| Nipsic Crew Stories | ||||
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The data here is generally gleaned from published sources. In one or two instances, personal descendants have e-mailed with data. In all cases, the information presented here is given in good faith but should not be considered as factual. If you have any data, and especally images, of USS Nipsic's crew and you would like to share this with the world, or at least, those interested in the Samoa Hurricane, please feel free to e-mail me. The images are from The American Naval Historical Centre Site unless attributed elsewhere.
Commander Dennis W. Mullan, USN (184?-1928)  Dennis W. Mullan was born in Maryland, probably in the early 1840s. He was appointed to the U.S. Naval Academy from Kentucky in September 1860 and graduated in 1863, receiving the rank of Ensign in October 1863. For most of the rest of the Civil War he served in the screw sloop Monongahela in the West Gulf Blockading Squadron, taking part in operations along the Texas coast and in the August 1864 Battle of Mobile Bay. In 1865, he served in the North Atlantic Blockading Squadron on board USS Malvern. Promoted to the rank of Master in November 1865, Mullan served on the Pacific Station in 1865-67 in the gunboat Mohongo and in the cruiser De Soto in the Atlantic in 1867-68. During this time he advanced in rank to Lieutenant and Lieutenant Commander.During 1868-1871, Lieutenant Commander Mullan was assigned to the gunboat Monocacy in the Far East, where he participated in the 1871 assaults on Korean fortifications. After service at the Mare Island Navy Yard, he returned to Asian waters in 1873-76 in the gunboat Saco. He was Executive Officer of the gunboat Adams in the Pacific during 1879-1881 and served as an observer during the War of the Pacific between Chile and Peru. During the mid-1880s, Commander Mullan received torpedo instruction, then commanded a force of monitors stationed on the James River, Virginia. In 1887, he became Commanding Officer of the gunboat Nipsic, taking her around South America on an eventful cruise that climaxed with the Samoan Hurricane. Commander Mullan served as a Lighthouse Inspector from 1891 into 1894, then commanded the screw sloops Marion and Mohican in the Pacific until 1896. He was in charge of the Navy Yard at Pensacola, Florida, in 1896-97 and retired from active duty in July 1901. Commander Dennis W. Mullan died at Annapolis, Maryland, on 17 December 1928. Commander Mullan has been singled out in certain sources (e.g. Hoyt in "The Typhoon that Stopped a War") as having failed to perform to the highest traditions of the US Navy, and many of his crew as being a thoroughly disagreeable lot. For more details, please refer to the link to USS Nipsic. I think it is important to record that Mullan played a very difficult role in the months leading up to the crisis; before he had any support from Kimberly, he was the sole American military representative in an old, underpowered vessel with a difficult crew and an extremely belligerent consul (the 'hawk' Mr. Leary, eventually replaced by the much more diplomatic Blacklock) facing off against vastly superior German forces - and he performed the dual roles of tough militarist and sensitive diplomat in a tense situation extremely well. Details courtesy of Naval Historical Centre. HOME SAMOA STORY WILLIAM ISAAC THORNDALE SCARAMOUCHE |
