86 HEREDITY AND DEVELOPMENT OF NAVAL OFFICERS. 



21. ANDREW HULL FOOTE. 



ANDREW HULL FOOTE was born at New Haven, Connecticut, September 12, 

 1806. He was a lively boy, indisposed to study or routine of any kind, and, though 

 he had no bad traits, he loved freedom and fun. He led his brothers in pranks. 

 Once, as a young lad, while crossing a field with his younger brother, Augustus, 

 who was dressed in a red frock, he encountered an excited ram, which charged 

 on the red frock. Andrew bravely threw himself in the way and received the shock 

 of the ram, and this he did several times, until they had reached the fence in 

 safety. He was ready to fight on occasion. At one time as a lad he entered a 

 shoemaker's shop in the winter and neglected to close the door. One of the 

 workmen ordered him peremptorily to shut the door. Not liking the tone of the 

 order, Andrew refused to shut the door unless asked civilly. The workman replied 

 that if he did not shut the door he would thrash him; Andrew, now aroused, 

 knocked the workman down. "As a boy he was full of fun and frolic, a real boy, 

 but he was genial, kind, and popular." 



At Cheshire Academy he was not a good student, but was noted for his 

 amiability and tact in getting out of the difficulties which his frolicsome dispo- 

 sition plunged him into. He early declared his intention of going to sea. His 

 father compromised by entering him at West Point, but a few months later, at 16, 

 he was transferred to the navy. 



His first service in the navy was on the schooner Grampus, which was sent 

 to exterminate the pirates around the West Indies. In March 1824 he started 

 for the Pacific Ocean and served there for two years on the frigate United States, 

 the flagship of Commodore Isaac Hull. During this voyage, at the age of about 

 18 years, he became "converted." He was commissioned lieutenant in May 

 1830 and cruised for some years in the Mediterranean. In 1837 he was assigned 

 to the East India squadron and circumnavigated the globe in the John Adams. 

 While at Honolulu he was a leading spirit in preparing and publishing a letter 

 which corrected unfortunate misjudgments concerning American missionaries and 

 maintained the principle that American missionaries everywhere are under the 

 protection of the American flag. 



In 1841 he was appointed to the Naval Asylum in Philadelphia and shortly 

 after was put in full charge. At that time the asylum combined the functions 

 of hospital and school and was the parent of the Naval Academy at Annapolis. 

 Lieutenant Foote directed the care and education of the midshipmen. He also 

 introduced the reform of no grog for the old seamen and supplied them all with 

 Bibles. Foote was now sent in the brig Perry to the coast of Africa, to suppress 

 the slave trade. Here he filled a difficult position with energy and clearheadedness. 

 His relations with the English slave-ship hunters were cordial, but he could not 

 consent to permit the British commander to board any vessel flying an American 

 flag except on his own responsibility. In this he showed much diplomatic skill 

 and secured British adherence to his main contention. His largest capture was 

 the slaver Martha, whose captain denied having papers, but, on an examination 

 of something floating near by, the captain's desk was discovered with information 

 that resulted in the captain and crew going in irons to New York, where the ship 

 was condemned as a slaver. She had planned to carry 1,800 slaves. The loss of 

 the Martha, and slightly later of the slaver Chatsworth, did much to check the slave- 

 trade. During four years ashore (1852-1856), Foote wrote a book, "Africa and 



