SYLVANUS J. BLISS, PASSED MIDN, USN

Sylvanus Bliss '47

Date of birth: October 22, 1825

Age: 28

Loss

Sylvanus was lost sometime after September 21, 1854 when USS Porpoise (1836) disappeared between Formosa and China.

Other Information

From researcher Kathy Franz:

Sylvanus was on the African Squadron for 18 months when he requested a leave in December 1846. Three months later, he reported to the Scorpion. In 1848 he was sick while at the Naval Academy. In August 1849, he was in the Gulf during the Mexican War and became sick. He served on the Supply from November 1849 through 1851. From April through October 1852, he was on the surveying steamer Hetzel. In November, Sylvanus wrote that he was ready for the surveying expedition under Commander Ringgold destined for the Bering Strait, the North Pacific and the China Seas.

He was born in Brookfield, Massachusetts and appointed to the Naval Academy from that state. His mother was Mary, his father was Jesse.

He has a memory marker in Massachusetts.

Career

From the Naval History and Heritage Command:

Midshipman, 19 October, 1841. Passed Midshipman, 10 August, 1847. Acting Master, 11 December, 1852. Lost in Brig Porpoise. Last intelligence from ship, 21 September, 1854.

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.