MELVILLE
MEMMINGER
^^'^^iu^u^uvJ^
Polaris in 1873, and was chief engineer of the
Jeaunette in the expedition commanded by Lieut.
George W. DeLoug. that left San Francisco, Cal.,
July 8, 1879. When the Jeannette was crushed in
the ice, June I'd, 1861, he was given command of
one of the boats car- rying the shipwreck- ed crew out of the itre-pack to the mouth of the Lena river, whioh refuge he reached after intense suffering, Sept. 17, 1881, and with his companions awaited the arrival of the other boats. His search for the miss- ing boats resulted in his finding the huts and records left by DeLong, but it was not till March 22, 1882, that he discovered the bod- ies of Lieutenant DeLong, Dr. Ambler and seven others, and he gave to the remains the rite of Christian burial and erected a rude cairn tomb to protect the bodies from wild beasts. He was chief engineer on the Thetis, flagship of the Greely relief expedition, in 1884. By special act of cofigress he was given a gold medal and ad- vanced fifteen numbers in September, 1890, for hi.s arctic services. He was chief of the bureau of steam engineering, with the rank of commo- dore, Aug. 8, 1887, and he served as engineer-in- chief of the navy from Jan. 16, 1888, his last com- mission being captain, March 3, 1899, and his position as chief of the bureau of steam engineer- ing giving him the rank of rear-admiral while holding the office. He invented a torpedoand de- signed many other naval appliances, includ- ing triplescrew machinery ustid on the Coluvi- bia and Minneapolisfi. In July, 1901, Admiral Mel- ville, constructed a number of casks which were set adrift from the U.S. revenue cutter Bear in the Arctic ocean, with the object of determining the existence of ocean currents crossing the pole. The casks contained messages in five languages, directing the finder to communicate to the near- est U.S. consul the time and place where picked up. His term of service in the U.S. navy expired by age limit, Jan. 10, 1903. He was elected pres- ident of the American Society of Meclianical Engineers and a member of various scientific societies at home and abroad. He re<*eived the honorary degrees: Doctor of Engineering from Stevens. 1896: M. Sc. f rom Columl>ia, 1899; LL.D. from Georgetown, 1899. and Sc.D. from the Uni- versity of Pennsylvania. 1901. He is the author of: In the Lena Delta (lb8oj.
MELVILLE, Herman, author, was born in New
York city, Aug. 1, 1»I9; sou of Allan and
Catherine (Gansevoort) Melville; grandson of Maj.
Thomas Melville, a member of the Boston tea-
party, and of Gen. Peter Gansevoort (q.v.).
Allan Melville, a wealthy merchant, and a man of
literary tastes, travelled extensively; he died
in 1832. Herman spent his youth in Albany
and Greenbush, N.Y., with his mothers relatives,
and at the age of eighteen shipped as a sailor on
a voyage to Liverpool, England. In 1841 he sailed
on the Acxishnet, a whaling vesseT, on a cruite to
the South Pacific ocean, but in 1842, owing to
cruel treatment, deserted the ship on reaching
Nukahiva in the Marquesas group. With his com.
panion he was captured by cannibals, held prisoner
for four months, rescued by an Australian whaling
vessel after a bloody contest, remained in the
Pacific on board his rescuer's ship until 1843, and
returned by way of the Hawaiian islands, where
he joined the crew of the U.S. frigate United
States and reached Boston in 1844. He went to
Lansingburg, N.Y., where he wrote his novel,
" Typee," which was sold to John Murray, the
English publisher, was issued as " Melville's
Marquesas Islands" (1845) and passed through
several editions. He removed in 1850, to Pittsfield,
Mass., where he met Hawthorne. He made a
voyage around the world in 1860, and on his re-
turn in 1863 resided in New York where in 1866
he took a position in the United States custom-
house, which failing health obliged him to re-
linquish in 1886. He was married, in 1847, to
Elizabeth, daughter of Chief-Justice Lemuel
Shaw. He is the author of: Tyjiee: a Peep at
Polynesian Life during a Four-Months Residence
in a Valley of the Marquesas (2 parts, 1846);
Omoo: a Narrative of Adventures in the South
Seas (1847); Mardi and a Voyage lliither (1849);
Redburn (1849); White Jacket; or. The World
in a Man-of-war (1850); Moby Dick; or, the
White Whale (1851); Pierre; or, the Ambiguities
(1852); Israel Potter: his Fifty Years of Exile
(1855); Piazza Tales ( 1856); TJte Confidence
Man (1857); Battle-Pieces and As2)ects of the
War (poems, 1866); Clare!: a Pilgrimage in the
Holy Land (a poem, 1876). John Marr and Other
Sailors (1888) and Timoleon (1891) were issued
at the instance of Arthur Stedman, who, in 1892
edited an edition in four volumes, of Typee,
Omoo, Moby and White Jacket, prefacing the set
with a critical biography. Herman Melville died
in New York city, Sept. 28. 1891.
MEMRINQER, Charles Qustavius, secretary of the C.S. treasury, was born in Wurtemburg, Germany, Jan. 17, 1803. His father died when he was an infant and his mother immigrated to the United States and settled in Charleston, S C. At her death in 1812 he was adopted by Governor
