CHARLES DYER, JR., PASSED MIDN, USN
Charles Dyer, Jr. '46
Loss
Charles drowned on August 23, 1850 while attempting to lend aid to a grounded schooner in Pensacola, Florida.
Other Information
From researcher Kathy Franz:
After being on the Albany, Charles was on the Mahonese in 1848 and the Water Witch in 1849. He was on the sloop of war Flirt while it was being repaired in Pensacola. A severe storm arose, and the schooner Wm. Ebbitt was in distress. Driven by the wind, she grounded near Fort Barrancas. Charles and five others were dispatched to help, but as they neared the schooner, they were notified the Ebbitt’s crew was safe on land. However, the storm increased, and after 30 minutes of rowing fruitlessly, Charles’ boat was driven among the breakers, and all perished.
Charles had married Grace Ann Starr on 8/15/1848. She married James Peck in 1859 and died in 1893. She is buried in the same cemetery as Charles as are his mother Mary Ann, who died three months after Charles was born, and his sister Mary Caroline who died at the age of 16 in 1840. Charles was the only son of Charles Dyer who was a druggist in Middletown, Connecticut.
He is buried in Connecticut.
Career
From the Naval History and Heritage Command:
Midshipman, 23 January, 1840. Passed Midshipman, 11 July, 1846. Drowned In Pensacola Bay, 23 August, 1850.
He was a part of the naval infantry that took part in the Second Battle of Tabasco, Mexico, in 1847.
The "Register of Commissioned and Warrant Officers of the United States Navy and Marine Corps" was published annually from 1815 through at least the 1970s; it provided rank, command or station, and occasionally billet until the beginning of World War II when command/station was no longer included. Scanned copies were reviewed and data entered from the mid-1840s through 1922, when more-frequent Navy Directories were available.
The Navy Directory was a publication that provided information on the command, billet, and rank of every active and retired naval officer. Single editions have been found online from January 1915 and March 1918, and then from three to six editions per year from 1923 through 1940; the final edition is from April 1941.
The entries in both series of documents are sometimes cryptic and confusing. They are often inconsistent, even within an edition, with the name of commands; this is especially true for aviation squadrons in the 1920s and early 1930s.
Alumni listed at the same command may or may not have had significant interactions; they could have shared a stateroom or workspace, stood many hours of watch together… or, especially at the larger commands, they might not have known each other at all. The information provides the opportunity to draw connections that are otherwise invisible, though, and gives a fuller view of the professional experiences of these alumni in Memorial Hall.
September 1842
January 1843
October 1843
January 1844
January 1846
January 1847
January 1848
January 1849
January 1850
Memorial Hall Error
Memorial Hall lists his rank as Master (a rank that existed until 1883 when it was replaced by Lieutenant junior grade), but there is no evidence to support this. He was a Passed Midshipman.
The "category" links below lead to lists of related Honorees; use them to explore further the service and sacrifice of alumni in Memorial Hall.
