Return to Naval Historical Center home page. Return to Online Library listing

DEPARTMENT OF THE NAVY -- NAVAL HISTORICAL CENTER
805 KIDDER BREESE SE -- WASHINGTON NAVY YARD
WASHINGTON DC 20374-5060

Photo # NH 47820: George W. Melville at his desk, circa 1887-1902

Online Library of Selected Images:
-- PEOPLE -- UNITED STATES --

Rear Admiral George W. Melville, USN, (1841-1912)

George Wallace Melville was born in New York City on 10 January 1841. A graduate of Brooklyn Collegiate and Polytechnic Institute, he worked in the engineering field until July 1861, when he joined the Navy in the rank of Third Assistant Engineer. His first year afloat was spent on the Great Lakes' gunboat Michigan, during which time he was promoted to Second Assistant Engineer. Melville served in the sloops of war Dacotah and Wachusett from mid-1862 until late in 1864, taking part in the capture of CSS Florida in October 1864. He finished the Civil War in the Hampton Roads, Virginia, area working with torpedo boats and as an engineer on the gunboat Maumee.

In the years after the Civil War's conclusion, First Assistant Engineer Melville served aboard several ships, among them the experimental cruiser Chattanooga, gunboat Tacony, steam sloop Lancaster and Asiatic Squadron flagship Tennessee. In 1873 he was Chief Engineer of the steamer Tigress during an Arctic cruise searching for survivors of the exploration ship Polaris. He returned to the Arctic in 1879 as Chief Engineer of the steamer Jeannette and assumed leadership of the survivors of the ill-fated expedition after they landed in Siberia in 1881.

Melville was promoted to the rank of Chief Engineer during his time in the Jeannette and again went to the Arctic in USS Thetis in 1884. He was an Inspector of Coal in 1884-1886, then performed his final seagoing duty in the new cruiser Atlanta. In August 1887 Melville became Chief of the Bureau of Steam Engineering, with the relative rank of Commodore and, after 1899, Rear Admiral. During more than a decade and a half in that post, he was responsible for the Navy's propulsion systems during a era of remarkable force expansion, technological progress and institutional change. Leaving active duty in 1903, Rear Admiral Melville spent his last years in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, where he died on 18 March 1912.

The U.S. Navy has named two ships in honor of George W. Melville: USS Melville (Destroyer Tender # 2, later AD-2), 1915-1948; and the oceanographic research ship Melville (AGOR-14), 1969-____.

This page features, and provides links to, all the views we have related to Rear Admiral George W. Melville, USN.

For other images concerning George W. Melville, see:

  • Rear Admiral George W. Melville -- During the Jeannette Arctic Expediton, 1879-1882; and
  • Artists -- George W. Melville.


    If you want higher resolution reproductions than the "Online Library's" digital images, see: "How to Obtain Photographic Reproductions."

    Click on the small photograph to prompt a larger view of the same image.

    Photo #: NH 92108

    Chief Engineer George W. Melville, USN


    Vignette engraving copied from "The Voyage of the Jeannette ...", Volume I, page 64, edited by Emma DeLong, published in 1884.
    Melville was USS Jeannette's Chief Engineer during her 1879-1881 Arctic exploring expedition.

    U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

    Online Image: 129KB; 600 x 675 pixels

     
    Photo #: NH 47823

    First Assistant Engineer George W. Melville, USN


    Engraved portrait, published during the later 19th Century.

    Naval Historical Center Photograph.

    Online Image: 162KB; 550 x 765 pixels

     
    Photo #: NH 60095

    Chief Engineer George W. Melville, USN


    Halftone reproduction of a photograph.

    Naval Historical Center Photograph.

    Online Image: 197KB; 615 x 765 pixels

     
    Photo #: NH 47820

    Chief Engineer George W. Melville, USN
    ,
    Engineer in Chief of the Navy

    Photographed at his desk, while serving as Chief of the Bureau of Steam Engineering, circa 1887-1902.

    Naval Historical Center Photograph.

    Online Image: 85KB; 740 x 550 pixels

     
    Photo #: NH 78483

    Chief Engineer George W. Melville, USN


    Halftone reproduction of a photograph taken while he was Chief of the Bureau of Steam Engineering, circa 1887-1902.

    Naval Historical Center Photograph.

    Online Image: 168KB; 620 x 765 pixels

     
    Photo #: NH 52007

    USS Jeannette
    (1879-1881)

    Composite photograph of the ship, and the officers of her Arctic expedition. Those shown are (clockwise from top center):
    Lieutenant Commander George W. DeLong, USN, Commanding Officer;
    Passed Assistant Surgeon James M. Ambler, USN;
    Chief Engineer George W. Melville, USN;
    Raymond Lee Newcomb, Naturalist and Astronomer;
    William Dunbar, Pilot;
    Jerome J. Collins, Correspondent for the "New York Herald";
    Lieutenant John W. Danenhower, USN, Second Officer; and
    Lieutenant Charles W. Chipp, USN, Executive Officer.

    Donation of Captain T.S. Wilkinson, USN, 1934.

    U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

    Online Image: 131KB; 550 x 765 pixels

     
    Photo #: NH 2875

    Greely Relief Expedition, 1884


    The six survivors of the U.S. Army's Greely Arctic expedition with their U.S. Navy rescuers, at Upernavik, Greenland, 2-3 July 1884. Probably photographed on board USS Thetis.
    See Photo # NH 2875-A for identification of those present.

    U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

    Online Image: 148KB; 740 x 605 pixels

     
    Photo #: NH 47821

    Chief Engineer George W. Melville, USN


    Statue in Navy Park, Philadelphia Naval Base, Pennsylvania.
    Photographed circa the 1950s or 1960s.

    Naval Historical Center Photograph.

    Online Image: 106KB; 610 x 765 pixels

     
    Photo #: NH 47822

    Chief Engineer George W. Melville, USN


    Statue in Navy Park, Philadelphia Naval Base, Pennsylvania.
    Photographed circa the 1950s or 1960s.

    Naval Historical Center Photograph.

    Online Image: 82KB; 605 x 765 pixels

     

    For other images concerning George W. Melville, see:

  • Rear Admiral George W. Melville -- During the Jeannette Arctic Expediton, 1879-1882; and
  • Artists -- George W. Melville.


    If you want higher resolution reproductions than the "Online Library's" digital images, see: "How to Obtain Photographic Reproductions."


    Return to Naval Historical Center home page.

    Page made 27 November 2003