CHARLES C. BAYARD, PASSED MIDN, USN
Charles Bayard '47
Loss
Charles died on February 10, 1850 at Naples, Italy, of wounds received the night before from an eruption of Mt. Vesuvius. (The Officer Register of 1851 gives date as February 19.)
Other Information
From researcher Kathy Franz:
On December 9, 1841, Charles graduated from his naval studies. He accepted his appointment to the frigate U. S. Congress in a letter dated April 6, 1842. According to newspaper and naval reports and letters, in July 1842, Charles was on the U.S. Frigate Congress bound for the Mediterranean. In January 1843, they were in Genoa, Italy. On March 1844, Charles was on the U.S. Frigate Congress at Rio de Janeiro, and in April 1845, he was sent to the Columbus. In early 1847, he was on the Brig Bainbridge, and in October 1847, he was on the U.S. Frigate Columbia. However, on November 1, 1847, he reported to the Naval School. In 1848 he was assigned to the Razee Independence. His pay at that time was $397.60 with rations $73. In October 1848, Charles reported to the Navy Yard in Philadelphia and then reported in June 1849 to the U.S. Steam Frigate Mississippi, the flagship of Commodore Charles W. Morgan. It sailed to the Mediterranean Station.
Charles father was Richard, brother was Richard, and sisters were Caroline and Sarah. Charles’ mother was Mary Sophia (Carroll) Bayard. Her grandfather Charles Carroll of Carrollton was a signer of the Declaration of Independence. Charles’ cousin Daniel Carroll of Duddington donated land for the Capitol in Washington, D. C. Mary Sophia’s father was Charles Carroll Jr. of Homewood (1775-1825) who married Harriet Chew (1775-1861.)
In the 1830 census, Charles was under 5. In the 1840 census, Charles was 10-15 years old, and brother Richard 5-10 years old. In the 1850 census, brother Richard was 19 and sister Caroline 25.
From researcher Kathy Franz: "The following does contain errors. Charles died in 1850 not 1853 – and according to some reports, his arm was amputated before he died. The Commander was Morgan, not Morris."
From the Evening Star, Washington D.C., March 20, 1886, as first reported by the Philadelphia Times:
The subject of presentiment concerning death and fatality in families spoken of in Hancock case recalls some sad points in the Bayard history. Few families have been more depleted by sudden death than the Bayards, and in many instances there have been forewarnings and presentiments. It is said that Miss Bayard wrote a letter indicating her approaching death.There are now in Washington many old naval officers who remember the interesting circumstances attending the death of Miss Bayard’s cousin, Charles C. Bayard, at Mount Vesuvius. He was the favorite son of Richard Bayard, of Philadelphia, whose father and Secretary Bayard’s father were brothers. In 1843 while on board the United States ship Congress, in company with several young friends from on board, he made the ascent of Mount Vesuvius. It was the same Congress that went down in Hampton Roads before the Merrimac [March 8, 1862] and in the party was the same Joseph Smith who, as commander of the Congress, had his head taken off by a cannon ball and of who his father said, when he heard that the Congress was taken: “Then Joe is dead.” In the party also was Lehman B. Ashmead, of Philadelphia, with whom young Bayard afterward went to Jerusalem to visit the Holy Sepulchre. While there they both had tattooed on their arms by an old dragoman the heraldic arms of Jerusalem with the date of their visit. In the case of young Bayard, the tattooed cross developed virulent features, fettered and finally he became sick and the arm became greatly swollen. He continually declared that he would die and even after it appeared to grow entirely well he was in the habit of saying to Mr. Ashmead and other friends: “This arm will be the death of me yet.” Ten years afterward young Bayard left for a cruise in the Columbia as flag lieutenant of Commander Morris. Before leaving he took a sad farewell of all his friends here and declared to one and all that “they would never see him again.” He was very dejected and despondent. Ten years to a day from his previous visit, the company with young Carroll Tucker, of Maryland, and a few friends, the Columbia being then at Naples, he made the ascent of Vesuvius during an eruption. With him were Rear Admiral Simpson and Rear Admiral Colhoun, who were then lieutenants. He had the arm of a Prussian army officer. He was quite gay. Just near the Hermitage, where he had halted ten years before, the party stopped, finding it would be dangerous to go nearer the crater. As they were turning, a mass of lava and rock struck young Bayard on the arm where he had been tattooed, cutting it fearfully and obliterating the cross, and before the party could reach the foot of the volcano he died. His mother is still living, upwards of ninety years of age. His body is buried near the foot of Vesuvius.
He was born in, and appointed to the Naval Academy from, Delaware.
Letter Home
From Spared & Shared:
This letter was written by Charles Carroll Bayard (1828-1850) a junior midshipman in the US Navy who sailed aboard the frigate Congress from Portsmouth, New Hampshire on the 15th July bound for the Mediterranean. The ship was captained by Philip Falkerson Voorhees and one of the Lieutenants was David Dixon Porter. Another junior midshipman on the same voyage was John Henry Upshur.
Bayard provides an interesting description of the wreck of the 3200-ton steam frigate Missouri that exploded and burned to the waters edge in August 1843 — less than two months earlier — which he called a “very melancholy sight.” The vessel came to rest in 41 feet of water in Gibraltar Bay and hampered navigation so severely that the United States was asked to remove it. They agreed to do so but it took more than a decade to get the bay cleared of the wreckage. Bayard describes the Navy’s first attempts to dive on the wreckage and retrieve the iron.
Bayard wrote the letter on the eve of their departure from Gibraltar in December 1843 to join Commodore Daniel Turner’s Brazil Squadron blockading Montevideo in safeguarding American trade during Uruguayan Civil War. He wrote the letter to his parents, U.S. Senator Richard Henry Bayard (1796-1868) and Mary Sophia Carroll (1804-1896). Richard H. Bayard was a lawyer and politician from Wilmington, in New Castle County, Delaware. He was a member of the Whig Party, who served as the first Mayor of Wilmington, Chief Justice of the Delaware Superior Court, and as U.S. Senator from Delaware.
TRANSCRIPTION
Addressed to Hon. Richard H. Bayard, Wilmington Delaware, (Forwarded to Washington City, D. C.)December 21st 1843
My dear Mother
I send you a few lines which I shall commit to the care of the American Consul & he will send them to you by the first opportunity, for by this time tomorrow we shall be bounding over the deep blue billow on our way to the Brazil’s. We arrived here at 10 o’clock last Friday. It was blowing very hard & everything seemed to go wrong for we nearly run down several small vessels in the dark. At last we managed to let go our anchor & get every thing snug. But we had not long resigned ourselves to the arms of Morpheus before we were roused out to clear ourselves from a Barque which had run foul of us. In about an hour we got clear and ere not disturbed any more that night.
I have visited the wreck of the Missouri. It is a very melancholy sight. She is burnt down to the water’s edge so the only thing we can do is to raise all the machinery & the other iron work that remains & sell it to the best advantage. For this purpose, they have employed a diver for $25 a day who goes down & makes tackles fast to everything he finds. They are then swayed up into a Schooner hired for the purpose & sold to the best advantage. The diver wears an oil cloth suit & has a large helmet on his head from which there goes a hose connected to an air pump through which they pump air to him continuously.
I was amused the other day when the Captain & some others were at the wreck. There came on a violent shower. The diver was under the water hammering at some tanks. When it was over he came up perfectly dry while we were wringing wet. It seems odd, does it not.
The U.S.S. Cumberland arrived here yesterday on her way to relieve the Delaware & as she will go home shortly, I send you two boxes containing a few little gifts by Mr. Maddox & Miss Rogers. I am afraid, my dear mother, you find that I am deteriorating rather than improving in my composition but the fact is I have so few opportunities of writing & am so hurried that you must not expect much from me. So pleading this for my excuse, I say good night with my love to all. Bye the bye, I forgot to say that we will probably be home in July, so once more good night & pleasant dreams.
Your affectionate son, — Charles C. Bayard
Career
From the Naval History and Heritage Command:
Midshipman, 9 December, 1841. Passed Midshipman, 10 August, 1847. Died 19 February, 1850.
Memorial Hall Error
Charles' loss does not meet the criteria for inclusion in Memorial Hall.
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