Captain Luther Dana (Continental Navy)

Captain Luther Dana

Luther was a shipmaster, sailing from Salem, Massachusetts. The following is from the Dana Memoir by James Dana, p 23. "In his voyages, Captain Dana was fond of collecting objects of interest in Natural history; many valuable specimens in conchology and were presented by him to the Marine Museum of Salem, Massachusetts"

On pg. 24 of this Memoir an amazing story is related about Luther catching a baby that was thrown to him by the child's mother who thought she would drown as the vessel she was on had collided with Capt. Dana's ship. Mother and baby were reunited. (Dana)

He entered the U.S. Navy as Midshipman in 1780, and is believed to have continued in that service until the close of the War of the Revolution. He served in the "Hague" frigate, among others, under Captain John Manley, U.S. Navy. He, on account of the Service aforesaid, which was continued to his widow until her death in 1843. The foregoing is obtained from family records and traditions.

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He was a direct descendant in the sixth generation from Richard Dana, a Huguenot, who came to this country from England and settled in Cambridge in 1640. In May 1782, Luther Dana entered the naval service as an acting midshipman on the frigate Dean (whose name was afterwards changed to the Hague)--the first frigate of this nation--and served thereon until the close of the war of the revolution. She sailed from Boston under command of Samuel Nicholson and after his suspension, under that of John Manly.

In December 1792 Luther Dana was appointed midshipman. Among the many prizes of the Hague was the British ship Baille, of twenty guns and a full complement of men. Luther Dana was sent in charge of this prize to Boston. During the short war with France and that with Tripoli, Capt. Dana commanded privateers and had many sharp contests.

Being in the Mediterranean in 1798, in command of a ship of eighteen guns, he saw the French fleet at anchor in Aboukir bay, and falling in with the fleet of Lord Nelson a day or two after he went on board the flagship and was able to give information which enabled Nelson to attack and destroy the fleet.

Capt. Dana was married to Lucy Giddings, who was a descendant in the sixth generation from John Robinson, of the band of Pilgrims who founded Plymouth. Their three sons were: James Freeman, Samuel Luther, both of whom became eminent chemists, and Nathaniel Giddings, who was a graduate at the U.S. Military Academy in 1814 and died as as a Captian 1st regiment U.S. artillery.

Capt. Luther Dana died at Fort Preble, near Portland, Maine, in 1832. (The National Cyclopaedia of American Biography, Volume X, 1920)