134 HISTORICAL SKETCH OF THE 



many years as shown by his exertions in its behalf when in distant regions, entitles him to 

 respectful notice in these pages. That he died by the hands of the enemy makes it all the 

 more a duty to render a tribute to his memory. 



Joseph P. Couthouy was born in Boston, January 6, 1808. He was educated at one of 

 the schools in the town, and when yet a lad, made a voyage in his father's ship. His 

 tastes leading him to prefer a sea life, he applied himself to the calling he had chosen, and 

 became, when old enough, the captain of a vessel. 



He early developed a love for science, and had jjrogressed in his studies to such an 

 extent that when the American Exploring Expedition was organized under command of 

 Lieutenant Wilkes, he was ajspointed one of the scientific corps to accompany it, his spe- 

 cialty being that of Conchology. The expedition sailed from Hampton Roads, Aug. 18th, 

 1838, and, although the state of his health obliged him eventually to abandon his share 

 of the enterprise at the .Samoan Islands, yet he had already made very valuable collec- 

 tions of shells and illustrated his numerous notes and descriptions concerning the many 

 species obtained, with drawings and colorings which would have been of invaluable assist- 

 ance to Dr. A. A. Gould, who subsequently published the elaborate report on the shells 

 secured by the expedition, had not these papers been in some unexplained way lost or 

 destroyed when the cases containing the specimens were unpacked after arrival. 



Captain Couthouy afterwards went to South America and the islands of the Pacific 

 Ocean, making numberless valuable observations on the natural history of the countries 

 which he visited. 



In the year 1854, he was engaged to take command of- an expedition to the Bay of 

 Cumana, for the purpose of exploring for the wreck of the Spanish man-of-war San Pedro, 

 lost there nearly half a century previously, which was supposed to have had a great amount 

 of treasure on board. After three years spent in an unsuccessful search for this, the vessel 

 returned to the United States, and was lost in a violent snow storm on Cape Cod, the crew 

 being saved with the greatest difficulty. 



When the war of the rebellion broke out. Captain Couthouy offered his services to the 

 government. They were at once accepted, and he was placed in command of the U. S. 

 barque "Kingfisher," in which he was actively engaged against the enemy. Being trans- 

 ferred to the command of the U. S. steamer " Columbia," he joined the blockading 

 squadron of the South Atlantic, and upon his vessel being wrecked in a storm at Mason- 

 boro Inlet, he was captured and sent as a prisoner of war to Salisbury, where he remained 

 three months. After being exchanged he was placed in command of the monitor "Osage" 

 of the Mississippi river squadron under Admiral Porter, and subsequently, being transferred 

 to the " ChiUicothe " of the same squadron, was ordered up the Red River. In this expe- 

 dition he met his death. On the 3d of April his ship was engaged with a laro-e body of 

 rebel troops on the shore. Captain Couthouy was on deck directing the fire of his guns, 

 when a rebel sharp-shooter on the bank fired at and mortally wounded him. He died the 

 next day, universally regretted by officers and men, and by no one more than the 

 Admiral, who, in a letter to the Secretary of the Navy, bore witness to his zealous, patri- 

 otic and estimable character. 



Captain Couthouy was a man of rare and varied ability. He was a fine linguist, and 

 spoke with great elegance the Spanish, French, Italian and Portuguese lanoua'^^-es ' An 



