FREDERICK H. W. JACKSON, LTJG, USN

Frederick Jackson '21

Date of birth: September 25, 1897

Date of death: October 8, 1925

Age: 28

Lucky Bag

From the 1921 Lucky Bag:

Frederick Huntington Wolcott Jackson

Glen Ridge, New Jersey

"Fred" "Ghoul" "Jack"

JACK prepped until that life grew monotonous and then he decided to let the Navy use him. Jack is so old that he can't remember when he moved from New Jersey to the United States.

He is not the exception to the rule governing ministers' sons. Ask him about the time he tried to convert a hot air heater into a steam plant, the result of which was that Buck's War college had to suspend operations for a time. He is also a military man. With his commands of "Column left halt!" and "Squads halt march!" he inaugurated a drill system of his own. First Class cruise on the "Razor Strap" he brought the Skipper out of the emergency cabin on the double when he passed the word "Release all prisoners."

Jack knows how to make a liberty as it should be made. He is a bridge artist and this coupled with his good-natured rhinoism made him a happy companion on the cruise.

Jack has ability, but like the rest of the common horde, his mind is not inclined to text books. He is a connoisseur of good poetry and can recite any of the old Saxon favorites.

Not knowing his 3rd name we called it Worthless. We know however that he is a good man and we like him.

Buzzard (1).

The Class of 1921 was the last of the wartime-accelerated classes. "1921A" was graduated on June 3, 1920; the second half, "1921B", was graduated on June 2, 1921. Frederick was graduated with 1921B.

Frederick Huntington Wolcott Jackson

Glen Ridge, New Jersey

"Fred" "Ghoul" "Jack"

JACK prepped until that life grew monotonous and then he decided to let the Navy use him. Jack is so old that he can't remember when he moved from New Jersey to the United States.

He is not the exception to the rule governing ministers' sons. Ask him about the time he tried to convert a hot air heater into a steam plant, the result of which was that Buck's War college had to suspend operations for a time. He is also a military man. With his commands of "Column left halt!" and "Squads halt march!" he inaugurated a drill system of his own. First Class cruise on the "Razor Strap" he brought the Skipper out of the emergency cabin on the double when he passed the word "Release all prisoners."

Jack knows how to make a liberty as it should be made. He is a bridge artist and this coupled with his good-natured rhinoism made him a happy companion on the cruise.

Jack has ability, but like the rest of the common horde, his mind is not inclined to text books. He is a connoisseur of good poetry and can recite any of the old Saxon favorites.

Not knowing his 3rd name we called it Worthless. We know however that he is a good man and we like him.

Buzzard (1).

The Class of 1921 was the last of the wartime-accelerated classes. "1921A" was graduated on June 3, 1920; the second half, "1921B", was graduated on June 2, 1921. Frederick was graduated with 1921B.

Loss

Frederick was lost on October 8, 1925 when he drowned following a fall from USS Hannibal (AG 1) while that ship was in the Philadelphia Navy Yard. He struck his head on the pier during the fall.

He had been aboard since his graduation.

Other Information

From researcher Kathy Franz:

Frederick was appointed first alternate to the Naval Academy by Representative Lehlbach in May, 1917.
His father was a reverend and theological professor.

From the Montclair News, October 14, 1925, via researcher Kathy Franz:

“Officers and enlisted men from his ship attended the funeral services Sunday afternoon for Lieutenant Frederick Huntington Wolcott Jackson, U. S. N., at the home of his parents, Rev. and Mrs. Frederick Wolcott Jackson, No. 107 Clark Street, Glen Ridge. Six sailors were the pallbearers. Rev. James Farr, associate pastor of the Brick Church, New York, officiated.
Lieutenant Jackson drowned Thursday night at the Philadelphia Navy Yard when he slipped from the gang plank of the survey ship “Hannibal.” Officers and enlisted men jumped overboard to his rescue, but when the body was brought to the surface cuts and bruises indicated he had struck his head on the mooring boom. Artificial respiration and other methods at the naval hospital failed to restore him to consciousness.
He was a grandson of the late Frederick W. Jackson, for many years an officer of the Pennsylvania Railroad, and Nannie Nye Jackson, life-long residents of Newark. At the time of the earthquake in Japan in 1923, he was attached to the “Tracy,” flagship of the destroyer division at the Asiatic station, which with other boats engaged for three weeks in relief work in Yokohama. The previous autumn he had been assigned to duty at Che-Fu, China, where his father had been appointed thirty years before to do missionary work.”

Frederick is buried in New Jersey.

Navy Directories & Officer Registers

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.