1.
Norfolk, Virginia
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Norfolk is an independent city in the Commonwealth of Virginia, United States. At the 2010 census, the population was 242,803, in 2015, Norfolk is located at the core of the Hampton Roads metropolitan area, named for the large natural harbor of the same name located at the mouth of Chesapeake Bay. It is one of nine cities and seven counties that constitute the Hampton Roads metro area, officially known as the Virginia Beach-Norfolk-Newport News, the city is bordered to the west by the Elizabeth River and to the north by the Chesapeake Bay. It also shares borders with the independent cities of Chesapeake to its south. Norfolk is one of the oldest cities in Hampton Roads, and is considered to be the historic, urban, financial, the city has a long history as a strategic military and transportation point. The largest Navy base in the world, Naval Station Norfolk, is located in Norfolk along with one of NATOs two Strategic Command headquarters. As the city is bordered by multiple bodies of water, Norfolk has many miles of riverfront and bayfront property, including beaches on the Chesapeake Bay. It is linked to its neighbors by a network of Interstate highways, bridges, tunnels. In 1619, the Governor of the Virginia Colony, Sir George Yeardley incorporated four jurisdictions, termed citties and these formed the basis for colonial representative government in the newly minted House of Burgesses. What would become Norfolk was put under the Elizabeth Cittie incorporation, in 1634 King Charles I reorganized the colony into a system of shires. The former Elizabeth Cittie became Elizabeth City Shire, after persuading 105 people to settle in the colony, Adam Thoroughgood was granted a large land holding, through the head rights system, along the Lynnhaven River in 1636. When the South Hampton Roads portion of the shire was separated, one year later, it was split into two counties, Upper Norfolk and Lower Norfolk, chiefly on Thoroughgoods recommendation. This area of Virginia became known as the place of entrepreneurs, the House of Burgesses established the Towne of Lower Norfolk County in 1680. In 1691, a final county subdivision took place when Lower Norfolk County split to form Norfolk County, in 1730, a tobacco inspection site was located here. By 1775, Norfolk developed into what contemporary observers argued was the most prosperous city in Virginia and it was an important port for exporting goods to the British Isles and beyond. In part because of its merchants numerous trading ties with other parts of the British Empire, after fleeing the colonial capital of Williamsburg, Lord Dunmore, the Royal Governor of Virginia, tried to reestablish control of the colony from Norfolk. Dunmore secured small victories at Norfolk but was forced into exile by the American rebels and his departure brought an end to more than 168 years of British colonial rule in Virginia. On New Years Day,1776, Lord Dunmores fleet of three ships shelled the city of Norfolk for more than eight hours, the damage from the shells and fires started by the British and spread by the patriots destroyed over 800 buildings, almost two-thirds of the city
2.
Baltimore
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Baltimore is the largest city in the U. S. state of Maryland, and the 29th-most populous city in the country. It was established by the Constitution of Maryland and is not part of any county, thus, it is the largest independent city in the United States, with a population of 621,849 as of 2015. As of 2010, the population of the Baltimore Metropolitan Area was 2.7 million, founded in 1729, Baltimore is the second largest seaport in the Mid-Atlantic. Baltimores Inner Harbor was once the leading port of entry for immigrants to the United States. With hundreds of identified districts, Baltimore has been dubbed a city of neighborhoods, in the War of 1812, Francis Scott Key wrote The Star-Spangled Banner, later the American national anthem, in Baltimore. More than 65,000 properties, or roughly one in three buildings in the city, are listed on the National Register, more than any city in the nation. The city has 289 properties listed on the National Register of Historic Places, the historical records of the government of Baltimore are located at the Baltimore City Archives. The city is named after Cecil Calvert, second Lord Baltimore, of the Irish House of Lords, Baltimore Manor was the name of the estate in County Longford on which the Calvert family lived in Ireland. Baltimore is an anglicization of the Irish name Baile an Tí Mhóir, in 1608, Captain John Smith traveled 210 miles from Jamestown to the uppermost Chesapeake Bay, leading the first European expedition to the Patapsco River. The name Patapsco is derived from pota-psk-ut, which translates to backwater or tide covered with froth in Algonquian dialect, a quarter century after John Smiths voyage, English colonists began to settle in Maryland. The area constituting the modern City of Baltimore and its area was first settled by David Jones in 1661. He claimed the area today as Harbor East on the east bank of the Jones Falls stream. In the early 1600s, the immediate Baltimore vicinity was populated, if at all. The Baltimore area had been inhabited by Native Americans since at least the 10th millennium BC, one Paleo-Indian site and several Archaic period and Woodland period archaeological sites have been identified in Baltimore, including four from the Late Woodland period. During the Late Woodland period, the culture that is called the Potomac Creek complex resided in the area from Baltimore to the Rappahannock River in Virginia. It was located on the Bush River on land that in 1773 became part of Harford County, in 1674, the General Assembly passed An Act for erecting a Court-house and Prison in each County within this Province. The site of the house and jail for Baltimore County was evidently Old Baltimore near the Bush River. In 1683, the General Assembly passed An Act for Advancement of Trade to establish towns, ports, one of the towns established by the act in Baltimore County was on Bush River, on Town Land, near the Court-House
3.
United States
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Forty-eight of the fifty states and the federal district are contiguous and located in North America between Canada and Mexico. The state of Alaska is in the northwest corner of North America, bordered by Canada to the east, the state of Hawaii is an archipelago in the mid-Pacific Ocean. The U. S. territories are scattered about the Pacific Ocean, the geography, climate and wildlife of the country are extremely diverse. At 3.8 million square miles and with over 324 million people, the United States is the worlds third- or fourth-largest country by area, third-largest by land area. It is one of the worlds most ethnically diverse and multicultural nations, paleo-Indians migrated from Asia to the North American mainland at least 15,000 years ago. European colonization began in the 16th century, the United States emerged from 13 British colonies along the East Coast. Numerous disputes between Great Britain and the following the Seven Years War led to the American Revolution. On July 4,1776, during the course of the American Revolutionary War, the war ended in 1783 with recognition of the independence of the United States by Great Britain, representing the first successful war of independence against a European power. The current constitution was adopted in 1788, after the Articles of Confederation, the first ten amendments, collectively named the Bill of Rights, were ratified in 1791 and designed to guarantee many fundamental civil liberties. During the second half of the 19th century, the American Civil War led to the end of slavery in the country. By the end of century, the United States extended into the Pacific Ocean. The Spanish–American War and World War I confirmed the status as a global military power. The end of the Cold War and the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991 left the United States as the sole superpower. The U. S. is a member of the United Nations, World Bank, International Monetary Fund, Organization of American States. The United States is a developed country, with the worlds largest economy by nominal GDP. It ranks highly in several measures of performance, including average wage, human development, per capita GDP. While the U. S. economy is considered post-industrial, characterized by the dominance of services and knowledge economy, the United States is a prominent political and cultural force internationally, and a leader in scientific research and technological innovations. In 1507, the German cartographer Martin Waldseemüller produced a map on which he named the lands of the Western Hemisphere America after the Italian explorer and cartographer Amerigo Vespucci
4.
Virginia
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Virginia is a state located in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States, as well as in the historic Southeast. The geography and climate of the Commonwealth are shaped by the Blue Ridge Mountains and the Chesapeake Bay, the capital of the Commonwealth is Richmond, Virginia Beach is the most populous city, and Fairfax County is the most populous political subdivision. The Commonwealths estimated population as of 2014 is over 8.3 million, the areas history begins with several indigenous groups, including the Powhatan. In 1607 the London Company established the Colony of Virginia as the first permanent New World English colony, slave labor and the land acquired from displaced Native American tribes each played a significant role in the colonys early politics and plantation economy. Although the Commonwealth was under one-party rule for nearly a century following Reconstruction, the Virginia General Assembly is the oldest continuous law-making body in the New World. The state government was ranked most effective by the Pew Center on the States in both 2005 and 2008 and it is unique in how it treats cities and counties equally, manages local roads, and prohibits its governors from serving consecutive terms. Virginias economy changed from agricultural to industrial during the 1960s and 1970s. Virginia has an area of 42,774.2 square miles, including 3,180.13 square miles of water. Virginias boundary with Maryland and Washington, D. C. extends to the mark of the south shore of the Potomac River. The southern border is defined as the 36° 30′ parallel north, the border with Tennessee was not settled until 1893, when their dispute was brought to the U. S. Supreme Court. The Chesapeake Bay separates the portion of the Commonwealth from the two-county peninsula of Virginias Eastern Shore. The bay was formed from the river valleys of the Susquehanna River. Many of Virginias rivers flow into the Chesapeake Bay, including the Potomac, Rappahannock, York, and James, the Tidewater is a coastal plain between the Atlantic coast and the fall line. It includes the Eastern Shore and major estuaries of Chesapeake Bay, the Piedmont is a series of sedimentary and igneous rock-based foothills east of the mountains which were formed in the Mesozoic era. The region, known for its clay soil, includes the Southwest Mountains around Charlottesville. The Blue Ridge Mountains are a province of the Appalachian Mountains with the highest points in the state. The Ridge and Valley region is west of the mountains and includes the Great Appalachian Valley, the region is carbonate rock based and includes Massanutten Mountain. The Cumberland Plateau and the Cumberland Mountains are in the southwest corner of Virginia, in this region, rivers flow northwest, with a dendritic drainage system, into the Ohio River basin
5.
Confederate States of America
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The Confederate States, officially the Confederate States of America, commonly referred to as the Confederacy, was a breakaway country of 11 secessionist slave states existing from 1861 to 1865. It was never recognized as an Independent country, although it achieved belligerent status by Britain. A new Confederate government was established in February 1861 before Lincoln took office in March, after the Civil War began in April, four slave states of the Upper South – Virginia, Arkansas, Tennessee, and North Carolina – also declared their secession and joined the Confederacy. The government of the United States rejected the claims of secession, the Civil War began with the April 12,1861, Confederate attack upon Fort Sumter, a Union fort in the harbor of Charleston, South Carolina. In spring 1865, after four years of fighting which led to an estimated 620,000 military deaths, all the Confederate forces surrendered. Jefferson Davis later lamented that the Confederacy had disappeared in 1865, Missouri and Kentucky were represented by partisan factions from those states, while the legitimate governments of those two states retained formal adherence to the Union. Also fighting for the Confederacy were two of the Five Civilized Tribes located in Indian Territory and a new, but uncontrolled, Confederate Territory of Arizona. Efforts by certain factions in Maryland to secede were halted by federal imposition of law, while Delaware, though of divided loyalty. A Unionist government in parts of Virginia organized the new state of West Virginia. With the Emancipation Proclamation on January 1,1863, the Union made abolition of slavery a war goal, as Union forces moved southward, large numbers of plantation slaves were freed. Many joined the Union lines, enrolling in service as soldiers, teamsters and laborers, the most notable advance was Shermans March to the Sea in late 1864. Much of the Confederacys infrastructure was destroyed, including telegraphs, railroads, plantations in the path of Shermans forces were severely damaged. Internal movement became increasingly difficult for Southerners, weakening the economy and these losses created an insurmountable disadvantage in men, materiel, and finance. Public support for Confederate President Jefferson Daviss administration eroded over time due to repeated military reverses, economic hardships, after four years of campaigning, Richmond was captured by Union forces in April 1865. Shortly afterward, Confederate General Robert E. Lee surrendered to Union General Ulysses S. Grant, President Davis was captured on May 10,1865, and jailed in preparation for a treason trial that was ultimately never held. The U. S. government began a process known as Reconstruction which attempted to resolve the political and constitutional issues of the Civil War. By 1877, the Compromise of 1877 ended Reconstruction in the former Confederate states, Confederate veterans had been temporarily disenfranchised by Reconstruction policy. The prewar South had many areas, the war left the entire region economically devastated by military action, ruined infrastructure
6.
United States Navy
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The United States Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the seven uniformed services of the United States. The U. S. Navy is the largest, most capable navy in the world, the U. S. Navy has the worlds largest aircraft carrier fleet, with ten in service, two in the reserve fleet, and three new carriers under construction. The service has 323,792 personnel on duty and 108,515 in the Navy Reserve. It has 274 deployable combat vessels and more than 3,700 operational aircraft as of October 2016, the U. S. Navy traces its origins to the Continental Navy, which was established during the American Revolutionary War and was effectively disbanded as a separate entity shortly thereafter. It played a role in the American Civil War by blockading the Confederacy. It played the role in the World War II defeat of Imperial Japan. The 21st century U. S. Navy maintains a global presence, deploying in strength in such areas as the Western Pacific, the Mediterranean. The Navy is administratively managed by the Department of the Navy, the Department of the Navy is itself a division of the Department of Defense, which is headed by the Secretary of Defense. The Chief of Naval Operations is an admiral and the senior naval officer of the Department of the Navy. The CNO may not be the highest ranking officer in the armed forces if the Chairman or the Vice Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. The mission of the Navy is to maintain, train and equip combat-ready Naval forces capable of winning wars, deterring aggression, the United States Navy is a seaborne branch of the military of the United States. The Navys three primary areas of responsibility, The preparation of naval forces necessary for the prosecution of war. The development of aircraft, weapons, tactics, technique, organization, U. S. Navy training manuals state that the mission of the U. S. Armed Forces is to prepare and conduct prompt and sustained combat operations in support of the national interest, as part of that establishment, the U. S. Navys functions comprise sea control, power projection and nuclear deterrence, in addition to sealift duties. It follows then as certain as that night succeeds the day, that without a decisive naval force we can do nothing definitive, the Navy was rooted in the colonial seafaring tradition, which produced a large community of sailors, captains, and shipbuilders. In the early stages of the American Revolutionary War, Massachusetts had its own Massachusetts Naval Militia, the establishment of a national navy was an issue of debate among the members of the Second Continental Congress. Supporters argued that a navy would protect shipping, defend the coast, detractors countered that challenging the British Royal Navy, then the worlds preeminent naval power, was a foolish undertaking. Commander in Chief George Washington resolved the debate when he commissioned the ocean-going schooner USS Hannah to interdict British merchant ships, and reported the captures to the Congress
7.
Virginia State Navy
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A Virginia State Navy existed twice. Virginia, along with the other Thirteen Colonies, was dissatisfied with the actions of Lord Dunmore. After the Gunpowder Incident in April 1775 and the news of the outbreak with the Battles of Lexington and Concord, Dunmore, fearing for his safety. There Dunmore tried to organize Loyalists in the colony to counter the rebellion, in December 1775, the provisional assembly voted to authorize the Committee of Safety to buy, arm, and man ships to prevent the royal governor from travelling over the waterways. During the next six months, the committee purchased five ships and it also commissioned its first captains, James Barron, Richard Barron, Richard Taylor, Thomas Lilly, and Edward Travis. In May 1776, the established a Navy Board to oversee naval affairs. Its ships were built across the state, but eventually became the responsibility of the shipyard on the Chickahominy River. In 1779 the Navy Board was superseded by a Board of War and this lasted only one year, however, and Virginia established a Commissioner of War, a Commercial Agent, and a Commissioner of the Navy to coordinate her military and trade activities. The fleets first commodore was John Henry Boucher, who was hired from the Maryland State Navy and his service was brief, and he was followed by Walter Brooke, and finally James Barron, who led the fleet until the end of the war. Virginia had difficulty recruiting men for her navy, due to the higher pay on privateers. The Virginia fleet primarily to patrolled the Chesapeake Bay, and was perpetually undermanned, some of the ships were used in commerce, sent on voyages to the West Indies and even Europe. Between 1775 and 1779 the fleet captured 15 prizes, but also lost several ships the same way, the British raided the shipyard at Gosport in 1779, destroying stores and several unfinished vessels. After a British fleet landed troops led by turncoat Benedict Arnold in December 1780, even so, Arnold advanced up the James River as far as Richmond. A fleet of twenty small Virginia ships and privateers pursued him, and in a one-sided engagement in April 1781, the British captured twelve were. The disaster on the James left the Virginia Navy with a single ship and she supported operations that resulted in the Siege of Yorktown later in 1781, as did three ships hired by the state. When Cornwallis was forced to surrender at Yorktown, Virginia, citing financial reasons, a few ships were fitted out in 1782 and 1783, but with the 1783 Treaty of Paris, all but two were sold. The Liberty and the Patriot were retained as revenue cutters into the late 1780s, the Liberty was one of the longest-serving ships of the Patriot cause in the war. The Provisional Navy of Virginia was established by an ordinance of the Convention of Virginia on April 27,1861, the ordinance called for the enlistment of two thousand seamen and marines to serve terms of three and four years respectively
8.
Confederate States Navy
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The Navy of the Confederate States was the naval branch of the Confederate States Armed Forces, established by an act of the Confederate Congress on February 21,1861. It was responsible for Confederate naval operations during the American Civil War, the Confederate navy could never achieve numerical equality with the U. S. Navy, so it used technological innovation, such as ironclads, submarines, torpedo boats, and naval mines to gain advantage. In February 1861 the Confederate Navy had 30 vessels, only 14 of which were seaworthy, the Union Navy had 90 vessels. The C. S. Navy eventually grew to 101 ships to meet the rise in naval threats and conflicts, on April 20,1861 the U. S. was forced to quickly abandon the important Gosport Navy Yard at Norfolk, Virginia. In their haste they failed to burn the facility with its large depots of arms and other supplies. As a result, the Confederacy captured much needed war materials, including cannon, gunpowder, shot. Of most importance to the Confederacy was the dry docks. The Confederacys only substantial navy yard with at time was in Pensacola, Florida. The most significant warship left at the Yard was the screw frigate USS Merrimack, the U. S. Navy had torched Merrimacks superstructure and upper deck, then scuttled the vessel, it would have been immediately useful as a warship to their enemy. Little of the structure remained other than the hull, which was holed by the scuttling charge. Confederate Navy Secretary Stephen Mallory had the idea to raise Merrimack, when the hull was raised, it had not been submerged long enough to have been rendered unusable, the steam engines and essential machinery were salvageable. The decks were rebuilt using thick oak and pine planking, the newly rebuilt superstructure was unusual, above the waterline the sides sloped inward and were covered with two layers of heavy iron-plate armor. The vessel was a new kind of warship, an all-steam powered iron-clad, in the centuries-old tradition of reusing captured ships, the new ship was christened CSS Virginia. She later fought the Unions new ironclad USS Monitor, on the second day of the Battle of Hampton Roads, the two ships met and each scored numerous hits on the other. After four hours both ships were taking in water through split seams and breaches by enemy shot, the engines of both were becoming dangerously overtaxed, and their crews were near exhaustion. The two ships turned and steamed away, never to meet again, the last Confederate surrender took place in Liverpool, United Kingdom on November 6,1865 aboard the commerce raider CSS Shenandoah when her flag was lowered for the final time. This surrender brought about the end of the Confederate navy, the Shenandoah had circumnavigated the globe, the only Confederate ship to do so. The act of the Confederate Congress that created the Confederate Navy on February 21,1861 also appointed Stephen Mallory as Secretary of the Department of the Navy
9.
Captain (United States O-6)
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The predecessors of the NOAA Corps, the United States Coast and Geodetic Survey Corps and the Environmental Science Services Administration Corps, also used the rank. In the United States Navy, captain is an officer rank. It ranks above commander and below rear admiral and it is equivalent to the rank of colonel in the other uniformed services. Promotion to captain is governed by Department of Defense policies derived from the Defense Officer Personnel Management Act of 1980 or its companion Reserve Officer Personnel Management Act, Navy captains with sea commands in the surface warfare officer community generally command ships of cruiser size or larger. The more senior the officer, the larger the ship, others may hold command as commodores of destroyer squadrons consisting of multiple destroyers and frigates. Surface Warfare Officers may also command large amphibious warfare ships or combat support ships. Today, like their surface warfare counterparts, captains in the community may serve as commodores of submarine squadrons. A smaller cohort outside of sea and shore commands may also serve as astronauts on loan to the National Aeronautics, in the Naval Special Warfare Sea Air Land community, captains with sea commands are typically commodores in command of Naval Special Warfare Groups. In addition, in the strike group, the Marine Expeditionary Unit commanding officer will always be a Marine Corps colonel. Adding to the confusion, all commanding officers of commissioned U. S. Navy warships and submarines are called captain regardless of actual rank. The United States Coast Guard also uses the same rank system for its commissioned officers as the U. S. Navy, with a Coast Guard captain ranking above a commander. The sleeve and shoulder board insignia are similar to the Navy insignia, the Coast Guard has no staff corps officers. Like the U. S. Navy, all commanding officers of commissioned cutters are addressed as captain regardless of their actual rank, seagoing NOAA captains command certain National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration ships, while NOAA aviators command NOAA flight operations activities. USPHS rapid deployment force teams, containing 105 USPHS physicians, nurses, although it exists largely as a maritime training organization, the United States Maritime Service also uses the rank of captain. Captain DA Pamphlet 600–3, Commissioned Officer Professional Development and Career Management
10.
American Civil War
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The American Civil War was an internal conflict fought in the United States from 1861 to 1865. The Union faced secessionists in eleven Southern states grouped together as the Confederate States of America, the Union won the war, which remains the bloodiest in U. S. history. Among the 34 U. S. states in February 1861, War broke out in April 1861 when Confederates attacked the U. S. fortress of Fort Sumter. The Confederacy grew to eleven states, it claimed two more states, the Indian Territory, and the southern portions of the western territories of Arizona. The Confederacy was never recognized by the United States government nor by any foreign country. The states that remained loyal, including border states where slavery was legal, were known as the Union or the North, the war ended with the surrender of all the Confederate armies and the dissolution of the Confederate government in the spring of 1865. The war had its origin in the issue of slavery. The Confederacy collapsed and 4 million slaves were freed, but before his inauguration, seven slave states with cotton-based economies formed the Confederacy. The first six to declare secession had the highest proportions of slaves in their populations, the first seven with state legislatures to resolve for secession included split majorities for unionists Douglas and Bell in Georgia with 51% and Louisiana with 55%. Alabama had voted 46% for those unionists, Mississippi with 40%, Florida with 38%, Texas with 25%, of these, only Texas held a referendum on secession. Eight remaining slave states continued to reject calls for secession, outgoing Democratic President James Buchanan and the incoming Republicans rejected secession as illegal. Lincolns March 4,1861 inaugural address declared that his administration would not initiate a civil war, speaking directly to the Southern States, he reaffirmed, I have no purpose, directly or indirectly to interfere with the institution of slavery in the United States where it exists. I believe I have no right to do so, and I have no inclination to do so. After Confederate forces seized numerous federal forts within territory claimed by the Confederacy, efforts at compromise failed, the Confederates assumed that European countries were so dependent on King Cotton that they would intervene, but none did, and none recognized the new Confederate States of America. Hostilities began on April 12,1861, when Confederate forces fired upon Fort Sumter, while in the Western Theater the Union made significant permanent gains, in the Eastern Theater, the battle was inconclusive in 1861–62. The autumn 1862 Confederate campaigns into Maryland and Kentucky failed, dissuading British intervention, Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation, which made ending slavery a war goal. To the west, by summer 1862 the Union destroyed the Confederate river navy, then much of their western armies, the 1863 Union siege of Vicksburg split the Confederacy in two at the Mississippi River. In 1863, Robert E. Lees Confederate incursion north ended at the Battle of Gettysburg, Western successes led to Ulysses S. Grants command of all Union armies in 1864
11.
Battle of Aquia Creek
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The battle took place from May 29,1861 to June 1,1861 during the early days of the American Civil War. The Confederates set up shore batteries to block Union military and commercial vessels from moving in the Chesapeake Bay. The battery at Aquia also was intended to protect the terminal at that location. The Union forces sought to destroy or remove these batteries as part of the effort to blockade Confederate States coastal, each side inflicted little damage and no serious casualties on the other. The Union vessels were unable to dislodge the Confederates from their positions or to inflict casualties on their garrisons or serious damage to their batteries. The Confederates manning the batteries were unable to inflict casualties on the Union sailors or cause serious damage to the Union vessels. Soon after the battle, on Sunday, July 7,1861, the Confederates ultimately abandoned the batteries on March 9,1862 as they moved forces to meet the threat created by the Union Armys Peninsula Campaign. National Park Service includes this engagement in its list of 384 principal battles of the American Civil War, on April 22,1861, Governor John Letcher of Virginia gave Robert E. Lee command of Virginia State forces with the rank of major general. On April 24,1861, Major Thomas H. Williamson of the Virginia Army engineers, both the Union and Confederacy then wanted to deny use of the Potomac River to the other side. The battery also was a threat to close the navigation of the Potomac River in line with the mission to site guns to command the river. On May 10,1861, Confederate authorities appointed General Lee to command Confederate troops in Virginia, brigadier General Daniel Ruggles assumed overall command of the batteries although they remained under the immediate command of Captain Lynch at Aquia. The Confederate battery at Aquia Landing was first spotted by the USS Mount Vernon on May 14,1861, Confederate Captain Lynch reported that the Thomas Freeborn fired 14 shots and only wounded one man in the hand. The largest guns of the squadron were 32-pounders, on June 1, the Thomas Freeborn, Anacostia, Resolute, and the sloop-of-war USS Pawnee bombarded the batteries for almost 5 hours, firing over 500 rounds. Captain Lynch reported no deaths or injuries from the second and third days of shelling, only the death of a chicken, Lynch added that his works sustained some damage, houses in the rear were knocked about and the railroad was torn up in three or four places. Lynch said that he returned fire sparingly in order to save ammunition and because he could fire only when the ships came in view, nonetheless, during the fight both the Thomas Freeborn and the Pawnee took minor damage from the batteries and required repairs. No Federal sailors were wounded or killed. On June 27,1861, Commander James Harmon Ward became the first United States Navy officer killed during the American Civil War, on July 7, Confederates placed mines off Aquia Creek in the Potomac River, marking the first such use in the war. The mines were removed from the river by sailors from the Resolute
12.
Battle of Roanoke Island
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The defense was augmented by four forts facing on the water approaches to Roanoke Island, and two outlying batteries. At the time of the battle, Wise was hospitalized, so leadership fell to his second in command, during the first day of the battle, the Federal gunboats and the forts on shore engaged in a gun battle, with occasional contributions from the Mosquito Fleet. Late in the day, Burnsides soldiers went ashore unopposed, they were accompanied by six howitzers manned by sailors, as it was too late to fight, the invaders went into camp for the night. On the second day, February 8, the Union soldiers advanced but were stopped by an artillery battery, although the Confederates thought that their line was safely anchored in impenetrable swamps, they were flanked on both sides and their soldiers were driven back to refuge in the forts. The forts were taken in reverse, with no way for his men to escape, Col. Shaw surrendered to avoid pointless bloodshed. Northeastern North Carolina is dominated by its sounds, large but shallow bodies of water that lie between the mainland and the Outer Banks. Although they are all one body, intimately connected and having a water level. The largest of these is Pamlico Sound, immediately behind Hatteras Island, to its north is the second largest, Albemarle Sound, the linkage between these two, somewhat narrow, is further constricted by Roanoke Island. The portion of the waterway between Roanoke Island and the mainland is known as Croatan Sound, both the island and the sound are about ten miles long. The sound at its widest point is a more than 4 miles across. On the eastern side of the island is Roanoke Sound, much narrower, shallower, several North Carolina cities were sited on the sounds, among them New Bern, Beaufort, Edenton, and Elizabeth City. Others, not lying directly on the sounds, were accessible to the rivers that emptied into them, as much as a third of the state is in their watershed. Through most of the first year of the Civil War, the Confederate forces retained control of the sounds, the sounds were linked to Norfolk, Virginia by the Albemarle and Chesapeake Canal and the Dismal Swamp Canal. The blockade of Norfolk could not be complete so long as cargoes could reach the city through its back door, Roanoke Island was the key to control of the Sounds. If controlled by the Union forces, they would have a base that could be attacked only by an amphibious operation, if the Union established naval superiority there, all points on the mainland shores would be equally vulnerable to assault. The defense of Roanoke Island started in an accidental manner and they remained there for the next three months, making somewhat desultory efforts to expel the Union forces from Hatteras Island. Little was done to secure the position until early October, when Brig. Gen. Hill was assigned to command the defenses of North Carolina in the vicinity of the sounds. Hill set his soldiers to putting up earthworks across the center of the island, shortly after his departure, his district was split in two, the southern part was assigned to Brig. Gen. Lawrence OB
13.
Lieutenant (navy)
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Lieutenant is a commissioned officer rank in many nations navies. It is typically the most senior of junior officer ranks, the ranks insignia usually consists of two medium gold braid stripes and often the uppermost stripe features a loop or executive curl. The now immediately senior rank of lieutenant commander was formerly a naval lieutenant rank. Many navies also use a rank of sub-lieutenant. The appointment of first lieutenant in many navies is held by a senior lieutenant, a navy lieutenant ranks higher than an army lieutenant, the navy rank of lieutenant is a NATO OF-2 and ranks with an army captain. From at least 1580, the lieutenant on a ship had been the officer immediately subordinate to the captain, before the English Restoration, lieutenants were appointed by their captains, and this inevitably led to abuses and to the widespread appointment of men of insufficient qualification. In 1677, Samuel Pepys introduced the first examination for lieutenant, lieutenants were numbered by their seniority within the ship, so that a frigate would have a first lieutenant, a second lieutenant, and a third lieutenant. A first-rate ship was entitled to six, and they were numbered accordingly, as the rank structure of navies stabilised, and the ranks of commander, lieutenant commander and sub-lieutenant were introduced, the naval lieutenant today ranks with an army captain. In the United States Navy, promotion to lieutenant is governed by Department of Defense policies derived from the Defense Officer Personnel Management Act of 1980, DOPMA guidelines suggest 95% of lieutenants should be promoted to lieutenant after serving a minimum of two years at their present rank. The insignia of a lieutenant in many navies, including the Royal Navy and this pattern was copied by the United States Navy and various air forces for their equivalent ranks grades, except that the loop is removed. The first lieutenant in the Royal Navy and other Commonwealth navies, is a post or appointment, historically, the lieutenants in a ship were ranked in accordance with seniority, with the most senior being termed the first lieutenant and acting as the second-in-command. Although lieutenants are no longer numbered by seniority, the post of first lieutenant remains, the post of first lieutenant in a shore establishment carries a similar responsibility to that of the first lieutenant of a capital ship. In the US Navy or US Coast Guard, the billet of first lieutenant describes the officer in charge of the department or division. On submarines and smaller Coast Guard cutters, the billet of first lieutenant may be filled by a petty officer
14.
Midshipman
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A midshipman is an officer cadet or a commissioned officer candidate of the junior-most rank, in the Royal Navy, United States Navy, and many Commonwealth navies. Commonwealth countries which use the rank include Canada, Australia, Bangladesh, Namibia, New Zealand, South Africa, India, Pakistan, Singapore, Sri Lanka, and Kenya. Beginning in the 18th century, an officer candidate was rated as a midshipman. After serving at least three years as a midshipman or masters mate, he was eligible to take the examination for lieutenant, promotion to lieutenant was not automatic, and many midshipmen took positions as masters mates for an increase in pay and responsibility aboard ship. Midshipman began to mean an officer cadet at a naval college, trainees now spent around four years in a college and two years at sea prior to promotion to commissioned officer rank. Between the mid-19th and mid-20th centuries, time at sea declined to less than a year as the age was increased from 12 to 18. Ranks equivalent to midshipman exist in other navies. Using US midshipman or pre-fleet board UK midshipman as the basis for comparison, using post-fleet board UK midshipman for comparison, the rank would be the most junior commissioned officer in the rank structure, and similar to a US ensign in role and responsibility. Today, these ranks all refer to cadets, but historically they were selected by the monarchy. The first published use of the term midshipman was in 1662, the word derives from an area aboard a ship, amidships, but it refers either to the location where midshipmen worked on the ship, or the location where midshipmen were berthed. By the 18th century, four types of midshipman existed, midshipman, midshipman extraordinary, midshipman, by 1794, all midshipmen were considered officer candidates, and the original rating was phased out. Beginning in 1661, boys who aspired to become officers were sent by their families to serve on ships with a letter of service from the crown, and were paid at the same rate as midshipmen. Their official rating was volunteer-per-order, but they were known as Kings letter boys. Beginning in 1677, Royal Navy regulations for promotion to lieutenant required service as a midshipman, by the Napoleonic era, the regulations required at least three years of services as a midshipman or masters mate and six years of total sea time. Sea time was earned in various ways, most boys served this period at sea in any lower rating, either as a servant of one of the ships officers, a volunteer, or a seaman. By the 1730s, the rating volunteer-per-order was phased out and replaced with a system where prospective midshipmen served as servants for officers. For example, a captain was allowed four servants for every 100 men aboard his ship, the school was unpopular in the Navy, because officers enjoyed the privilege of having servants and preferred the traditional method of training officers via apprenticeship. Volunteers were paid £6 per year, by 1816, the rating of midshipman ordinary was phased out, and all apprentice officers were rated as midshipmen
15.
USS Congress (1799)
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USS Congress was a nominally rated 38-gun wooden-hulled, three-masted heavy frigate of the United States Navy. She was named by George Washington to reflect a principal of the United States Constitution, James Hackett built her in Portsmouth New Hampshire and she was launched on 15 August 1799. She was one of the six frigates whose construction the Naval Act of 1794 had authorized. Joshua Humphreys designed these frigates to be the young Navys capital ships, during the War of 1812 she made several extended length cruises in company with her sister ship President and captured, or assisted in the capture of twenty British merchant ships. At the end of 1813, due to a lack of materials to repair her, in 1815 she returned to service for the Second Barbary War and made patrols through 1816. In the 1820s she helped suppress piracy in the West Indies, made voyages to South America. Congress spent her last ten years of service as a ship until ordered broken up in 1834. In 1785 Barbary pirates, most notably from Algiers, began to seize American merchant vessels in the Mediterranean, in 1793 alone, eleven American ships were captured and their crews and stores held for ransom. To combat this problem, proposals were made for warships to protect American shipping, resulting in the Naval Act of 1794. The act provided funds to construct six frigates, but included a clause that if peace terms were agreed to with Algiers, joshua Humphreys design was unusual for the time, being long on keel and narrow of beam and mounting very heavy guns. The design called for a diagonal scantling scheme intended to restrict hogging while giving the ships extremely heavy planking and this design gave the hull a greater strength than a more lightly built frigate. Humphreys design was based on his realization that the fledgling United States of the period could not match the European states in the size of their navies and this being so, the frigates were designed to overpower other frigates with the ability to escape from a ship of the line. Congress was given her name by President George Washington after a principle of the United States Constitution and her keel was reportedly laid down late in 1795 at a shipyard in Portsmouth, New Hampshire. James Hackett was charged with her construction and Captain James Sever served as a superintendent and her construction proceeded slowly and was completely suspended when in March 1796, a peace treaty was signed with Algiers. Congress remained at the shipyard, incomplete, until relations with France deteriorated in 1798 with the start of the Quasi-War, at the request of then President John Adams, funds were approved on 16 July to complete her construction. The Naval Act of 1794 had specified 36-gun frigates, however, Congress and her sister-ship Constellation were re-rated to 38s because of their large dimensions, being 164 ft in length and 41 ft in width. The ratings by number of guns were meant only as an approximation, Ships of this era had no permanent battery of guns such as modern Navy ships carry. The guns and cannons were designed to be portable and often were exchanged between ships as situations warranted
16.
Schooner
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A schooner /ˈskuːnər/ is a type of sailing vessel with fore-and-aft sails on two or more masts, the foremast being shorter than the main and no taller than the mizzen if there is one. While the schooner was originally gaff-rigged, modern schooners typically carry a Bermuda rig, such vessels were first used by the Dutch in the 16th or 17th century. They were further developed in North America from the early 18th century, the most common type, with two masts, were popular in trades requiring speed and windward ability, such as slaving, privateering, blockade running, and offshore fishing. In the Chesapeake Bay area several distinctive schooner types evolved, including the Baltimore clipper, bugeye, schooners were also popular among pirates in the West Indies during the Golden Age of Piracy, for their speed and agility. They could also sail in shallow waters, and while being smaller than other ships of the time period. Schooners first evolved in the late 17th century from a variety of small two-masted gaff-rigged vessels used in the coast, most were working craft but some pleasure yachts with schooner rigs were built for wealthy merchants and Dutch nobility. Following the arrival of the Dutch monarch William of Orange on the British throne and this vessel, captured in a detailed Admiralty model, is the earliest fully documented schooner. Royal Transport was quickly noted for its speed and ease of handling, North American shipbuilders quickly developed a variety of schooner forms for trading, fishing and privateering. According to the language scholar Walter William Skeat, the term comes from scoon. The Dutch word schoone means nice, good looking, robinson replied, A schooner let her be. The launch is variously described as being in 1713 or 1745, naval architects such as Howard Chapelle have dismissed this invention story as a childish fable, but some language scholars feel that the legend may support a Gloucester origin of the word. Other sources state the etymology as unknown and uncertain, the first detailed definition of a schooner, describing the vessel as two-masted vessel with fore and aft gaff-rigged sails appeared in 1769 in William Falconers, Universal Dictionary of the Marine. Although a schooner may have up to four masts, the schooner has only two, with the foremast shorter than the mainmast. There may be a bowsprit to help balance the rig, the principal issue with a schooner sail plan is how to fill the space between the two masts most effectively. Traditional schooners were rigged, and the trapezoid shape of the foresail occupied the inter-mast space to good effect, with a useful sail area. A Bermuda rigged schooner typically has four sails, a mainsail, a main staysail abaft the foremast, plus a forestaysail. An advantage of the schooner is that it is easily handled and reefed by a small crew. The main staysail will not overlap the mainsail, and so little to prepare the wind for the mainsail
17.
USS Shark (1821)
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The first USS Shark was a schooner in the United States Navy. Built in the Washington Navy Yard to the designs of Henry Steers, on 11 May 1821, Matthew C. Perry was ordered to take command of Shark, and the ship was ready to receive her crew on 2 June 1821. Shark sailed from the Washington Navy Yard on 15 July for New York and she cleared New York harbor on 7 August to make her first cruise for the suppression of the slave trade and piracy. Sailing by way of the Madeira, Canary, and Cape Verde islands, she landed Dr. Ayers at Sierra Leone in west Africa in October and returned by way of the West Indies to New York on 17 January 1822. / Shark put to sea from New York on 26 February and joined Commodore James Biddles squadron for the suppression of piracy, on 25 March, Lt. Perry took formal possession of what is now Key West, Florida, in the name of the United States. He called the island Thompsons Island to honor Secretary of the Navy Smith Thompson, under orders from Commodore Biddle, Shark departed Nassau on 14 August for another cruise to the coast of Africa and returned to Norfolk, Virginia on 12 December 1822. She again sailed for the West Indies in February 1823, on 5 October, she sailed from New York carrying Commodore John Rodgers and three Navy surgeons to Thompsons Island to determine the fitness of that place as a naval base. She debarked Rodgers and his party at Norfolk on 16 November 1823 before resuming her cruise in the West Indies and she returned to New York on 13 May 1824. After repairs in the New York Navy Yard, Shark sailed from New York on 5 October 1825 and cruised in the West Indies and the Gulf of Mexico until 29 August 1826, when she arrived at Norfolk. She departed Norfolk and proceeded to the coast of Africa to protect slaves freed from captured slave ships, after seeing that the liberated slaves were safely established in Liberia, she returned by way of the Caribbean and arrived at New York on 5 July 1827. The busy schooner sailed again on 24 July for a cruise to the Newfoundland fisheries to defend American interests there and she then resumed her duty in the West Indies, which included anti-slavery and anti-piracy patrols and periodic voyages to West Africa to check the American settlements there. She cleared Gibraltar for the United States on 22 January 1838, sailing by way of the West Indies, arrived at the Norfolk Navy Yard on 24 March. Shark put to sea from Hampton Roads on 22 July 1839 for duty with the Pacific Squadron and she was the first United States man-of-war to pass through the Straits of Magellan from east to west, a feat accomplished on 13 December 1839 en route to Callao, Peru. During the next five years, she spent much of her time along the coast of Peru to protect American citizens and property during civil disturbances in that country. The Secretary of the Navy noted in 1841 that “all who witnessed the operations of the Shark were inspired with increased respect for the American flag. ”She also made infrequent cruises northward to observe conditions in Panama and to receive mail. However, her effort to recross the bar ended in disaster on 10 September, the ship was a total loss, but her entire crew was saved. Upon learning of the demise, the Royal Navy and Hudsons Bay Companys officers at Fort Vancouver immediately coordinated and dispatched a relief effort, including food, tobacco. A court of inquiry absolved Lt. Neil M. Howison of all blame for the loss of his ship, several artifacts associated with the wrecked schooner are on public display in Oregon
18.
Matthew C. Perry
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Matthew Calbraith Perry was a Commodore of the United States Navy and commanded a number of ships. He served in wars, most notably in the Mexican–American War. He played a role in the opening of Japan to the West with the Convention of Kanagawa in 1854. Perry was very concerned with the education of officers and helped develop an apprentice system that helped establish the curriculum at the United States Naval Academy. With the advent of the engine, he became a leading advocate of modernizing the US Navy. Matthew Perry was the son of Sarah Wallace and Navy Captain Christopher R. Perry, Matthew Perry received a midshipmans warrent in the Navy in 1809, and was initially assigned to the USS Revenge, under the command of his elder brother. He continued in this capacity during the War of 1812, Perry transferred to the USS United States, commanded by the legendary Stephen Decatur, and saw little fighting in the war afterwards, since the ship was trapped in port at New London, Connecticut. Following the signing of the Treaty of Ghent which ended the war, Perry served under Commodore William Bainbridge during the Second Barbary War. He then served in African waters aboard USS Cyane during its patrol off Liberia from 1819–1820, after that cruise, Perry was sent to suppress piracy and the slave trade in the West Indies. Later during this period, while in port in Russia, Perry was offered a commission in the Imperial Russian Navy, Perry commanded the USS Shark, a schooner with 12 guns, in 1821–1825. In 1763, when Britain possessed Florida, the Spanish contended that the Florida Keys were part of Cuba, in 1815 the Spanish governor in Havana deeded the island of Key West to Juan Pablo Salas of Saint Augustine. After Florida was transferred to the United States, Salas sold Key West to American businessman John W. Simonton for $2,000 in 1821. Simonton lobbied the U. S. Government to establish a base on Key West both to take advantage of its strategic location and to bring law and order to the area. On March 25,1822, Perry sailed Shark to Key West and planted the U. S. flag, Perry renamed Cayo Hueso Thompsons Island for the Secretary of the Navy Smith Thompson and the harbor Port Rodgers for the president of the Board of Navy Commissioners. From 1826 to 1827 Perry acted as captain for Commodore Rodgers. Perry returned to Charleston, South Carolina for shore duty in 1828, and in 1830 took command of a sloop-of-war and he spent the years 1833–1837 as second officer of the New York Navy Yard, gaining promotion to captain at the end of this tour. He was a member of the Masons, Perry had an ardent interest and saw the need for the naval education, supporting an apprentice system to train new seamen, and helped establish the curriculum for the United States Naval Academy. He was a proponent of modernizing the Navy
19.
David Porter (naval officer)
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David Porter was an officer in the United States Navy in the rank of captain and the honorary title of commodore. Porter commanded a number of U. S. naval ships and he saw service in the First Barbary War, the War of 1812 and in the West Indies. On July 2,1812, Porter hoisted the banner Free trade, the phrase resonated with many Americans and became a standard summary of U. S. war aims in 1812. Porter was later court martialed, he resigned and then joined, during the First Barbary War Porter was 1st lieutenant of Enterprise, New York and Philadelphia and was taken prisoner when Philadelphia ran aground in Tripoli harbor October 31,1803. After his release on June 3,1805, he remained in the Mediterranean as acting captain of USS Constitution, Porter married Evalina Anderson, and they had 10 children who survived, including six sons. One of these, David Dixon Porter, later became an admiral in the U. S. Navy, the older David Porter Sr. met and befriended another naval veteran of the Revolution, George Farragut, from Spanish Minorca. In late spring 1808, David Porter Sr. suffered sunstroke, and Farragut took him into his home, already weakened by tuberculosis, he died on June 22,1808. Elizabeth Farragut died of yellow fever the same day, motherless, the Farragut children were to be placed with friends and relatives. In 1809 he moved with Porter to Washington, where he met Secretary of the Navy Paul Hamilton, when James went to sea soon after with his adoptive father, he changed his name from James to David, and it is as David Glasgow Farragut that he is remembered. Porter served in the Quasi war with France and he was appointed a midshipman on 16 April 1798. He was assigned to the USS Constellation under the command of John Rodgers and he was promoted to lieutenant on 8 October 1799. As lieutenant he served as second in command of the schooner USS Experiment during the action of 1 January 1800 and he was promoted to master commandant on 22 April 1806 and was in charge of the naval forces at New Orleans from 1808 to 1810. With the outbreak of the War of 1812, Porter was promoted to captain on 2 July 1812 and was assigned as commander of USS Essex and he sailed out of New York harbor with the banner, Free trade and sailors rights flying from the foretopgallant mast. Captain Porter achieved fame by capturing the first British warship of the conflict, HMS Alert, in February 1813 he sailed Essex around Cape Horn and cruised the Pacific warring on British whalers. Porters first action in the Pacific was the capture of the Peruvian vessel Nereyda, over the next year, Porter would capture 12 whaleships and 360 prisoners. In June 1813, Porter released his prisoners, on the condition that they not fight against the United States until they were exchanged for American prisoners of war. Porters usual tactic was to raise British colors to allay the British captains suspicions, then once invited on board, he would reveal his true allegiance and purpose. From 1815 to 1822, he was a member of the Board of Navy Commissioners, while in the West Indies suppressing piracy, Porter invaded the town of Fajardo, Puerto Rico to avenge the jailing of an officer from his fleet
20.
West Indies
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Indigenous peoples were the first inhabitants of the West Indies. In 1492, Christopher Columbus became the first European to arrive at the islands, after the first of the voyages of Christopher Columbus to the Americas, Europeans began to use the term West Indies to distinguish the region from the East Indies of South Asia and Southeast Asia. In the late century, French, English and Dutch merchants and privateers began their operations in the Caribbean Sea, attacking Spanish and Portuguese shipping. These African slaves wrought a demographic revolution, replacing or joining with either the indigenous Caribs or the European settlers who were there as indentured servants. The Dutch, allied with the Caribs of the Orinoco would eventually carry the struggles deep into South America, first along the Orinoco and these interconnected commercial and diplomatic relations made up the Western Caribbean Zone which was in place in the early eighteenth century. In 1916, Denmark sold the Danish West Indies to the United States for US$25 million in gold, the Danish West Indies became an insular area of the US, called the United States Virgin Islands. Between 1958 and 1962, the United Kingdom re-organised all their West Indies island territories into the West Indies Federation and they hoped that the Federation would coalesce into a single, independent nation. West Indian is the term used by the U. S. government to refer to people of the West Indies. Tulane University professor Rosanne Adderly says he phrase West Indies distinguished the territories encountered by Columbus, … The term West Indies was eventually used by all European nations to describe their own acquired territories in the Americas. Despite the collapse of the Federation … the West Indies continues to field a joint cricket team for international competition, the West Indies cricket team includes participants from Guyana, which is geographically located in South America. More than Slaves and Sugar, Recent Historiography of the Trans-imperial Caribbean, a Concise History of the Caribbean. Martin, Tony, Caribbean History, From Pre-colonial Origins to the Present
21.
Mediterranean Sea
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The sea is sometimes considered a part of the Atlantic Ocean, although it is usually identified as a separate body of water. The name Mediterranean is derived from the Latin mediterraneus, meaning inland or in the middle of land and it covers an approximate area of 2.5 million km2, but its connection to the Atlantic is only 14 km wide. The Strait of Gibraltar is a strait that connects the Atlantic Ocean to the Mediterranean Sea and separates Gibraltar. In oceanography, it is called the Eurafrican Mediterranean Sea or the European Mediterranean Sea to distinguish it from mediterranean seas elsewhere. The Mediterranean Sea has a depth of 1,500 m. The sea is bordered on the north by Europe, the east by Asia and it is located between latitudes 30° and 46° N and longitudes 6° W and 36° E. Its west-east length, from the Strait of Gibraltar to the Gulf of Iskenderun, the seas average north-south length, from Croatia’s southern shore to Libya, is approximately 800 km. The Mediterranean Sea, including the Sea of Marmara, has an area of approximately 2,510,000 square km. The sea was an important route for merchants and travelers of ancient times that allowed for trade, the history of the Mediterranean region is crucial to understanding the origins and development of many modern societies. In addition, the Gaza Strip and the British Overseas Territories of Gibraltar and Akrotiri, the term Mediterranean derives from the Latin word mediterraneus, meaning amid the earth or between land, as it is between the continents of Africa, Asia and Europe. The Ancient Greek name Mesogeios, is similarly from μέσο, between + γη, land, earth) and it can be compared with the Ancient Greek name Mesopotamia, meaning between rivers. The Mediterranean Sea has historically had several names, for example, the Carthaginians called it the Syrian Sea and latter Romans commonly called it Mare Nostrum, and occasionally Mare Internum. Another name was the Sea of the Philistines, from the people inhabiting a large portion of its shores near the Israelites, the sea is also called the Great Sea in the General Prologue by Geoffrey Chaucer. In Ottoman Turkish, it has also been called Bahr-i Sefid, in Modern Hebrew, it has been called HaYam HaTikhon, the Middle Sea, reflecting the Seas name in ancient Greek, Latin, and modern languages in both Europe and the Middle East. Similarly, in Modern Arabic, it is known as al-Baḥr al-Mutawassiṭ, in Turkish, it is known as Akdeniz, the White Sea since among Turks the white colour represents the west. Several ancient civilisations were located around the Mediterranean shores, and were influenced by their proximity to the sea. It provided routes for trade, colonisation, and war, as well as food for numerous communities throughout the ages, due to the shared climate, geology, and access to the sea, cultures centered on the Mediterranean tended to have some extent of intertwined culture and history. Two of the most notable Mediterranean civilisations in classical antiquity were the Greek city states, later, when Augustus founded the Roman Empire, the Romans referred to the Mediterranean as Mare Nostrum
22.
Jordan River
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The Jordan River is a 251-kilometre -long river in the Middle East that flows roughly north to south through the Sea of Galilee and on to the Dead Sea. Israel and the West Bank border the river to the west, while the Golan Heights, both Jordan and the West Bank take their names from the river. The Jordan River has a course and a lower one. In this sense, the Jordan Valley may be separated into upper, central, over its upper course, the river drops rapidly in a 75-kilometre run to the once large and swampy Lake Hula, which is slightly above sea level. Exiting the now much diminished lake, it goes through an even steeper drop over the 25 kilometres down to the Sea of Galilee, the Jordan deposits much of the silt it is carrying within the lake, which it leaves again near its southern tip. At that point the river is situated about 210 metres below sea level, two major tributaries enter from the east during this last section, the Yarmouk River and Zarqa River. Its section north of the Sea of Galilee is within the boundaries of Israel, south of the lake, it forms the border between the Kingdom of Jordan, and Israel. The streams coming together to create the River Jordan in its basin are, west to east, Iyyon. Hasbani, a stream flows from Mount Lebanon. Dan, a stream whose source is also at the base of Mount Hermon, Banias, a stream arising from a spring at Banias at the foot of Mount Hermon. The full text of W. F. Lynchs 1849 book Narrative of the United States Expedition to the River Jordan, in 1964, Israel began operating a pumping station that diverts water from the Sea of Galilee to the National Water Carrier. Also in 1964, Jordan constructed a channel that diverted water from the Yarmouk River, another tributary of the Jordan River to the East Ghor Canal. Syria has also built reservoirs that catch the Yarmouks waters, environmentalists blame Israel, Jordan and Syria for extensive damage to the Jordan River ecosystem. In modern times, the waters are 70% to 90% used for human purposes, because of this and the high evaporation rate of the Dead Sea, as well as industrial extraction of salts through evaporation ponds, the sea is shrinking. All the shallow waters of the end of the sea have been drained in modern times and are now salt flats. A small section of the northernmost portion of the Lower Jordan, 3-kilometre below the Sea of Galilee, has been kept pristine for baptism and local tourism. Most polluted is the 100-kilometre downstream stretch—a meandering stream from above the confluence with the Yarmouk to the Dead Sea, environmentalists say the practice of letting sewage and brackish water flow into the river has almost destroyed its ecosystem. Rescuing the Jordan could take decades, according to environmentalists, the same environmentalist organization had said in a report that the Jordan River could dry up by 2011 unless the decay is stopped
23.
John Y. Mason
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John Young Mason was an American politician, diplomat, and United States federal judge. Born in Hicksford, Greensville County, Virginia, Mason attended the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where he was a member of Philanthropic Assembly. Mason graduated in 1816, and then law at Tapping Reeve Law School in Litchfield, Connecticut, to be admitted to the Southampton County, Virginia. He had a law practice in Southampton County from 1821 to 1831. He married Mary Ann Fort, the daughter of a prominent land-owner, in 1821 and became a planter himself and he owned Fortsville located near Grizzard, Sussex County, Virginia. From 1831 to 1837 served in the United States House of Representatives, during this time, he was an active supporter of most elements of Andrew Jacksons presidency, but was also a staunch advocate of states rights. Jackson approved the appointment of George H. Thomas to the U. S, military Academy in 1836 on his recommendation. Mason later served as a delegate to the Virginia constitutional convention of 1850, Mason was confirmed by the United States Senate on March 2,1841, and received his commission the following day. He resigned from the bench on March 23,1844, to take a cabinet post, the latter was an early, and ultimately unsuccessful, experiment in public-private partnership. 1831, Mason was elected to the U. S. House of Representatives with 57. 88% of the vote,1835, Mason was re-elected with 72. 13% of the vote, defeating Whig John Urquehart. He was in legal practice from 1849 to 1854 and served as president of the Virginia Constitutional Convention of 1851 and from 1853, until his death in Paris in 1859. In politics he was a typical Virginian of the old school, after his death in Paris, his remains were conveyed to the United States and interred in Hollywood Cemetery, Richmond, Virginia. USS Mason from 1920 to 1940, was named in honor of Secretary of the Navy John Y, Virginia Constitutional Convention of 1850 This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain, Chisholm, Hugh, ed. article name needed. Biographical Directory of the United States Congress, John Y. Mason at the Biographical Directory of Federal Judges, a public domain publication of the Federal Judicial Center. The Heritage and Preparation of a Statesman, John Young Mason, Virginia Magazine of History and Biography. Biographical Directory of the United States Congress
24.
Dead Sea
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The Dead Sea, is a salt lake bordered by Jordan to the east and Israel and Palestine to the west. Its surface and shores are 430.5 metres below sea level, the Dead Sea is 304 m deep, the deepest hypersaline lake in the world. With 34. 2% salinity, it is 9.6 times as salty as the ocean and this salinity makes for a harsh environment in which plants and animals cannot flourish, hence its name. The Dead Sea is 50 kilometres long and 15 kilometres wide at its widest point and it lies in the Jordan Rift Valley and its main tributary is the Jordan River. The Dead Sea has attracted visitors from around the Mediterranean basin for thousands of years and it was one of the worlds first health resorts, and it has been the supplier of a wide variety of products, from asphalt for Egyptian mummification to potash for fertilizers. People also use the salt and the minerals from the Dead Sea to create cosmetics, the Dead Sea water has a density of 1.24 kg/litre, which makes swimming similar to floating. The Dead Sea is receding at an alarming rate, multiple canals and pipelines were proposed to reduce its recession, which had begun causing many problems. The Red Sea–Dead Sea Water Conveyance project, carried out by Jordan, will provide water to neighboring countries, the first phase of the project is scheduled to begin in 2018 and be completed in 2021. In Hebrew, the Dead Sea is Yām ha-Melaḥ, meaning sea of salt, the Bible uses this term alongside two others, the Sea of the Arabah, and the Eastern Sea. The designation Dead Sea never appears in the Bible, in prose sometimes the term Yām ha-Māvet is used, due to the scarcity of aquatic life there. In Arabic the Dead Sea is called al-Bahr al-Mayyit, or less commonly baḥrᵘ lūṭᵃ, another historic name in Arabic was the Sea of Zoʼar, after a nearby town in biblical times. The Greeks called it Lake Asphaltites, the Dead Sea is an endorheic lake located in the Jordan Rift Valley, a geographic feature formed by the Dead Sea Transform. This left lateral-moving transform fault lies along the plate boundary between the African Plate and the Arabian Plate. It runs between the East Anatolian Fault zone in Turkey and the end of the Red Sea Rift offshore of the southern tip of Sinai. It is here that the Upper Jordan River/Sea of Galilee/Lower Jordan River water system comes to an end. The Jordan River is the major water source flowing into the Dead Sea, although there are small perennial springs under and around the Dead Sea, forming pools. The Mujib River, biblical Arnon, is one the larger sources of the Dead Sea other than the Jordan. The Wadi Mujib valley,420 m below the sea level in the southern of Jordan valley, is a biosphere reserve, other more substantial sources are Wadi Darajeh /Nahal Dragot, and Nahal Arugot
25.
Virginia Navy
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A Virginia State Navy existed twice. Virginia, along with the other Thirteen Colonies, was dissatisfied with the actions of Lord Dunmore. After the Gunpowder Incident in April 1775 and the news of the outbreak with the Battles of Lexington and Concord, Dunmore, fearing for his safety. There Dunmore tried to organize Loyalists in the colony to counter the rebellion, in December 1775, the provisional assembly voted to authorize the Committee of Safety to buy, arm, and man ships to prevent the royal governor from travelling over the waterways. During the next six months, the committee purchased five ships and it also commissioned its first captains, James Barron, Richard Barron, Richard Taylor, Thomas Lilly, and Edward Travis. In May 1776, the established a Navy Board to oversee naval affairs. Its ships were built across the state, but eventually became the responsibility of the shipyard on the Chickahominy River. In 1779 the Navy Board was superseded by a Board of War and this lasted only one year, however, and Virginia established a Commissioner of War, a Commercial Agent, and a Commissioner of the Navy to coordinate her military and trade activities. The fleets first commodore was John Henry Boucher, who was hired from the Maryland State Navy and his service was brief, and he was followed by Walter Brooke, and finally James Barron, who led the fleet until the end of the war. Virginia had difficulty recruiting men for her navy, due to the higher pay on privateers. The Virginia fleet primarily to patrolled the Chesapeake Bay, and was perpetually undermanned, some of the ships were used in commerce, sent on voyages to the West Indies and even Europe. Between 1775 and 1779 the fleet captured 15 prizes, but also lost several ships the same way, the British raided the shipyard at Gosport in 1779, destroying stores and several unfinished vessels. After a British fleet landed troops led by turncoat Benedict Arnold in December 1780, even so, Arnold advanced up the James River as far as Richmond. A fleet of twenty small Virginia ships and privateers pursued him, and in a one-sided engagement in April 1781, the British captured twelve were. The disaster on the James left the Virginia Navy with a single ship and she supported operations that resulted in the Siege of Yorktown later in 1781, as did three ships hired by the state. When Cornwallis was forced to surrender at Yorktown, Virginia, citing financial reasons, a few ships were fitted out in 1782 and 1783, but with the 1783 Treaty of Paris, all but two were sold. The Liberty and the Patriot were retained as revenue cutters into the late 1780s, the Liberty was one of the longest-serving ships of the Patriot cause in the war. The Provisional Navy of Virginia was established by an ordinance of the Convention of Virginia on April 27,1861, the ordinance called for the enlistment of two thousand seamen and marines to serve terms of three and four years respectively
26.
Vicksburg, Mississippi
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Vicksburg is the only city and county seat of Warren County, Mississippi, United States. It is located 234 miles northwest of New Orleans on the Mississippi and Yazoo rivers, and 40 miles due west of Jackson and it is located on the Mississippi River across from the state of Louisiana. The city has increased in population since 1900, when 14,834 people lived here, the population was 26,407 at the 2000 census. In 2010, it was designated as the city of a Micropolitan Statistical Area with a total population of 49,644. This MSA includes all of Warren County, the area which is now Vicksburg was long occupied by the Natchez Native Americans as part of their historical territory along the Mississippi. The Natchez spoke a language isolate not related to the Muskogean languages of the major tribes in the area. Before the Natchez, other cultures had occupied this strategic area for thousands of years. The first Europeans who settled the area were French colonists, who built Fort-Saint-Pierre in 1719 on the bluffs overlooking the Yazoo River at present-day Redwood. They conducted fur trading with the Natchez and others and started plantations, on 29 November 1729, the Natchez attacked the fort and plantations in and around the present-day city of Natchez. They killed several hundred settlers, including the Jesuit missionary Father Paul Du Poisson, as was the custom, they took a number of women and children as captives. The Natchez War was a disaster for French Louisiana, and the population of the Natchez District never recovered. But, aided by the Choctaw, traditional enemies of the Natchez, the French defeated and scattered the Natchez and their allies, the Choctaw Nation took over the area by right of conquest and inhabited it for several decades. Under pressure from the US government, in 1801 the Choctaw agreed to cede nearly 2,000,000 acres of land to the US under the terms of the Treaty of Fort Adams. The treaty was the first of a series that led to the removal in 1830 of most of the Choctaw to Indian Territory west of the Mississippi River. Some Choctaw remained in Mississippi, citing article XIV of the Treaty of Dancing Rabbit Creek, they became citizens of the state and they struggled to maintain their culture against the pressure of the binary slave society, which classified people as only white or black. In 1790, the Spanish founded a military outpost on the site, when the Americans took possession in 1798 following the American Revolutionary War and a treaty with Spain, they changed the name to Walnut Hills. The small village was incorporated in 1825 as Vicksburg, named after Newitt Vick and they captured and hanged five gamblers who had shot and killed a local doctor. The historian Joshua D. Rothman calls this event the deadliest outbreak of violence in the slave states between the Southampton Insurrection and the Civil War
27.
Confederate States Department of the Navy
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The Department of the Navy was the Confederate Civil Service department responsible for the administration of the affairs of the Confederate Navy and Confederate Marine Corps. It was officially established on February 21,1861, the Department of the Navy was established by an act of the Provisional Confederate Congress in Montgomery, Alabama which passed into law on February 20,1861. This act also established the position of Secretary of the Navy which was according to the act authorized to handle all related to the navies of the Confederacy. President Jefferson Davis nominated Stephen Mallory and he was confirmed by the Congress and these orders granted Bulloch a wide berth of discretion in the selection of these ships, but specified that these ships must be suitable for the commerce raiding. Furthermore, the orders specified that at least one Armstrong breech-loading rifled cannon be acquired for each vessel. Interestingly enough an amendment to this act passed on May 21,1861 granted the Department of the Navy the power to grant patents concerning armed vessels, floating batteries, the Bureau of Orders and Details was responsible for the administration of personnel affairs of the Navy. This included the postings of officers and crews to ships, recruitment for the Navy, Captain William F. Lynch was Chief of the Bureau in 1862 and Captain French Forrest in 1862 to 1863. The Bureau was led by Commander John M. Brooke from 1863 to the Civil Wars conclusion, the Confederate Torpedo Bureau was NOT part of the Navy Department. It was part of the War Department, i. e. the army, the Submarine Battery Service comprised the navys torpedo specialists. It was created 31 October 1862 and originally commanded by Commander Matthew Fontaine Maury, the Submarine Battery Service primarily utilized electrically-detonated torpedoes to protect the Souths waterways. The Bureau of Provisions and Clothing, later the Office of Provisions and Clothing, was charged with supplying ships with food, the Bureau of Medicine and Surgery was responsible for the operation of several medical facilities in Southern ports. This department was managed by William A. W. Spotswood throughout its entire extistence from April 10,1861 to April 1865, the Confederate Marine Corps was established by an act of the Provisional Congress on March 16,1861. As originally legislated the Confederate Marine Corps was to be a force of six companies. The Corps was later expanded into a regiment following an act of the Provisional Congress on May 20,1861, this was spurred on by the succession of Arkansas, North Carolina, Tennessee, the newly expanded legion was authorized to consist of 1,000 men. The first Commandant of the Corps was Colonel Llyod J. Beall who was appointed to that capacity on May 23, on June 1,1861 the Virginia Marine Corps was incorporated into the Confederate Marine Corps. In 1862, the First Confederate Congress appropriated a budget of $243,322 for the operation of the Confederate Marine Corps, Confederate States Secretary of the Navy Confederate States Navy
28.
North Carolina
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North Carolina is a state in the southeastern region of the United States. The state borders South Carolina and Georgia to the south, Tennessee to the west, Virginia to the north, North Carolina is the 28th most extensive and the 9th most populous of the U. S. states. The state is divided into 100 counties, the most populous municipality is Charlotte, which is the second largest banking center in the United States after New York City. The state has a range of elevations, from sea level on the coast to 6,684 feet at Mount Mitchell. The climate of the plains is strongly influenced by the Atlantic Ocean. Most of the falls in the humid subtropical climate zone. More than 300 miles from the coast, the western, mountainous part of the state has a highland climate. North Carolina is bordered by South Carolina on the south, Georgia on the southwest, Tennessee on the west, Virginia on the north, the United States Census Bureau places North Carolina in the South Atlantic division of the southern region. So many ships have been lost off Cape Hatteras that the area is known as the Graveyard of the Atlantic, the most famous of these is the Queen Annes Revenge, which went aground in Beaufort Inlet in 1718. The coastal plain transitions to the Piedmont region along the Atlantic Seaboard fall line, the Piedmont region of central North Carolina is the states most populous region, containing the six largest cities in the state by population. It consists of rolling countryside frequently broken by hills or low mountain ridges. The Piedmont ranges from about 300 feet in elevation in the east to about 1,500 feet in the west, the western section of the state is part of the Appalachian Mountain range. Among the subranges of the Appalachians located in the state are the Great Smoky Mountains, Blue Ridge Mountains, the Black Mountains are the highest in the eastern United States, and culminate in Mount Mitchell at 6,684 feet, the highest point east of the Mississippi River. North Carolina has 17 major river basins, the five basins west of the Blue Ridge Mountains flow to the Gulf of Mexico, while the remainder flow to the Atlantic Ocean. Of the 17 basins,11 originate within the state of North Carolina, but only four are contained entirely within the states border – the Cape Fear, the Neuse, the White Oak, and the Tar-Pamlico basin. Elevation above sea level is most responsible for temperature change across the state, the climate is also influenced by the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf Stream, especially in the coastal plain. These influences tend to cause warmer winter temperatures along the coast, the coastal plain averages around 1 inch of snow or ice annually, and in many years, there may be no snow or ice at all. North Carolina experiences severe weather in summer and winter, with summer bringing threat of hurricanes, tropical storms, heavy rain
29.
Fort Fisher
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Fort Fisher was a Confederate fort during the American Civil War. It protected the vital trading routes of the port at Wilmington, North Carolina, the fort was located on one of Cape Fear Rivers two outlets to the Atlantic Ocean on what was then known as Federal Point or Confederate Point and today is known as Pleasure Island. The strength of Fort Fisher led to its being called the Southern Gibraltar, the battle of Fort Fisher was the most decisive one of the Civil War fought in North Carolina. The city of Wilmington is located 29 miles upstream from the mouth of the Cape Fear River, during the war, Wilmington was one of the most important points of entry for supplies for the Confederacy. Its port traded cotton and tobacco in exchange for goods, like munitions, clothing. This nourished both the states in general and General Robert E. Lees forces in Virginia. Trade was based on the coming and going of steamer ships of British smugglers and these vessels were called blockade runners because they had to avoid the Unions imposed maritime barricade. Mostly, the runners came indirectly from British colonies, such as Bermuda. Often, they were forced to fly the Confederate insignia since the Union had imposed the penalty on British pirates captured in the region. After the fall of Norfolk, Virginia in May 1862, the importance of Wilmington was further increased and it became the main Confederate port on the Atlantic Ocean. Considering the Atlantic seashore, Wilmingtons defenses were so sturdy that they were surpassed by Charlestons. Wilmington resisted for a time, mainly because of Fort Fishers presence. South of Wilmington, along the Cape Fear Rivers last 20 miles, also, the channel had been purposely jammed with loads of wreckage and aquatic mines, which were called torpedoes. The Confederate officers conducted each ship cautiously through this barrier, particularly at Cape Fears outlet to the Atlantic, the area was enclosed by a half dozen Confederate positions. The river flowed to the sea through two relatively shallow inlets, which were partitioned by Smith Island now Bald Head Island, the existence of two inlets resulted in a crucial advantage, guided by the Confederates, the blockade runners were capable of avoiding the Union ships. They simply had to change course unexpectedly, alternatively between the two inlets, near the beginning of the war, the Confederacy occupied the Federal Point peninsula, which was located at an advantaged location upon Cape Fears New Inlet. The first artillery batteries were placed in the spring of 1861, Maj. Charles Pattison Bolles supervised the works. The regional command was conformed by Gen. Theophilus H. Holmes, Whiting, as chief inspector of North Carolinas defenses
30.
Richmond, Virginia
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Richmond is the capital of the Commonwealth of Virginia in the United States. It is the center of the Richmond Metropolitan Statistical Area and the Greater Richmond Region and it was incorporated in 1742, and has been an independent city since 1871. As of the 2010 census, the population was 204,214, in 2015, the population was estimated to be 220,289, the Richmond Metropolitan Area has a population of 1,260,029, the third-most populous metro in the state. Richmond is located at the line of the James River,44 miles west of Williamsburg,66 miles east of Charlottesville. Surrounded by Henrico and Chesterfield counties, the city is located at the intersections of Interstate 95 and Interstate 64, Major suburbs include Midlothian to the southwest, Glen Allen to the north and west, Short Pump to the west and Mechanicsville to the northeast. The site of Richmond had been an important village of the Powhatan Confederacy, and was settled by English colonists from Jamestown in 1609. The present city of Richmond was founded in 1737 and it became the capital of the Colony and Dominion of Virginia in 1780. During the American Civil War, Richmond served as the capital of the Confederate States of America, the city entered the 20th century with one of the worlds first successful electric streetcar systems. The Jackson Ward neighborhood is a hub of African-American commerce. Richmonds economy is driven by law, finance, and government, with federal, state. Dominion Resources and MeadWestvaco, Fortune 500 companies, are headquartered in the city, in 1737, planter William Byrd II commissioned Major William Mayo to lay out the original town grid. The settlement was laid out in April 1737, and was incorporated as a town in 1742, Richmond recovered quickly from the war, and by 1782 was once again a thriving city. A permanent home for the new government, the Virginia State Capitol building, was designed by Thomas Jefferson with the assistance of Charles-Louis Clérisseau, after the American Revolutionary War, Richmond emerged as an important industrial center. The legacy of the canal boatmen is represented by the figure in the center of the city flag, on April 17,1861, five days after the Confederate attack on Fort Sumter, the legislature voted to secede from the United States and joined the Confederacy. Official action came in May, after the Confederacy promised to move its capital to Richmond. It became the target of Union armies, especially in the campaigns of 1862. The Seven Days Battles followed in late June and early July 1862, during which Union General McClellan threatened to take Richmond, three years later, as March 1865 ended, the Confederate capitol became indefensible. On March 25, Confederate General John B, gordons desperate attack on Fort Stedman east of Petersburg failed
31.
USNS Lynch (T-AGOR-7)
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USS Lynch was a Robert D. Conrad-class oceanographic research ship that served the United States Navy from 1965 to 1994. During that period she provided valuable information and underwater test data to the U. S. Navy. The second ship to be so named by the Navy, Lynch, following MSTS acceptance, Lynch underwent shakedown training in the Gulf of Mexico. In November 1965 she proceeded to New London, Connecticut, to commence oceanographic research operations, in early 1966, AGOR-7 commenced research operations using the SPAR in the western Atlantic Ocean. The SPAR is 355 feet long and when partially flooded, acts as a measuring and retransmitting acoustic data to the research ship. Lynch continued research for the Naval Oceanographic Office, operating off the eastern seaboard from Halifax, Nova Scotia, on 23 December 1994, Lynch was struck from the Navy List and, on 29 November 2001 Lynch was sold for scrap. United States Navy This article incorporates text from the public domain Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships, the entry can be found here. NavSource Online, Service Ship Photo Archive - T-AGOR-7 Lynch
32.
Wikisource
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Wikisource is an online digital library of free content textual sources on a wiki, operated by the Wikimedia Foundation. Wikisource is the name of the project as a whole and the name for each instance of that project, the projects aims are to host all forms of free text, in many languages, and translations. Originally conceived as an archive to store useful or important historical texts, the project officially began in November 24,2003 under the name Project Sourceberg. The name Wikisource was adopted later that year and it received its own domain name seven months later, the project has come under criticism for lack of reliability but it is also cited by organisations such as the National Archives and Records Administration. The project holds works that are either in the domain or freely licensed, professionally published works or historical source documents, not vanity products. Verification was initially made offline, or by trusting the reliability of digital libraries. Now works are supported by online scans via the ProofreadPage extension, some individual Wikisources, each representing a specific language, now only allow works backed up with scans. While the bulk of its collection are texts, Wikisource as a whole hosts other media, some Wikisources allow user-generated annotations, subject to the specific policies of the Wikisource in question. Wikisources early history included several changes of name and location, the original concept for Wikisource was as storage for useful or important historical texts. These texts were intended to support Wikipedia articles, by providing evidence and original source texts. The collection was focused on important historical and cultural material. The project was originally called Project Sourceberg during its planning stages, in 2001, there was a dispute on Wikipedia regarding the addition of primary source material, leading to edit wars over their inclusion or deletion. Project Sourceberg was suggested as a solution to this, perhaps Project Sourceberg can mainly work as an interface for easily linking from Wikipedia to a Project Gutenberg file, and as an interface for people to easily submit new work to PG. Wed want to complement Project Gutenberg--how, exactly, and Jimmy Wales adding like Larry, Im interested that we think it over to see what we can add to Project Gutenberg. It seems unlikely that primary sources should in general be editable by anyone -- I mean, Shakespeare is Shakespeare, unlike our commentary on his work, the project began its activity at ps. wikipedia. org. The contributors understood the PS subdomain to mean either primary sources or Project Sourceberg, however, this resulted in Project Sourceberg occupying the subdomain of the Pashto Wikipedia. A vote on the name changed it to Wikisource on December 6,2003. Despite the change in name, the project did not move to its permanent URL until July 23,2004, since Wikisource was initially called Project Sourceberg, its first logo was a picture of an iceberg
33.
John MacGregor (sportsman)
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John MacGregor, nicknamed Rob Roy after a renowned relative, was a Scottish explorer, travel writer and philanthropist. He is generally credited with the development of the first sailing canoes and with popularising canoeing as a sport in Europe and he founded the British Royal Canoe Club in 1866 becoming its first Captain. MacGregor worked as a barrister in London, and was an accomplished artist, MacGregor was the son of General Sir Duncan MacGregor. His schooling followed his fathers postings, and he attended The Kings School in Canterbury and he graduated from Trinity College, Cambridge, having shown a talent for mathematics. His ambition to become a missionary was blocked after an argument with a superior who was a second-generation Polish immigrant, the superior argued that MacGregor losing his temper and expressing anti-Polish sentiment was unbecoming of a missionary. He then began a career in law, but being of independent means he was able to follow his passion for travel, in 1849 he spent nine months exploring southern Europe, Palestine and Egypt. He was introduced to canoeing during a trip to the United States, MacGregor was a champion marksman but turned to boating when a railroad accident left him unable to hold a rifle steady. The boat he designed was double-ended, but built in Lambeth of lapstrake oak planking and it measured 15 feet long,28 inches wide, nine inches deep and weighed 80 pounds and was designed to be used with a double-bladed paddle. He named the boat Rob Roy after the celebrated Scottish outlaw of the same name, during the 1860s, he had at least seven similar boats built and he sailed and paddled them in Europe, the Baltic and the Middle East. One of those canoes is now based at the National Maritime Museum Cornwall, the version he used for his expedition to Egypt, Syria and Palestine in 1868/69 was slightly smaller but was designed so that he could sleep in it. He was accompanied by a dragoman, Hany, and two retainers who maintained the base camps on the journey. He visited the Nile Delta, the rivers of Damascus, as well as parts of the River Jordan and he was responsible for the first scientific survey of the area. a canoe be paddled or sailed, or hauled, or carried over land or water. The book was successful, with subsequent books and public appearances. Scottish author Robert Louis Stevensons 1876 voyage by canoe through the canals and rivers of France and Belgium, published in 1878 as An Inland Voyage, London, Seeley, Jackson, and Halliday,1859. A Thousand Miles in the Rob Roy Canoe on Rivers and Lakes of Europe, London, S. Low and Marston,1866. A Thousand Miles in the Rob Roy Canoe, text, the Rob Roy in the Baltic, from Harpers New Monthly Magazine,1867. The Rob Roy on the Jordan, Nile, Red sea, & Gennesareth, London, John Murray, Albemarle Street 1874. The Voyage Alone In The Yawl Rob Roy, London, S. Low and Marston,1880
34.
International Standard Book Number
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The International Standard Book Number is a unique numeric commercial book identifier. An ISBN is assigned to each edition and variation of a book, for example, an e-book, a paperback and a hardcover edition of the same book would each have a different ISBN. The ISBN is 13 digits long if assigned on or after 1 January 2007, the method of assigning an ISBN is nation-based and varies from country to country, often depending on how large the publishing industry is within a country. The initial ISBN configuration of recognition was generated in 1967 based upon the 9-digit Standard Book Numbering created in 1966, the 10-digit ISBN format was developed by the International Organization for Standardization and was published in 1970 as international standard ISO2108. Occasionally, a book may appear without a printed ISBN if it is printed privately or the author does not follow the usual ISBN procedure, however, this can be rectified later. Another identifier, the International Standard Serial Number, identifies periodical publications such as magazines, the ISBN configuration of recognition was generated in 1967 in the United Kingdom by David Whitaker and in 1968 in the US by Emery Koltay. The 10-digit ISBN format was developed by the International Organization for Standardization and was published in 1970 as international standard ISO2108, the United Kingdom continued to use the 9-digit SBN code until 1974. The ISO on-line facility only refers back to 1978, an SBN may be converted to an ISBN by prefixing the digit 0. For example, the edition of Mr. J. G. Reeder Returns, published by Hodder in 1965, has SBN340013818 -340 indicating the publisher,01381 their serial number. This can be converted to ISBN 0-340-01381-8, the check digit does not need to be re-calculated, since 1 January 2007, ISBNs have contained 13 digits, a format that is compatible with Bookland European Article Number EAN-13s. An ISBN is assigned to each edition and variation of a book, for example, an ebook, a paperback, and a hardcover edition of the same book would each have a different ISBN. The ISBN is 13 digits long if assigned on or after 1 January 2007, a 13-digit ISBN can be separated into its parts, and when this is done it is customary to separate the parts with hyphens or spaces. Separating the parts of a 10-digit ISBN is also done with either hyphens or spaces, figuring out how to correctly separate a given ISBN number is complicated, because most of the parts do not use a fixed number of digits. ISBN issuance is country-specific, in that ISBNs are issued by the ISBN registration agency that is responsible for country or territory regardless of the publication language. Some ISBN registration agencies are based in national libraries or within ministries of culture, in other cases, the ISBN registration service is provided by organisations such as bibliographic data providers that are not government funded. In Canada, ISBNs are issued at no cost with the purpose of encouraging Canadian culture. In the United Kingdom, United States, and some countries, where the service is provided by non-government-funded organisations. Australia, ISBNs are issued by the library services agency Thorpe-Bowker
35.
World Digital Library
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The World Digital Library is an international digital library operated by UNESCO and the United States Library of Congress. It aims to expand non-English and non-western content on the Internet, the WDL opened with 1,236 items. As of late 2015, it more than 12,000 items from nearly 200 countries. After almost 20 years without participation, the United States re-established its permanent delegation to the United Nations Educational, Scientific, google Inc. became the first partner of this public–private partnership and donated $3 million to support development of the World Digital Library in 2005. Foremost was the belief that the World Digital Library should engage partners in planning the four project areas, technical architecture, selection, governance. The participants formed working groups to address the challenges of each of the four project areas. The working groups presented their findings to the larger WDL group in July 2007, findings from this planning process were presented at the thirty-fourth session of the UNESCO General Conference in October 2007 in Paris, France. In early September 2008, the Organization of American States agreed to join with the Library of Congress in developing the World Digital Library, secretary General José Miguel Insulza signed the Contributor Agreement with Librarian of Congress, Dr. James Billington, at an OAS headquarters ceremony. The World Digital Library was launched on April 21,2009 at UNESCO headquarters in Paris, the World Digital Library and Universal Access to Knowledge. Oudenaren, John Van, Beyond Access, Digitization to Preserve Culture, Library of Congress, UNESCO Oudenaren, World Digital Library In The Developing World
36.
Public domain
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The term public domain has two senses of meaning. Anything published is out in the domain in the sense that it is available to the public. Once published, news and information in books is in the public domain, in the sense of intellectual property, works in the public domain are those whose exclusive intellectual property rights have expired, have been forfeited, or are inapplicable. Examples for works not covered by copyright which are therefore in the domain, are the formulae of Newtonian physics, cooking recipes. Examples for works actively dedicated into public domain by their authors are reference implementations of algorithms, NIHs ImageJ. The term is not normally applied to situations where the creator of a work retains residual rights, as rights are country-based and vary, a work may be subject to rights in one country and be in the public domain in another. Some rights depend on registrations on a basis, and the absence of registration in a particular country, if required. Although the term public domain did not come into use until the mid-18th century, the Romans had a large proprietary rights system where they defined many things that cannot be privately owned as res nullius, res communes, res publicae and res universitatis. The term res nullius was defined as not yet appropriated. The term res communes was defined as things that could be enjoyed by mankind, such as air, sunlight. The term res publicae referred to things that were shared by all citizens, when the first early copyright law was first established in Britain with the Statute of Anne in 1710, public domain did not appear. However, similar concepts were developed by British and French jurists in the eighteenth century, instead of public domain they used terms such as publici juris or propriété publique to describe works that were not covered by copyright law. The phrase fall in the domain can be traced to mid-nineteenth century France to describe the end of copyright term. In this historical context Paul Torremans describes copyright as a coral reef of private right jutting up from the ocean of the public domain. Because copyright law is different from country to country, Pamela Samuelson has described the public domain as being different sizes at different times in different countries. According to James Boyle this definition underlines common usage of the public domain and equates the public domain to public property. However, the usage of the public domain can be more granular. Such a definition regards work in copyright as private property subject to fair use rights, the materials that compose our cultural heritage must be free for all living to use no less than matter necessary for biological survival
37.
Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships
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The Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships is the official reference work for the basic facts about ships used by the United States Navy. When the writing project was developed the parameters for this series were designed to cover only commissioned US Navy ships with assigned names, if the ship was not assigned a name it was not included in the histories written for the series. In addition to the entries, DANFS and the online links have been expanded to include appendices on small craft, histories of Confederate Navy ships. DANFS was published in print by the Naval Historical Center as bound volumes, ordered by ship name. Several volumes subsequently went out of print, in 1991 a revised Volume I Part A, covering only ship names beginning with A, was released. Work continues on revisions of the remaining volumes, volunteers at the Hazegray website undertook to transcribe the DANFS and make it available on the World Wide Web. The project goal is a transcription of the DANFS, with changes limited to correcting typographical errors. In 2008 the NHC was re-designated as the Naval History and Heritage Command and it has developed an online version of DANFS through a combination of optical character recognition and hand transcription. The NHHC is slowly updating its online DANFS to correct errors, the NHHC has begun a related project to place Ship History and Command Operations Reports online at their DANFS site. As the DANFS is a work of the U. S. government, its content is in the domain. Many websites organized by former and active members of U. S. Navy vessels include a copy of their ships DANFS entries. The Dictionary limits itself largely to basic descriptions and brief operational notes, and includes almost no analysis or historical context
38.
Integrated Authority File
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The Integrated Authority File or GND is an international authority file for the organisation of personal names, subject headings and corporate bodies from catalogues. It is used mainly for documentation in libraries and increasingly also by archives, the GND is managed by the German National Library in cooperation with various regional library networks in German-speaking Europe and other partners. The GND falls under the Creative Commons Zero license, the GND specification provides a hierarchy of high-level entities and sub-classes, useful in library classification, and an approach to unambiguous identification of single elements. It also comprises an ontology intended for knowledge representation in the semantic web, available in the RDF format
39.
National Library of Australia
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In 2012–2013, the National Library collection comprised 6,496,772 items, and an additional 15,506 metres of manuscript material. In 1901, a Commonwealth Parliamentary Library was established to serve the newly formed Federal Parliament of Australia, from its inception the Commonwealth Parliamentary Library was driven to development of a truly national collection. The present library building was opened in 1968, the building was designed by the architectural firm of Bunning and Madden. The foyer is decorated in marble, with windows by Leonard French. In 2012–2013 the Library collection comprised 6,496,772 items, the Librarys collections of Australiana have developed into the nations single most important resource of materials recording the Australian cultural heritage. Australian writers, editors and illustrators are actively sought and well represented—whether published in Australia or overseas, approximately 92. 1% of the Librarys collection has been catalogued and is discoverable through the online catalogue. The Library has digitized over 174,000 items from its collection and, the Library is a world leader in digital preservation techniques, and maintains an Internet-accessible archive of selected Australian websites called the Pandora Archive. A core Australiana collection is that of John A. Ferguson, the Library has particular collection strengths in the performing arts, including dance. The Librarys considerable collections of general overseas and rare materials, as well as world-class Asian. The print collections are further supported by extensive microform holdings, the Library also maintains the National Reserve Braille Collection. The Library has acquired a number of important Western and Asian language scholarly collections from researchers, williams Collection The Asian Collections are searchable via the National Librarys catalogue. The National Library holds a collection of pictures and manuscripts. The manuscript collection contains about 26 million separate items, covering in excess of 10,492 meters of shelf space, the collection relates predominantly to Australia, but there are also important holdings relating to Papua New Guinea, New Zealand and the Pacific. The collection also holds a number of European and Asian manuscript collections or single items have received as part of formed book collections. Examples are the papers of Alfred Deakin, Sir John Latham, Sir Keith Murdoch, Sir Hans Heysen, Sir John Monash, Vance Palmer and Nettie Palmer, A. D. Hope, Manning Clark, David Williamson, W. M. The Library has also acquired the records of many national non-governmental organisations and they include the records of the Federal Secretariats of the Liberal party, the A. L. P, the Democrats, the R. S. L. Finally, the Library holds about 37,000 reels of microfilm of manuscripts and archival records, mostly acquired overseas and predominantly of Australian, the National Librarys Pictures collection focuses on Australian people, places and events, from European exploration of the South Pacific to contemporary events. Art works and photographs are acquired primarily for their informational value, media represented in the collection include photographs, drawings, watercolours, oils, lithographs, engravings, etchings and sculpture/busts
40.
Virtual International Authority File
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The Virtual International Authority File is an international authority file. It is a joint project of national libraries and operated by the Online Computer Library Center. The project was initiated by the US Library of Congress, the German National Library, the National Library of France joined the project on October 5,2007. The project transitions to a service of the OCLC on April 4,2012, the aim is to link the national authority files to a single virtual authority file. In this file, identical records from the different data sets are linked together, a VIAF record receives a standard data number, contains the primary see and see also records from the original records, and refers to the original authority records. The data are available online and are available for research and data exchange. Reciprocal updating uses the Open Archives Initiative Protocol for Metadata Harvesting protocol, the file numbers are also being added to Wikipedia biographical articles and are incorporated into Wikidata. VIAFs clustering algorithm is run every month, as more data are added from participating libraries, clusters of authority records may coalesce or split, leading to some fluctuation in the VIAF identifier of certain authority records
United States of America
Virginia
Confederate States of America
United States Navy
Confederate States Navy.png){kind=icon}
Captain (USN)
Captain (CSN)
