"drafred for rhe US Sr[eame]r 'Iroquois."' This eighr-year old sloop-of war was a veteran of rhe mass ive, world-wide search for rhe Confederate raider Shenandoah in rhe waning days of rhe Civil War. Early in 1867, she was being added ro rhe Asiatic Squadron , charged wirh opening more Japanese porrs ro foreign commerce. For rhe rhree-year cruise, Falkinburg would be assigned ro rh e Hospital Department as a nurse-rh e second lowesr-paid raring above cabin boy. The winter rhar Falkinburg reported aboard rhe Iroquois was birrerly cold. From his ship anchored in rhe Navy Yard, he could see "large masses of ice floaring dow n rhe river." One afternoon, borh rhe Iroquois and rhe Vermont were frozen in-once he was even able ro walk back to his old ship. On 29 January, rhe crew undertook one of a warship's more dangerous rasks. "In the afternoon all fires and lighrs were pur our; rhe amm unition boar came alongside and we took on our load of shell and powder." Two days larer, she weighed anchor and pur to sea, bound for Japan. "Today, ar lasr, after six months of waiting .. .I left rhe Navy Yard .... Ar six bells both anchors were fished and we started down rhe Easr River." As rhey made for rhe open sea, the firsr pangs of seas ickness were upon him. " [I] was oblivious to everyrhing excepr rhe facr that I was very sea sick. Among orher things I forgot rhar it was my birthday and rhar I was nineteen years of age." The Iroquois was builr in the New York Navy Yard in 1859. She was rigged as a rhree-mas ted barque and equipped with auxiliary steam power. At 1,016 rons, she measured nearly 199 feet in lengrh, 33 feet 10 inches on rhe beam, and drew 13 feet of warer. Falkinburg nored rhat she was "pierced for ren guns, bur only carr [ied] four nine-inch guns, one one-hundred pounder rifled Parror pivor gun, and one sixry-pounder rifled and a crew of abour a hundred and fifry men." Th e Iroquois was built for speed more rhan fire power. She could make eleven knors when rhe wind and her power plant held up. The captain once gor her up to 15 knots in a sriff breeze off rhe wind, bur engine failure and shaft/propeller problems were more rypical for rhis single-screw ship. Such problems would prompt the captain ro rinker constantly wirh the balance berween sream and sail: "D ecember l sr. Ar about rwo o'clock rhe rod of the feed pump ro the main engine broke and for a rime disabled rhe engine, so we ser all sail and altered our course, bur rhe engine soon being in running order we furled everyrhing and srood on our original course under sream." Using borh sreamand wind power, the Iroquois headed so urh, and John Falkinburg's iniriarion inro shipboard life began. H e was srill seasick when he witnessed one of rhe age-old rragedies of rhe sea: A man names James Harry belon ging ro rhe U.S. Srr. "Wyoming" while performing some du ry on rhe rop gallanr forecasrle was swepr overboard. This ship was broughr ro , the life buoy casr adrift and rhe life boat lowered, but he was drown ed before assistance could reach him.
SEA HTSTORY 124, AUTUMN 2008
Falkinburg recovered from his seas ickness by his fourrh day ar sea. Ten days out from New York, he experienced his firsr violent srorm: In rhe afternoon a violenr storm arose and we wore ship and stood off to rhe Norrh East. Got up sream bur owing ro some derangemenr of rhe propeller could nor use rhe engines. During rhe srorm rhe life boar was washed away and lost. Toward evening rhe gale subsided . Two weeks ar sea: "divin e service was held, prayers being read by rhe first lieurenant, Lieut. Co m. Mahan ." Thar was none other than Lieurenant Commander Alfred Thayer Mahan, who would ulrimarely become a celebrated naval historian and aurhor of rhe enormously influential volum es, The Influence of Sea Power upon History. Mahan's experience onboard undoubredly gave him val uable firsr hand knowledge of life on a navy ship, bur his USS Iroquois cruise in USS Iroquois convinced him rhar his calling was nor on rhe decks of ships but rather in strategizing what ro do with rhem . Orher than commanding officers and the accused ar courts martial, few names appear in Falkinburg's journal-so we mighr assume thar Lieurenant Commander Mahan made somerhing of an impress ion on his young shipmate. Eighreen days our: rhe ship dropped anchor off Pointe-a-Pitre, Guadeloupe. The French Caribbean island held no arrracrion for Falkinburg, despite "the tropical fruits ro be had in great quantity and ar prices that ro a Northerner seem wonderfully cheap." As rhe ship conrinued ro work its way sourh, some members of rhe crew found co nditions ashore more rempring. By rhe time rhey reached Brazil, he remarked rhar "large bounties are being offered here for recruirs, fifteen hundred for rhe army and eleven hundred for rh e navy all in gold. The English vessels in rhe harbor are short of hands, most of their crews having deserted ." The call of gold and rhe lure of rhe tropics provided more remprarion than Falkinburg's shipm ates could wirhsrand. On rhe nighr of22 March, four crewmen deserted; rhe nexr nighr, anorher. One of rhe crew, already in irons for rrying ro desert ar Guadeloupe, slipped his shackles and escaped wirh a shipmate. Desertions wo uld conrinue ro plague rhe ship, bur rhe problem seems ro have been foreseen by irs commanders . Supernumeraries had signed onboard in N ew York. They were nor normally involved in rhe operation of rhe vessel, bur rhey co uld expecr ro be called upon as the forces of arrririon-desertion, disease, and dearh- reduced rhe ship's company during her rhreeyea r voyage. The ship also recruited along rhe way. On 21 June, ar Cape Town, Falkinburg nored rhar: "We are enlisring men nearly every day here, ro replace rhose who have deserted." On several occasions, Falkinburg nored a facr rhar mighr explain rheir high rare of desertion- rhe high proportion of nonAmericans in the crew of a US Navy warship. By rhe rime rhe Iroquois reached Nagasaki, Falkinburg would nore rhar:
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