Harry Adams (naval officer)
Harry Adams (* 1876 in New York City ; † unknown) was an American naval officer and polar traveler. He was an officer on board the expedition ships Eleanor Bolling and City of New York and went to the Antarctic as a member of Richard E. Byrd's first Antarctic expedition .
Life
Adams was born in New York City in 1876 to Scottish-English parents. Many of his ancestors were seafarers.
Adams entered the United States Navy and eventually rose to the rank of lieutenant . There he served during the Spanish-American War and the First World War . Among other things, he served on board the USS New Orleans during the sinking of the USS Merrimac off Santiago de Cuba , on board the USS Oklahoma and commanded the minesweeper USS Curlew . Until his retirement he served on more than 30 different ships of all sizes and types.
In 1909, Adams set a diving record at 288 feet (88 meters). Shortly thereafter, he published an article about it for The World Wide Magazine . A new diving record of 304 feet (93 meters) was later set by one of his students during salvage work on the USS F-4 submarine .
In 1928 he was hired as a third officer (Third Mate) on the Eleanor Bolling , one of the two ships that Richard Byrd had acquired for his first Antarctic expedition. The Bolling left New York on September 16, 1928. Off the east coast of the United States, the ship was caught in a storm that almost sank it. About Panama and Tahiti which reached Bolling Dunedin in New Zealand , where Adams to the larger of the two expedition ships, the sailing ship City of New York has been transferred. The City of New York crossed the Antarctic pack ice belt and reached the Ross Ice Shelf on Christmas 1928 , where the Little America expedition camp was set up near the Bay of Whales . In February 1929 the ship made its way back to New Zealand to spend the winter there. Since Byrd's previous first mate Sverre Strom had been chosen to winter in Little America, Adams became the ship's new first mate. In his later published book, Beyond the Barrier with Byrd , Adams describes his voyage aboard the City of New York back to the Bay of Whales in February 1930 to bring the expedition home to New York. On the other hand, both Byrd in his book Little America and Eugene Rodgers in Beyond the Barrier (with reference to recordings of radio transmissions from the ships) mention Adams on this part of the expedition as the second officer of the Eleanor Bolling .
Adams and the other expedition members were celebrated in New York. New York hosted a confetti parade and the expedition members were welcomed by Mayor Jimmy Walker . On June 30, 1930, Adams was honored with Byrd and the other expedition members in the White House by President Herbert Hoover .
After returning from the expedition, Adams toured the United States on a lengthy and successful lecture tour covering the trip to Antarctica. In addition, Adams became captain of the City of New York , which was converted into an exhibition ship. In 1932 he published the book Beyond the Barrier with Byrd about the expedition.
In 1935 he went with his son Harry Adams, Jr and other men on the schooner Pilgrim on a two-month treasure hunt in the Caribbean. There they looked for sunken ships with valuable cargo, but on their return to New York they found only a few finds other than the experience they had gained. Another trip to the Caribbean was announced for November of the same year.
In the course of his career he was u. a. awarded various awards for valor in rescue operations. For his participation in Byrd's expedition, he received the Congress Gold Medal of Honor in 1930 .
In addition to his job at sea, he also dealt with electrics. He held 27 patents, most of them on electrical devices.
Adams had at least one son, Harry Adams, Jr. (* approx. 1907), who lived in Bethlehem , Pennsylvania .
Works
- Facing a Slow Death Under the Sea , in The Wide World Magazine
- Beyond the Barrier with Byrd . MA Donohue & Company, New York 1932.
source
- Lieut. Harry Adams USN: Beyond the Barrier with Byrd . MA Donohue & Company, New York 1932, LCCN 32-030764 .
Individual evidence
- ^ A b Richard E. Byrd : Little America . 2nd Edition. GP Putnam's Sons , New York 1930, LCCN 31-026036 , p. 414-415 .
- ^ Eugene Rodgers: Beyond the Barrier: The Story of Byrd's first Expedition to Antarctica . 1st edition. United States Naval Institute, Annapolis 1990, ISBN 0-87021-022-X , pp. 237 .
- ↑ Member Of Byrd's Crew Anxiously Await Next Trip . In: Meriden Record . August 16, 1932, p. 12 ( Google News ).
- ↑ a b Treasure Ship Minus Gold: Will Seek Millions Again . In: The Gettysburg Times . June 29, 1935, p. 2 ( Google News ).
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Adams, Harry |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | American naval officer and polar traveler |
| DATE OF BIRTH | 1876 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | New York City , United States of America |
| DATE OF DEATH | 20th century |