Tunis Augustus Macdonough Craven (11 January 1813 – 5 August 1864) was an officer in the United States Navy

United States Navy

The United States Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the seven uniformed services of the United States. The U.S. Navy is the largest in the world; its battle fleet tonnage is greater than that of the next 13 largest navies combined. The U.S...

.

His career included service in the Mexican-American War and the Civil War

American Civil War

The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...

.

Early Life

Tunis Augustus Macdonough Craven was born in Portsmouth, N. H., January 11, 1813. He was the youngest son of Tunis Craven, a Naval Storekeeper, stationed at the Portsmouth Yard, and his wife, Hannah Tingey, daughter of Commodore Thomas Tingey

Thomas Tingey

Thomas Tingey was a Commodore of the United States Navy.-History:Tingey was born in London on 11 September 1750. As a youth, he served in the British Navy commanding a blockhouse at Chateaux Bay on the Labrador coast. He later commanded merchant vessels in the West Indies before coming to the...

, a longtime commandant of the Washington Navy Yard. His brother, Thomas Tingey Craven would also join the navy, rising to the rank of rear admiral, while another brother, Alfred Wingate Craven (1810–1879), became a noted civil engineer.

In his youth he attended the Columbia College Grammar School in New York, his father having removed his family to Brooklyn, when ordered to duty in the New York Yard. February 2, 1829, Craven was appointed an acting midshipman from New York (warranted November 18, 1831), and was attached to the Boston and St. Louis.

U.S. Navy Service

Promoted to Passed Midshipman in September, 1835, he was on duty in connection with the Coast Survey almost continually until 1843, nearly two years after his promotion to Lieutenant, in September, 1841. In 1838 he married Miss Mary Carter, a member of one of the oldest and most influential families on Long Island, who died in 1843, leaving three children. The same year Lieutenant Craven was ordered to the receiving ship at New York, where he remained until ordered to the Dale in May, 1846. In the meantime he had married again and removed from Brooklyn to Bound Brook, N. J. His second wife was Miss Marie L. Stevenson, of Baltimore, Md., by whom he had three children.

After his return from the Dale he was employed on Coast Survey duty, with the exception of a year (1850) at the Naval Observatory, till 1859. Most of this time he commanded the steamer USS Corwin, but in October, 1857, went in the Varina in command of the Atrato Expedition, which was for the purpose of surveying a route for a proposed ship canal through Isthmus of Darien

Isthmus of Panama

The Isthmus of Panama, also historically known as the Isthmus of Darien, is the narrow strip of land that lies between the Caribbean Sea and the Pacific Ocean, linking North and South America. It contains the country of Panama and the Panama Canal...

 (now called Panama) by way of the Atrato

Atrato

Atrato is a municipality and town in the Chocó Department near the Pacific Ocean, Colombia.-References:...

 River.

In 1859 Lieutenant Craven was ordered to the command of the steamer Mohawk

USS Mohawk (1853)

The second USS Mohawk was a screw steamship in the United States Navy.Mohawk was built as Caledonia by Teas & Birely, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; launched 11 June 1853; chartered by the Navy 13 September 1858; and entered service soon after, Commander Augustus L. Case in command.Mohawk sailed at...

, Home Squadron, in which he captured two slavers; in 1860 he saved the crew of the Bella, a foundering Spanish vessel, for which he was given a gold medal and diploma by Queen Isabella II

Isabella II of Spain

Isabella II was the only female monarch of Spain in modern times. She came to the throne as an infant, but her succession was disputed by the Carlists, who refused to recognise a female sovereign, leading to the Carlist Wars. After a troubled reign, she was deposed in the Glorious Revolution of...

. About the same time the New York Board of Underwriters presented Mrs. Craven with a handsome silver service for efficient services rendered to merchant vessels at sea by her husband.

In 1861 Lieutenant Craven was ordered to command the Crusader, Home Squadron, but was shortly after promoted to Commander and ordered to command the Tuscarora

USS Tuscarora (1861)

The first USS Tuscarora was a sloop of war in the United States Navy during the American Civil War.Tuscarora was laid down on 27 June 1861 at Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, by Merrick & Sons; launched on 24 August 1861; sponsored by Miss Margaret Lardner; and commissioned on 5 December 1861, Commander...

, special service. The Tuscarora went to England with orders to report to the U. S. Minister, Mr. Adams. While in Southampton the Confederate steamer Nashville

CSS Nashville (1861)

Originally a United States Mail Service ship, the USMS Nashville, was a brig-rigged, side-paddle-wheel passenger steamer built at Greenpoint, Brooklyn in 1853. Between 1853 and 1861 she was engaged in running between New York City and Charleston, South Carolina...

 came in; but upon her leaving, the Tuscarora was unable to follow until the expiration of twenty-four hours, when, giving up the chase, Commander Craven went to the Mediterranean, where he succeeded in watching the CSS Sumter

CSS Sumter

CSS Sumter, a 473-ton bark-rigged screw steam cruiser, was built as the merchant steamship Habana at Philadelphia in 1859 for McConnell's New Orleans & Havana Line. Purchased by the Confederate Government at New Orleans in April 1861, she was converted to a cruiser and placed under the command of...

 so closely that her officers and crew finally deserted the ship at Gibraltar.

The Tuscarora was ordered home in 1863, and Commander Craven was detached and ordered to command the Tecumseh

USS Tecumseh (1863)

The first USS Tecumseh was an iron-hulled, single-turret monitor in the United States Navy during the American Civil War.Tecumseh was launched on 12 September 1863 at Jersey City, New Jersey, by Secor and Company,of New York City; and was commissioned at the New York Navy Yard on 19 April 1864,...

, then building at Secor's yard, Jersey City. In the following spring the Tecumseh left New York and joined the squadron of Admiral Lee in the James River.

Death at Battle of Mobile Bay

Shortly after, the Tecumseh was sent to join Admiral Farragut's

David Farragut

David Glasgow Farragut was a flag officer of the United States Navy during the American Civil War. He was the first rear admiral, vice admiral, and admiral in the United States Navy. He is remembered in popular culture for his order at the Battle of Mobile Bay, usually paraphrased: "Damn the...

 fleet in the projected attack on Mobile

Battle of Mobile Bay

The Battle of Mobile Bay of August 5, 1864, was an engagement of the American Civil War in which a Federal fleet commanded by Rear Adm. David G. Farragut, assisted by a contingent of soldiers, attacked a smaller Confederate fleet led by Adm...

. The position of Commander Craven in the attack, which took place August 5th, was at the head of the column of monitors which was on the starboard hand of the wooden vessels between them and Fort Morgan. Admiral Farragut in his reports states: "The attacking fleet steamed steadily up the main ship channel, the Tecumseh firing the first shot at forty-seven minutes past six o'clock. At six minutes past seven the fort opened on us, and was replied to by a gun from the USS Brooklyn, and immediately after the action became general. It was soon apparent that there was some difficulty ahead. The Brooklyn

USS Brooklyn (1858)

USS Brooklyn was a sloop-of-war authorized by the U.S. Congress and commissioned in 1859. Brooklyn was active in Caribbean operations until the start of the American Civil War at which time she became an active participant in the Union blockade of the Confederate States of America.With her one...

, for some cause which I did not then clearly understand, but which has since been explained by Captain Alden

James Alden, Jr.

James Alden, Jr. was a Rear Admiral in the United States Navy.-Early career:Alden was born in Portland, Maine, and was a direct descendant of John Alden, a Mayflower pilgrim...

in his report, arrested the advance of the whole fleet, while at the same time the guns of the fort were playing with great effect upon that vessel and the Hartford. A moment after I saw the Tecumseh, struck by a torpedo, disappear almost instantaneously beneath the waves, carrying with her her gallant commander and nearly all her crew." Thus perished, in his fiftieth year, one of the brightest and bravest officers in the naval service. The captain and the pilot were in the conning tower directly over the turret, whence there was no escape save through a narrow opening. Upon reaching this Commander Craven turned to the pilot and said, "You first, sir." The pilot, John Collins, escaped, and, as he related, the vessel sank under him, carrying her crew of one hundred and sixteen in all, save himself and the few that were able to escape through the port holes. A buoy in Mobile Bay marks the spot where the Tecumseh lies.

Tribute

The English poet Henry Newbolt immortalized Commander Tunis sacrifice in "Craven"
(from The Project Gutenberg EBook of Collected Poems 1897 - 1907, by Henry Newbolt

Craven

(Mobile Bay, 1864)

Over the turret, shut in his iron-clad tower,

Craven was conning his ship through smoke and flame;

Gun to gun he had battered the fort for an hour,

Now was the time for a charge to end the game.



There lay the narrowing channel, smooth and grim,

A hundred deaths beneath it, and never a sign;

There lay the enemy's ships, and sink or swim

The flag was flying, and he was head of the line.



The fleet behind was jamming; the monitor hung

Beating the stream; the roar for a moment hushed,

Craven spoke to the pilot; slow she swung;

Again he spoke, and right for the foe she rushed.



Into the narrowing channel, between the shore

And the sunk torpedoes lying in treacherous rank;

She turned but a yard too short; a muffled roar,

A mountainous wave, and she rolled, righted, and sank.



Over the manhole, up in the iron-clad tower,

Pilot and Captain met as they turned to fly:

The hundredth part of a moment seemed an hour,

For one could pass to be saved, and one must die.



They stood like men in a dream: Craven spoke,

Spoke as he lived and fought, with a Captain's pride,

"After you, Pilot." The pilot woke,

Down the ladder he went, and Craven died.



All men praise the deed and the manner, but we---

We set it apart from the pride that stoops to the proud,

The strength that is supple to serve the strong and free,

The grace of the empty hands and promises loud:



Sidney thirsting, a humbler need to slake,

Nelson waiting his turn for the surgeon's hand,

Lucas crushed with chains for a comrade's sake,

Outram coveting right before command:



These were paladins, these were Craven's peers,

These with him shall be crowned in story and song,

Crowned with the glitter of steel and the glimmer of tears,

Princes of courtesy, merciful, proud, and strong.