Thomas Oliver Selfridge (1804–1902)

American naval officer, born in Boston, MA, on the 24th of April 1804. In 1818 he entered the navy as a midshipman, and in 1844 had risen to the post of commander of the flagship of the East India squadron and later of the Pacific squadron; was transferred to the Dale in 1847, and wounded during the capture of Mazatlan and Guaymas. After that time he was engaged on shore duty, except for a few months during the Civil War. From 1848 to 1861 he was at the Boston navy-yard, and from 1862 to 1865 at Mare Island, CA. He was successively president of the examining board, lighthouse inspector at Boston, and again on the examining board until 1871, when he was retired on waiting-orders. In 1855 ne became captain, in 1862 commodore and in 1866 rear-admiral, being now the senior navy officer on the retired list.—His son, Thomas Oliver, likewise a rear-admiral, was born in Charlestown, MA, on the 6th of February 1836. He graduated from the United States Naval Academy (1854); was promoted lieutenant (1857); and lieutenant-commander (1862). During the Civil War he was in most of the important operations of the war, among them the capture of Vicksburg, the Red River expedition and the engagement between the Cumberland and Virginia. In 1869 he was promoted commander, and had control of the surveys for an interoceanic canal across the Isthmus of Darien in 1870; besides other missions, including surveys on the Arato River in 1871–73. He was a commissioner at the International Congress on Canals, at Paris in 1876; surveyed the Amazon River (1877–80); was appointed captain (1887), and placed in charge of the Newport torpedo station. In 1885 he was placed in command of the Omaha in the Asiatic squadron, and while here was tried for carelessness in target-practice, but was acquitted by court-martial. In 1894 he was made commodore, and in 1896 rear-admiral. He was presented with the decoration of the Legion of Honor in recognition of his services on the Isthmus of Darien, and was made an honorary member of the Belgian Geographical Society. He died in 1924.