“My Post is Here!”
2 FEBRUARY 1800
“MY POST IS HERE!”
We remember 1787 as the year our founding fathers finalized our Constitution and sent it to the States for ratification. Elsewhere that same year, a son was born to a prominent New Yorker, James Jarvis, Esq. Imbued with an appropriate love of his new nation and undoubtedly inspired by the many ships bringing exotic goods to New York, the younger James Canon Jarvis was appointed a Midshipman in 1799. Officer training in the day was conducted “on the job” at sea. Jarvis was assigned to USS CONSTELLATION, 50, under the capable tutelage of CAPT Thomas Truxtun. A brush with France was brewing that winter. The ongoing Anglo/French war in Europe was subjecting American commercial shipping to harassment by Napoleon’s navy, even in the Caribbean. CONSTELLATION was sent south in 1799 to protect our shipping there with the novice Midshipman Jarvis aboard.
On the first of February 1800, Truxtun spotted a French man-o-war cruising off Guadeloupe. She proved to be the stronger French frigate LA VENGEANCE, 56, and Truxtun gave chase. Not until after nightfall did CONSTELLATION gain the French weather quarter. A furious cannonade ensued. French doctrine of the day targeted an enemy’s rigging, preserving the hull for capture. Truxtun’s gunners repeatedly holed the French hull, dismounting guns and disabling seamen. By 0100, Truxtun’s masts and rigging were shredded, but not before damage to the adversary compelled her surrender. Truxtun sent Midshipman Jarvis aloft in charge of a shoring party as the mainmast teetered. When the wobbly mast threatened to tumble, sailors on deck pleaded with Jarvis to descend to safety. “My post is here!” came the reply, “I can’t leave until ordered.” Seconds later a deafening crack roared across the deck as the mainmast gave way, carrying Jarvis overboard to his death.
The 13-year-old was praised by Congress when word of the circumstances of his loss reached Philadelphia. There being no medals of valor yet created to honor brave sailors, a Joint Session of Congress resolved nevertheless: That the conduct of James Jarvis, a midshipman in said frigate [CONSTELLATION], who gloriously preferred death to an abandonment of his post, is deserving of the highest praise, and that the loss of so promising an officer is a subject of national regret.”
On 4 April 1912 our Navy launched the Paulding-class four-stack destroyer JARVIS (DD-38), who saw action in WWI. Jarvis’ name was again remembered in 1937 with our second JARVIS (DD-393)–lost in the Pacific in WWII. Our third JARVIS (DD-799) took to the seas in 1944 and served until 1960.
Watch for more “Today in Naval History” 8-10 FEB 24
CAPT James Bloom, Ret.
“A Resolution honoring CAPT Thomas Truxtun, U.S. Navy, and Midshipman James Jarvis, U.S. Navy, of the U.S. Frigate Constellation.” IN: Swanson, Claude A. Naval Documents Related to the Quasi-War between the United States and France: Naval Operations from January 1800 to May 1800. Washington, DC: GPO, 1937, pp. 173-74.
Department of the Navy, Naval History Division. Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships, Vol 2 “C-F”. Washington, DC: GPO, 1977, p. 171.
Department of the Navy, Naval History Division. Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships, Vol 3 “G-K”. Washington, DC: GPO, 1977, p. 504-06.
Extract from Captain Thomas Truxtun’s journal, U.S. Frigate Constellation, Sunday, 2 February 1800. IN: Swanson, Claude A. Naval Documents Related to the Quasi-War between the United States and France: Naval Operations from January 1800 to May 1800. Washington, DC: GPO, 1937, pp. 160-61.
ADDITIONAL NOTES: When dawn broke upon CONSTELLATION after this engagement LA VENGEANCE was nowhere to be seen–Truxtun assumed she had sunk. In truth, she drifted away unseen and disabled. With her crew bailing constantly, she made Curacao where repairs were affected. Truxtun lost 14 killed and 25 wounded, French casualties were twice as high, a reflection of American gunnery–50 killed and 110 wounded.
