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Captain Coffin and His Interesting Career GEORGE WILLIAM COFFIN was born at Nantucket, Mass., De cember 23, 1845, son of Francis C. and Emeline (Wyer) Coffin. Tristram Coffin, his first paternal American ancestor, was one of the first settlers of Nantucket. The descent from him and his wife Dionis Stevens being through James and Mary (Severance) Cof fin; John and Hope (Gardner) Coffin; Richard and Ruth (Bunker) Coffin, the grandparents of George William Coffin. Entering the U. S. Naval Academy in 1860 he was graduated and commissioned an ensign in 1863 and assigned to the steam sloop Ticonderoga of the North Atlantic blockading squadron in which he served until the end of the Civil War, participating in all actions in which that vessel took part. He was severely wounded in the land assault on Fort Fisher, North Carolina, but continued in command of his men until the blue-jackets were withdrawn. For conspicuous bravery on this occasion he was especially commended in dispatches, and by a special act of Con gress, was advanced 30 numbers in grade. He was promoted to master and lieutenant in 1866, to lieutenant commander in 1868, to Commander in 1878, and to captain in 1893. After the Civil War he served in the Shawmut on the Brazil ian station 1866-67, in the Franklin, Admiral Farragut's flagship on the Mediterranean station 1867-68, and at the U. S. Naval Academy 1868-69. In 1870 he was made Chief of Staff of the North Atlantic Fleet. He commanded several ships both on the east and west coasts and in foreign waters. In 1884 he answered the request of the Navy Department to volunteer for the relief expedition under Admiral Winfield Scott Schley to go to the Arctic in search of Lieutenant Adolphus W. Greely and his party. He was placed in command of the Alert, lent to the U. S. Government by Queen Victoria, one of the three vessels to make up the expedition. The exigencies of this com mand required him at one period to spend twenty-two hours in the crow's nest look-out and the leg which had sustained the wound during the Civil War became frost-bitten. This was a source of continued trouble to him and was a partial reason for his eventual retirement. In 1886 he was again on duty in the Mediterranean and upon his return was made Chief of the Lighthouse Division which was then under the Navy. Upon the death of his wife he requested a return to sea duty. In 1895 he took the cruiser Charleston, to the Pacific, making official records of the waters of Manila Bay. These were filed with the Navy Department and given to Ad miral Dewey and used by him (together with a personal letter
