Norfolk Highlights 1584 - 1881
By George Holbert Tucker
Chapter 43
Norfolk and the Navy
Norfolk has always been a Navy town, a tradition it is likely to maintain
as long as men go down to the sea in ships.
From the time of the founding of the town in the late Seventeenth Century,
an ever-increasing commerce necessitated the establishing and maintaining
of taverns and boarding houses along the waterfront to accommodate the
captains and crews of vessels between voyages. And the nearness of Norfolk
to the sea soon made its harbor a favorite rendezvous for foreign men-of-war.
This is evident from the recollections of Mrs. Helen Calvert Maxwell
Read, whose father, Maximilian Calvert, was mayor of Norfolk in 1765
and 1769.
In her old age, Mrs. Read liked to recall how the visit of thirty-two
midshipmen from a fifty-gun British ship, "mostly boys and lads
of good families, and several of them sprigs of nobility," set
the hearts of Norfolk damsels aflutter.
But the picture also had its darker side; and throughout most of its
history, Norfolk has also been troubled occasionally by serious riots
caused by sailormen.
In the main, however, Norfolk's nautical history has been glamorous.
Two famous Nineteenth Century expeditions set out from Norfolk-area
waters to make world history. In August of 1838, the first national
exploratory expedition authorized under a special act of Congress, known
as the Wilkes Expedition, left Norfolk for a four-year cruise to survey
and chart areas in the Pacific Ocean and the South Seas, particularly
those parts most frequently used by American whaling vessels. On November
24, 1852, Commodore Matthew Calbraith Perry left Norfolk on the paddle
frigate Mississippi, the nucleus of the "Japan Squadron" that
resulted in the opening of the ports of Japan to the United States two
years later.
Over the years Norfolk has been the scene of thousands of marriages
between seagoging men and Norfolk girls, giving the city, among others,
the nickname "The Mother-in-Law of the Navy." Notable among
these was the marriage of Commodore Stephen Decatur and Miss Susan Wheeler,
which took place on March 8, 1806, and the two marriages of Admiral
David Glasgow Farragut.
Farragut's first marriage, to Miss Susan Caroline Marchant of Norfolk,
took place on September 1, 1824. After her death he married another
Norfolk girl, Miss Virginia D. Loyall, on December 26, 1843.
But Farragut had other Norfolk connections.
Early in 1811, the ten-year-old lad, who was already a midshipman,
had a memorable encounter on the Norfolk waterfront that has become
a part of naval history.
When the gig of the man-of-war Essex, commanded by Captain David Porter,
was standing by at a Norfolk wharf awaiting the return of Porter from
some business ashore, a crowd of dock loafers began making fun of the
bantam midshipman. Young Farragut faced his tormentors in silence until
one of them began sprinkling him with a water pot "to make him
grow."
Quick as a flash, Farragut snagged the fellow with his boat hook and
yanked him down into the gig. The sailors, idling at their oars, were
spoiling for a fight, and this was their signal.
Led by Farragut, who brandished a dirk, they leaped from the boat and
drove the hecklers up what was then known as Market Square, later as
Commercial Place. Minutes later, the law took over, and Farragut, his
companions, and his tormentors were taken before a justice, who bound
them over to keep the public peace.
When Captain Porter heard of the affair, however, he was delighted
at his protege's prowess and praised him for being "three pounds
of uniform and seventy pounds of fight."
 Chapter
44
Norfolk's Civil War Phase
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