Virginia Military Institute - Bomb Yearbook (Lexington, VA)

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8 THE BOMB. Naval School at Annapolis, first organized in 1845, by the dis- tinguished Buchanan, whose bearing and sense of honor made lasting impressions on his pupils. Brooke ' s class was the first and largest ever graduated at this famous school. They were called fort)--ones ' from their entrance year into the navy, not, as is the custom now, from the date of gradua- tion. Brooke was graduated in 1847, d in 1849 or 1850, was on the Coast Survey in the hydrographic party under Rear-Admiral Sam Philipps Lee. About this period Brooke married his first wife. Miss Lizzie Gar- nett, a sister of General Richard Brooke Garnett, killed in Pickett ' s charge at Gettysburg. Brooke was stationed at the Naval Observatory, Washington, D. C, from 185 1 to 1853. During this time he invented the deep-sea sounding apparatus. After i860 he was given the gold medal of science of the Academy of Berlin, by the King of Prussia, afterward Emperor William of Germany, in recognition of his service to scientific research. He was on the exploring expedition to the North Pacific and Behring Straits, under Commander Ringold. The command was afterwards transferred to Rear-Admiral John Rodgers. In this expe- dition Brooke was entrusted with the important duty of determining astronomical positions of primary points and measuring chrono ' metric- ally differences of longitude. He made improvements in manipula- tion and management of chronometers, also made magnetic observa- tions and deep-sea soundingci. He made reconnaissance of the east coast of Niphon (Japan) from Simoda to Hakodadi in a launch of the Vincennes. Hfe W s sent via Panama to Washington with the results of the survey tQ hasten the publication. In 1858 Brooke was assigned to the survey of the route between California and China. Sailing from San Francisco September 26th, 1858, in the schooner Fennimore Cooper, originally a New York pilot- boat, he made a sur -ey of islands in the Pacific and a part of the eastern coast of Japan.

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THE BOMB. 7 demolished, with great loss to the enemy. ' Who hung the lantern? ' was a pass-word in the Army after that period. General Brooke married Miss Lucy Thomas, of Duxbury, Massa- chusetts, a beauty, whose face framed in a window of some house in Boston, had attracted the attention of the general as he passed along the street. Making inquiries, he obtained an introduction and the acquain- tance ripened into love. He, finally, was successful in his courtship and married his sweetheart when she was hardly sixteen. John Mercer Brooke, a son of this marriage, was sent to a school preparatory to Kenyon College, at Gambler, Ohio. If tradition be true, he did not stay long. In fact, rumor has it, that the little fellow ran away twice. He was afterwards sent to a school that had attained considerable reputation under Professor Gum- mere, in BurlingtorL, New Jersey, but which, falling into the hands of a less able teacher, declined in fame and usefulness. Here Brooke met with many persons of various religious denom- inations — among others, with Congregationalists, Quakers and Churchmen. For the latter, he seemed to have had a boyish regard being attracted more strongly by the magnetic personality of Bishop Mcllwaine. The Episcopal Church became eventually the church of his choice. Brooke ' s mother died when he was twelve years old. He was appointed midshipman in the United States Navy in March, 1841, and reported to Captain Farragut on the Delaware ship of the line with a crew of eight hundred men. As the fifteen-year-old lad ciimljed up the side of the Delaware, two things made an impression on him — the buzz of eight hundred men at supper and the appearance of their commander, the now celebrated commodore. Amid all the changes and differences of political opin- ions and fortunes, Brooke has always had a high regard and friendship for his first commander. Brooke was transferred from the Delaware and made his first cruise in the sloop-of-war Cyane. This was for three years. After doubling Cape Horn, he returned to the United States and entered the

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THE BOMB. g The accuracy of his deep-sea soundings have been verified by Captain George Belknap, who ran a line of soundings across the Pacific using Sir William Thomson ' s machine, with piano wire, and Brooke ' s detaching apparatus. A cyclone on August 22d, 1859, while Brooke was in Yedo (Tokio) conferring with the American minister, caused the officer left in charge, very properly, to beach the Fennimore Cooper, to save the lives of her crew. Her timbers were found so decayed that it was useless to repair her. Brooke remained at Yokohama with the crew till the tenth of February, i860, for passage to the United States in the ffagship Pow- hatan of the Asiatic Squadron. The Japanese freely consulted with Captain Brooke and as he had no mercantile interests, they relied implicitly on his statements. When the Japanese determined to send an embassy to the United States, they wished to send a war vessel to avoid the supposition that they were unable to send their embassy in a vessel of their own. The Tycoon wouldn ' t consent to send a Japanese ship to the United States unless Brooke would go with their vessel. Brooke vol- unteered to do this and was directed by Flag Officer Tatnall to take passage in the Japanese corvette, Candimarroo, and to assist the cap- tain in the navigation of his ship. The corvette reached San Francisco thirteen days ahead of the Powhatan, which had been forced by heavy weather to take a more southerly course, touching at Honolulu. This service was highly appreciated by the Japanese authorities, who invited Brooke to take from a chest containing $60,000, what he considered a proper consideration for his assistance. Brooke refused to take anything. On the reception of the embassy in Washington, the ambassador asked as his first request, that the services rendered Japan by Captain Brooke should be recorded in the archives of the United States. In 1861, Captain Brooke applied in the construction of the Vir- ginia (the Merrimac) the principle of extended and submerged ends, which has been adopted in the most powerful of foreign ships of war, as the Inflexible and the Italia. This invention is attested by a patent