TROMP TUCKER. 211 



in consequence of his gallantry in action with the English fleet off Leghorn, one 

 of which (the Phcenix) he boarded and took after a severe fight, and the rest of 

 which he helped defeat in a bloody battle. He was impetuous, even rash, and not 

 always amenable to discipline. 



BIBLIOGRAPHY. 

 LIEFDE, JACOB DE. The Great Dutch Admirals. London: H. S. King & Co. 351 pp. 



66. JOHN RANDOLPH TUCKER. 



JOHN RANDOLPH TUCKER l was born at Alexandria, Virginia, January 31, 

 1812. He was educated in the schools of his native city. He early showed a 

 longing for the sea and entered the United States navy as midshipman at 15 years 

 of age. He passed some years in the Mediterranean station, and was made lieu- 

 tenant in 1837. He entered the Mexican war on the Stromboli, a bomb-brig, 

 and at its close was lieutenant commander. After additional service in the Medi- 

 terranean he was made commander of the Pennsylvania, a receiving ship at Nor- 

 folk, and was ordnance officer at the New York navy yard when Virginia seceded. 

 He thereupon became a commander in the Confederate navy and was given charge 

 of the Patrick Henry, a paddle-wheel steamer, partly protected by iron plates. 

 He took part in the naval battle in Hampton Roads when the Merrimac (Virginia) 

 rammed and sank the Cumberland. After the retreat up the James, the guns 

 of the Patrick Henry were placed on Drury's Bluff and used to drive off the Federal 

 ironclad fleet that essayed to pass it. At Charleston, South Carolina, Tucker 

 kept the Federal fleet from attacking the city and helped repulse the attack on 

 Fort Sumter. After the evacuation of Charleston, Tucker went to Richmond 

 and did not leave until he saw the city evacuated. After the war he was offered 

 (in 1866) the command of the Peruvian fleet as rear admiral, accepted it, and 

 commanded the fleets of Peru and Chile in their war with Spain. As president 

 of the Peruvian Hydrographical Commission of the Amazon, he explored the 

 upper courses of that river, coming twice to the United States for light-draft 

 steamers. Again he returned to the States to publish his maps, but, as Peru was 

 now financially unable to pay for the work, Tucker went to Petersburg, Virginia, 

 where he died, hi 1883, of heart disease. 



His family history has not been well worked out. His father, John Tucker, 

 came to Virginia from Bermuda, and his mother's father, Dr. Charles Douglas, 

 from England. 



1 Rochelle, J. H. 1903. The Life of Rear Admiral John Randolph Tucker. Washington: 

 The Neale Publishing Co. 112 pp. 



