to Baltimore but, there being nothing irregular, sent her on her way. On the 26th, with the weather “squally with lightning”, landsman William Mullen “fell overboard and was unfortunately drowned notwithstanding every exertion being made.”
The routine continued until July 29th when, at 3 P.M. the Ganges “made sail in chase of a schooner to the windward.” This schooner proved to be a much sought-after target, an armed French privateer, the La Fortuna, of “six six pounders and 70 men.” The chase was on. The La Fortuna raised French colors and set course for the Harbor of Matanzes where she could come under the protection of Spain, then a neutral power. Midshipman John Wood told the story to his parents in a letter of August 9th:
DEAR PARENTs: On the 28th of July we were so fortunate as to fall in with the French privateer [La Fortune] of 10 guns that we have been so long waiting for to come out of Matanzas. He ventured out in the night and went to windward. In the morning we found him chasing an American vessel. As soon as he saw us, he put about for the harbor, but we cut him out. We run him as much as two or three leagues along shore and not above six hundred yards from him, firing at him all the way. There were 180 shots fired at him and at last they could do no better than run ashore and make their escape. There were several killed and wounded. We took the vessel into Havanna. There was likely to be some disturbance about our taking her so nigh the fort. This was about two days after we took her. Captain Mullawney gave orders to one of the 3rd Lieutenants that was on board of her to get under way and go out that night, which he did, and go on to Philadelphia. The Captain told the Governor that she was cut out. He had all the sentries at the Moro Castle put in confinement for not keeping a better lookout.[12]
The Captain had assigned a prize crew of 3rd Lt. John Love, Midshipman Samuel Elbert, Midshipman Clark and 7 “foremast hands.”[13] On July 31st, under “Pleasant breezes & clear Weather”, the Ganges arrived at Havana and at 5 P.M. “ Came to, abreast the Mora Castle. At 7 the prize schooner anchored under our stern.”[14]
Neither the ship’s log nor Midshipman Wood’s account say why the captain felt it necessary to bring La Fortuna into Havana harbor. However, since she had been abandoned by her crew and under intense fire from the Ganges, it is likely she needed repairs that couldn’t be performed at sea, or supplies and additional crew that were available at Havana. The Governor’s action suggests that the Spanish believed they had some authority in the matter, there being some question as to whether the La Fortuna was under their protection when captured “so nigh the fort.” The ship’s log provides few details, Captain Mullowny tersely noting: “At 5 A.M missed the Prize Schooner. Suppose to have drifted.”[15] Drifted indeed. The Ganges prize was now safe from Spanish interference and on her way to Philadelphia. She arrived at Fort Mifflin on August 22nd.[16]
Midshipman Wood ended his letter home, saying
I have got myself a quadrant — — a very good one — — and I shall make myself a good navigator and not a bad seaman by the time we come in. We shall be in about the middle of November or the last of it.
It was not to be.
The Crew Very Sickly
The Ganges remained at Havana two days then “got underway and proceeded to sea” on the morning of August 3rd. The subsequent patrol was uneventful, “speaking” to the 36-gun British Frigate HMS Apollo on the 4th, and the ship Hope of Philadelphia on the 9th.[17] Then, at 3:30 P.M on August 11th the Ganges returned to Matanzes, coming “to an anchor under the Fort.” A single log entry, covering August 12th through the 16th, explains why this was necessary: “Nothing remarkable – the Crew very sickly. John McGuire marine died.”[18]
Perhaps “not remarkable”, but there was Yellow Fever aboard, nonetheless.
Yellow fever has an incubation period of three to six days,[19] so it’s likely that the crew was infected during the Ganges’ 2-day stopover at Havana the week before. Secretary Stoddert’s advice to “ keep constantly cruising — to go into port as seldom as possible — … [to] best preserve the health of your crew” was well founded.[20]
Captain Mullowny himself was among the early casualties. Ship’s surgeon Hanson Catlett[21] described the situation:
About the 14th of August several of the men were complaining of head ache, weakness, and want of appetite. Capt. Mullowny was attacked with violent pain in his head and back, and a high fever. John M’Guir (marine) complained of symptoms very different —great prostration of strength, vomiting, and pain about his breast. He was a man of a debilitated habit. With Capt. Mullowny the most powerful depleting means were used, to which his fever yielded on the second day, and on the third the pains entirely subsided. To M’Guir I gave stimulant medicines, and applied blisters, without effect. His extremities remained cold, and vomiting continued, until he died, on the 17th, with the black-vomit, which was the first symptom that gave me any apprehension of its being a case of yellow fever.[22]
This explains why the Captain’s log entry covers several days. Presumably, his illness prevented him from attending to this routine duty.
Catlett continues:
Our sick list was now increased to ten patients, a number it had not before known: the surgeon’s mate and myself were added to the number; and what passed until the 19th I was unconscious of. We had now arrived again in the Havanna; my fever left me, and I was supported from my bed to the hammocks of the sick, who were increased to eighteen. The symptoms were become more violent.[23]
The Ganges left Matanzes on August 18th and arrived in Havana the following afternoon, “just abreast of the Mora”, joining the USS Warren there.[24] The sickest crewmen were dispatched to the Havana hospital for care, but the conditions there were brutal, as described by Commodore Thomas Macdonough — then a Ganges midshipman — in his autobiography:
Several midshipmen and myself, with a number of men, having caught this fever were sent on shore at the Havanna and put into a dirty Spanish hospital. Nearly all of the men and officers died and were taken out in carts as so many hogs would have been. A midshipman, a surgeon’s mate and myself, through the blessing of divine providence, recovered and took passage for the U. States, destitute of all the comforts and even conveniences of life.[25]
According to the ship’s log, fifteen men were put ashore and sent to the Havana hospital. Ultimately, only Macdonough, Surgeon’s mate Gershom Jacques and Midshipman Ephraim Blaine survived the hospital and returned to the U.S. The situation had become so critical that, according to Surgeon’s Mate Catlett, it was imperative “that we should fly the climate, as the only means of saving any part of the crew.”[26] On Sunday, August 24th, the Ganges weighed anchor and set sail for home, the crew “still sickly.”
Homeward Bound
Without having to escort a convoy, the Ganges’ voyage north went as quickly as the winds and currents would allow. For each day, the ship’s log recorded her heading, wind speed, weather, current conditions and, every day or so, the death of another crew member. In the sick bay, Surgeon’s Mate Hanson Catlett did what he could:
On the passage home, our sick list contained, generally, from twenty to thirty. To all evacuant medicines were given, and those of full habit I bled.[27]
Quarantine
On September 3rd, nearly two weeks after leaving Havana, land was sighted and, moving more slowly up the Delaware, past Bombay Hook and Reedy Island, the Ganges came to anchor on September 6th at the Naval Station at New Castle, Delaware. Her arrival did not go unnoticed. On the same day, the local authorities took action:
NOTICE
Whereas the Justice of the Peace for the county of New Castle in the hundred of New-Castle, and the Commissioners of the Town of New-Castle, have received information on the existence or prevalence of an infectious or contagious disease on board the United States sloop of war, the Ganges, from the Havanna, in the island of Cuba, now performing quarantine below this town, in the river Delaware; and in order that proper relief may be granted to those who are present in a diseased state on board the said ship, and for preventing of any intercourse with the same and the inhabitants of this town, by virtue of the power and authority to us given by the Health Law of this State; we do resolve as followeth:
First, That those persons belonging to the said ship of war who are at present, or may hereafter be diseased, may be landed and encamped at a distance not nearer than one mile from the limits of the town of New-Castle: and further, that any person or persons who shall have any intercourse or communication with the said encampment, are hereby prohibited being within the limits of the aforesaid tow,
Secondly, That those persons who are in a healthy state at present on board the aforesaid ship shall have permission to come to the shore, for the purpose of procuring provisions, but are expressly forbid remaining within the limits of the aforesaid town longer than the space of one hour of each day, during the performance of the quarantine.
And further, by and with the advice of the Health Officer of said town, the Justices of the Peace, in and for the county of New-Castle, in the hundred of New-Castle, and the Commissioners of the Town of New-Castle, do hereby order and direct that the Ship of War, the Ganges, shall perform a quarantine for the space of 10 days from this date, at a distance not nearer that One Mile from the limits of the Town of New-Castle; and all and every person or persons are hereby required to conform to this regulations, under Penalties prescribed by law.
Signed by order and in behalf of the Justice of the Peace in and for the county of New-Castle, in the hundred of New-Castle, and the Commissioners of the Town of New-Castle,
JOHN CROW, Secretary
New-Castle, Sept. 6, 1800.[28]
And the news quickly spread:
The sloop of War Ganges, Capt. Mullowny from Havanna, has arrived at New Castle – Her crew in a very sickly state with the yellow fever.
We are informed that Commodore Barry has ordered the Ganges to drop down from New-Castle, and it is probable the crew will be landed on some remote part of the river, where they may be accommodated with tents, and medical assistance.
It appears that the Havanna is at present very much afflicted with the Yellow Fever.[29]
This newspaper account was correct, as the “sick [were sent] on shore to a tent erected for the purpose.”[30] Advertisements in Philadelphia newspapers throughout September warned the public to stay away from the Ganges and her crew or suffer a 30 day quarantine themselves.
CAUTION THE PUBLIC are cautioned against having any communication with the GANGES Sloop of War, (now at New-Castle) or any of her officers or crew there, as they may depend on being prevented from returning to this city in less than :thirty: days. And means will be taken to prosecute “all” without distinction for violating the Quarantine Law.[31]
The citizens living in the seaports of the Atlantic coast had good reason to fear this contagion for which quarantine was the only effective remedy available. Only seven years before, Philadelphia had been afflicted with a major Yellow Fever epidemic that forced the Federal Government out of the nation’s then capital and killed of 10% of the city’s population. Stricter quarantine rules were implemented, among these being construction of a new quarantine station and hospital (Lazaretto) on Tinicum Island, further down the Delaware. The “Old Lazaretto” sited a mile north of Fort Mifflin near the mouth of the Schuylkill was abandoned in 1801.
Hoping to assuage the public’s fears of a general outbreak, the following anonymous letter, published in local newspapers, describes the situation at New Castle in some detail, and closely reflects the entries made in the ship’s log:[32]
By the following letter from a gentleman of the first respectability at New-Castle, it appears that the situation of the Ganges is not so distressing as had been reported:
SIR,
IT appears from the papers of yesterday that great uneasiness prevails in your city respecting the situation of the Ganges, and as I know how much reports of the kind are too often magnified, I now give you an accurate statement of the facts respecting the sickness on board her.
She arrived here on Saturday last, with eleven sick of the fever, two of whom died in about twelve hours after she came too, the other nine were removed to tents prepared for them about a mile below town on Sunday, one of them has since died; the others are likely to fare well, and are said to be out of danger. There has not been a new case of the fever been on board the ship since her arrival, nor is there any danger apprehended from her here; they get supplies of necessaries every day from the town, yet the intercourse is not permitted freely, nor are the hands suffered to be long on shore at a time in the town.
At the request of Capt. Mullowny, I assisted in making the arrangements for getting the sick on shore and know the above statement to be accurate; and send it to you that it may correct false reports, and relieve the minds of the timid.
I am with much respect, Sir
Your very humble servant.
New-Castle, 10th Sept. 1800.
Finally, on September 27th the Ganges weighed anchor and began moving up the Delaware again, arriving at the wharf in Philadelphia on Monday, September 29, 1800. This voyage was over; four prizes taken, 135 enslaved Africans rescued, and 28 crewmen dead, 26 by yellow fever. Among them was John Wood, midshipman, who only weeks before had assured his parents: “I shall make myself a good navigator and not a bad seaman by the time we come in.”[33]
Postscript
By this time, the hostilities with France were winding down. With Thomas Jefferson as President, United States foreign policy was decidedly more pro-French and peace negotiations ended with the Convention of 1800 being signed in September, 1800 with final ratification by the Senate in December, 1801.
The Ganges was assigned convoy duty to the East Indies, setting out from New York in January of 1801. Damaged at sea shortly thereafter, “an examining board of fleet captains decided the vessel was unfit to continue the long and arduous trip.”[34] She was assigned to lighter duties, convoying merchant vessels to and from the West Indies before being sold at Philadelphia in August of 1801 for $21,000. She completed several more voyages as a merchantman, but her ultimate fate is unknown.[35]
Peace also meant a need for fewer naval officers. With the Naval Peace Establishment Act passed on March 3, 1801, Congress authorized the President to:
retain in the navy service in time of peace, nine captains, thirty six lieutenants, and one hundred and fifty midshipmen, including those employed on board of the six frigates to be kept in service; and that he be authorized to discharge all the other officers in the navy service of the United States[36]
Captain Mullowny was among those discharged. He returned to civilian life in Philadelphia and Pottstown and later was named United States Ambassador to Morocco.
Casualty List
The casualties of the voyage were as follows:[37]
| Name | Rank | Date of Death | Cause | Place | Map No. |
| Andrew McGuire | Marine | 23 Jun 1800 | missing | presumed lost at sea | 1 |
| William McMullen | Landsman | 26 Jul 1800 | drowning | at sea, off Matanzes | 2 |
| John McQuire | Marine | 16 Aug 1800 | yellow fever | Matanzes | 3 |
| Robert Erwin | Ordinary Seaman | 19 Aug 1800 | yellow fever | Havana hospital | 4 |
| John Wagner | Boy | 20 Aug 1800 | yellow fever | Havana hospital | 4 |
| John Anderson | Marine | 21 Aug 1800 | yellow fever | Havana hospital | 4 |
| Philip Case | Marine | 23 Aug 1800 | yellow fever | Havana hospital | 4 |
| Robert McConnell | Midshipman | 23 Aug 1800 | yellow fever | Havana hospital | 4 |
| James McTeely | Ordinary Seaman | 23 Aug 1800 | yellow fever | Havana hospital | 4 |
| George Mullin | Boy | 23 Aug 1800 | yellow fever | Havana hospital | 4 |
| James McDonnald | Seaman | 28 Aug 1800 | yellow fever | at sea | 5 |
| John Wood | Midshipman | 30 Aug 1800 | yellow fever | at sea | 6 |
| Charles O’Neale | Marine | 01 Sep 1800 | yellow fever | at sea | 7 |
| Peter Rogers | Ordinary Seaman | 02 Sep 1800 | yellow fever | at sea | 8 |
| Edward Moore | Ordinary Seaman | 03 Sep 1800 | yellow fever | at sea | 8 |
| Thomas Derrick | Seaman | 06 Sep 1800 | yellow fever | at sea | 9 |
| Dennis Quin | Ordinary Seaman | 06 Sep 1800 | yellow fever | at sea | 9 |
| Peter Lynn | Ordinary Seaman | 07-15 Sep 1800 | yellow fever | New Castle | 10 |
| John Weatherspoon | Midshipman | 07-15 Sep 1800 | yellow fever | New Castle | 10 |
| George Kelly | Quarter Gunner | 01-09 Oct 1800 | yellow fever | New Castle | 10 |
| Samuel Green | Ordinary Seaman | unknown | yellow fever | unknown | – |
| John Rose | Seaman; Boatswains Mate | unknown | yellow fever | unknown | – |
| Mr. Hennessey | Midshipman | unknown | yellow fever | Havana hospital | 4 |
| Anthony Lima | Seaman | unknown | yellow fever | Havana hospital | 4 |
| Michael Dougherty | Ordinary Seaman | unknown | yellow fever | Havana hospital | 4 |
| Michael McCullough | Ordinary Seaman. | unknown | yellow fever | Havana hospital | 4 |
| John Benner | Marine | unknown | yellow fever | Havana hospital | 4 |
| Dennis Kelly | Marine | unknown | yellow fever | Havana hospital | 4 |
| Jedediah Allen | Fifer | unknown | yellow fever | Havana hospital | 4 |
[1] Votaw, Homer C., “The Sloop-of-War Ganges”, United States Naval Institute Proceedings, July 1972 pp.82-84.
[2] The Captain’s surname is spelled as both Mullowny and Mullowney in the records. We have selected Mullowny for consistency.
[3] Office of Naval Records and Library, Naval documents related to the quasi-war between the United States and France & Naval Operations From June 1800 to November 1800, Washington : U.S. G.P.O., 1938. Vol. 5, p. 561. Santo Domingo Island is now shared by the Dominican republic and Haiti.
[4] ibid. p. 559.
[5] Mullowny, John, Journal. 1798-1801, US Naval Academy Museum, Annapolis, Md., p. 150.
[6] Mullowny, John, Journal. 1798-1801, US Naval Academy Museum, Annapolis, Md., p. 152.
[7] Cape Francois is now called Cape Haitan.
[8] Mullowny, John, Journal. 1798-1801, US Naval Academy Museum, Annapolis, Md., p. 154. *** Old Ironsides
[9] Ibid.
[10] Ibid. p. 160. “The Mora” is the Moro Castle, the principal fortification guarding Havana harbor.
[11] One butt = 126 gallons.
[12] Office of Naval Records and Library, Naval documents related to the quasi-war between the United States and France & Naval Operations From June 1800 to November 1800, Washington : U.S. G.P.O., 1938. Vol. 6, p. 195. The original is found in the Evelina du Pont Papers, Winterthur Library, Arc. 8.
[13] Mullowny, John, Journal. 1798-1801, US Naval Academy Museum, Annapolis, Md., p. 163.
[14] Ibid.
[15] Ibid.
[16] The Philadelphia Inquirer (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania), 22 Aug 1800, P. 3.
[17] Mullowny, John, Journal. 1798-1801, US Naval Academy Museum, Annapolis, Md., pp. 163-164.
[18] Mullowny, John, Journal. 1798-1801, US Naval Academy Museum, Annapolis, Md., p. 164.
[19] The Mayo Clinic, Yellow Fever, https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/yellow-fever/symptoms-causes/syc-20353045, accessed 27 Mar 2020.
[20] Office of Naval Records and Library, Naval documents related to the quasi-war between the United States and France & Naval Operations From June 1800 to November 1800, Washington : U.S. G.P.O., 1938. Vol. 5, p. 561.
[21] Hanson Catlett bio.
[22] Catlett, Hanson, transcription provided in An Account of Diseases at Wilmington (Delaware), in the Summer and Autumn of 1800; of the Disease Originating on Board of the United States Ship Ganges; and of a Disease arising from the Effluvia of Human Excrements at Narbonne, in France: Communicated by Dr. John Vaughan, of Wilmington, to Dr. Miller, “The Medical Repository,” Samuel Mitchell and Edward Miller eds, (New York, T&J Swords, 1808), Vol IV 2nd ed., p 243-244.
[23] Ibid.
[24] Mullowny, John, Journal. 1798-1801, US Naval Academy Museum, Annapolis, Md., p. 164.
[25] Macdonough, Rodney, Life of Commodore Thomas Macdonough, (Boston, Fort Sill Press, 1909), p 21. This autobiographical segment is quoted within the larger biography.
[26] Catlett, Hanson, transcription provided in An Account of Diseases at Wilmington (Delaware), in the Summer and Autumn of 1800; of the Disease Originating on Board of the United States Ship Ganges; and of a Disease arising from the Effluvia of Human Excrements at Narbonne, in France: Communicated by Dr. John Vaughan, of Wilmington, to Dr. Miller, “The Medical Repository,” Samuel Mitchell and Edward Miller eds, (New York, T&J Swords, 1808), Vol IV 2nd ed., p 244.
[27] Ibid.
[28] The Philadelphia Gazette (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania) 11 Sept. 1800, Vol XVII, 3699, p. 3.
[29] The Philadelphia Gazette (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania) 8 Sept. 1800, Vol XVII, 3696, p. 3.
[30] Mullowny, John, Journal. 1798-1801, US Naval Academy Museum, Annapolis, Md., p. 170.
[31] The Gazette of the United States (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania), 11 Sept. 1800, Vol XVIII, 2483, p. 3.
[32] The Philadelphia Gazette (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania) 11 Sept. 1800, Vol XVII, 3699, p. 3.
[33] Office of Naval Records and Library, Naval documents related to the quasi-war between the United States and France & Naval Operations From June 1800 to November 1800, Washington: U.S. G.P.O., 1938. Vol. 6, p. 195.
[34] Votaw, Homer C., “The Sloop-of-War Ganges”, United States Naval Institute Proceedings, July 1972 pp.82-84.
[35] Votaw, Homer C., “The Sloop-of-War Ganges”, United States Naval Institute Proceedings, July 1972 pp.82-84.
[36] Public Statutes at Large (Boston, Little Brown, 1845), II:110). Available online at: https://www.loc.gov/law/help/statutes-at-large/6th-congress/c6.pdf , accessed May 4, 2020.
[37] Deaths are taken from the ship’s log and Capt. Mullowny’s list of deaths published in local newspapers in October. The Captain also published a list of crew left at the Havana hospital. See The Philadelphia Gazette (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania) 1 Oct. 1800, Vol XVII, 3716, p. 3 Those who died in Havana can be inferred from Thomas Macdonough’s autobiography which identifies the survivors. See Macdonough, Rodney, Life of Commodore Thomas Macdonough, (Boston, Fort Sill Press, 1909), p 21.
The Ganges Families History Project 