Captain Winslow and executive officer on board the USS KEARSARGE

Images(2)

Captain Winslow and executive officer on board the USS KEARSARGE

Datec 1864

Object number00016597

NamePhotograph

MediumBlack and white photographic print on paper.

DimensionsOverall: 78 x 65 mm, 0.1 kg

ClassificationsPhotographs

Credit LineANMM Collection Purchased with USA Bicentennial Gift funds

Terms

DescriptionTintype in a decorated Union case of Captain Winslow and his executive officer aboard USS KEARSARGE. The ship and crew scored an important victory in the American Civil War over CSS ALABAMA, and due to this achievement, a succession of ships in the US Navy have been named KEARSARGE in its honour.HistoryUSS KEARSARGE, first launched in 1861, is renowned for sinking the Confederate raider CSS ALABAMA during the American Civil War (1861-1865) on 19 June 1864. In the years following the war, KEARSARGE served in the south Pacific, operating out of Valparaiso, Chile. In 1869 it sailed to watch over American interests in the Samoan and Fijian Islands. It called into Sydney Harbour and New Zealand before returning to Callao, Peru on 31 October 1869. KEARSARGE was decommissioned and recommissioned numerous times over the next 30 years by the US Navy. However, it eventually struck a reef off the coast of Central America in 1894 and was unable to be saved. These postage sized tintypes were produced by cutting up a repeatedly exposed plate with tin shears. Tintypes were cheap, mass produced photographic images that became fashionable during the American Civil War as the photographic technology was being used to record war for the first time.SignificanceThis photograph represents the American navy in the nineteenth century and the increasing popularity of photography.