Captain Samuel Nicholson,
The fourth senior commanding officer of the American Navy.

Samuel Nicholson was a brother of James, the second senior officer of the American navy, and was born in Maryland in 1743, and died in command of the navy-yard at Charlestown, Massachusetts, December 11, 1811. He was a lieutenant on board the " Bonhomme Richard" in the action with the "Serapis," September 25, 1779. He also commanded the "Dolphin," 10, the cutter that the commissioners sent with Captain Wickes in his successful cruise in the narrow seas, and was commissioned a captain, September 17, 1779, in the Continental navy before the action between the "Serapis" and "Bonhomme Richard."

In 1779 he commanded the frigate "Deane," of 32 guns, in which he cruised successfully in company with the " Boston," Captain SamuelTucker, taking many prizes, and partaking equally in the captures made. In 1782, in a short cruise of nine weeks, he captured three sloops-of-war, with an aggregate of 48 guns, viz., the ship "Regulator," 18; the brig "Swallow," 16; and schooner "Jackal 1," 14. He also captured the unarmed ship " Mary."

He was commissioned a captain in the United States navy, to rank next below Captain John Barry, on the reorganization of the navy, June 10, 1794, and from his seniority was appointed the first commander of the United States frigate "Constitution" soon after her launch.

The " Constitution" was built at what is now known as Constitution Wharf, in Boston, opposite the present navy-yard at Charlestown. Commodore Samuel Nicholson was then the general superintendent of her construction, the present navy-yard at Charlestown not having been purchased. September 20, 1797, was announced as the day of her launch, and Commodore Nicholson left Hart's ship-yard, where she was on the stocks, with express orders not to hoist any flag over her until his return, intending that honor for his own hands. He was doomed, however, to disappointment. During his absence Samuel Bentley, a shipwright and calker, assisted by a comrade named Harris, hoisted the "Stars and Stripes," which thus for the first time floated over this historic ship. Commodore Nicholson on his return expressed himself in words more strong than polite on this disobedience of his orders. The "Constitution" stuck on the ways, and was not successfully launched until October 21, 1797, the three hundred and fifth anniversary of the discovery of the New World by Columbus, when Commodore Nicholson broke over her bow a bottle of choice Madeira from the cellar of the Hon. Thomas Russell, and baptized her as the good ship " Constitution."

In July and August, 1798, Commodore Nicholson was in command of the " Constitution" on her first sea cruise, with four revenue cutters in company, with orders to cruise south of Cape Henry, and in 179899, in command of her, she was one of the squadron commanded by Commodore John Barry in the West Indies, which rendezvoused in Prince Rupert's Bay.

Commodore Samuel Nicholson was the first commandant of the Boston navy-yard. A portrait of him, in the possession of a descendant in New York, has been recently photographed, and completes a collection of the commandants of the Boston navy-yard from 1800-1885.

Commodore Samuel Nicholson died on the 29th of December, 1811, having been in command of the Cliarlestown, or Boston, navy-yard since its purchase in October, 1800. He was buried from the commandant's house (which was built under his superintendence), January 2, 1812, with the usual honors, in the presence of the officers of the army and navy stationed or living in the vicinity, the Massachusetts Society of the Cincinnati, of which he was a member, the officers and members of King Solomon's Lodge of Free and Accepted Masons, and the several lodges in Boston in full regalia. At the time of his death he was sixty-nine years of age. He was buried under Christ Church, on Copp's Hill, in Boston.

During his administration the appropriations for the Boston navyyard had been scanty, and only such improvements undertaken as were essential. The commandant's house, a brick store-house, still standing at the left of the entrance to the yard, a marine barracks, a hospital, since converted into officers' quarters, at the lower end of the yard, and a powder-magazine (long since removed), occupied jointly by the War and Navy Departments, and a wharf with a few temporary sheds were all the improvements that had been accomplished. The vacancy occasioned by Commodore Nicholson's death was not filled until March, 1812, when Commodore William Bainbridge was appointed his successor. The commandant of a navy-yard who had held that office for eleven consecutive years, in these times of triennial change, would be looked upon as a curiosity.

In the list of officers of the navy before the peace establishment law of 1801 was passed, Captain John Barry headed the list, and Samuel Nicholson was second. On the death of Barry, September 13, 1803, he became the senior officer of the United States navy, and continued to hold that position until his death, in December, 1811.

Geo. Henry Preble,
Rear-Admiral U.S.N.

From the Google Book - The United Service, Volume 12, Lewis R. Hamersly & Company, 1885.