John Mercer Brooke
Encyclopedia
John Mercer Brooke was an American sailor
, engineer
, scientist
, and educator. He was instrumental in the creation of the Transatlantic Cable
, and was a noted marine and military innovator.
. He was related to Congressman John Francis Mercer
. His father was an army officer, General George Mercer Brooke, who died in San Antonio, Texas
. He was a kinsman of General Dabney Herndon Maury as well as the three men being related to Virginia governor Robert Brooke (Virginia)
.
Brooke graduated from one of the earliest classes of the United States Naval Academy
and became a lieutenant
in the United States Navy
in 1855. He worked for many years with Commander Matthew Fontaine Maury
in the United States Naval Observatory
(USNO), charting the stars as well as assisting in taking soundings of the ocean's bottom to determine the shape of the bottom. Many believed the sea floor was flat but attempted soundings of the past in blue water (deep sea) as far as eleven miles (18 km) could not find the ocean bottom. Part of this was due to powerful under currents far below, rivers in the ocean traveling in various directions. In the struggles with soundings, which nobody had done anything of value at great depths it was after Maury's failure with a unique device he invented that gave Brooke an idea of taking deep sea soundings. Brooke perfected a "deep sea sounding device" which was always used afterwards by navies of the world until modern times and modern equipment replaced it. Working together on this project of many trials, Maury wanted to add a sea floor "core sampling device" which Brooke was able to invent.
The outcome was a cannonball with a hollow tube through the center of it—a tube coated with tallow on the inside and other experimental materials until the right coating was decided so as not to contaminate the samples of the sea floor brought up several miles. Studying this sea floor material with his microscope, Maury saw something that fascinated him. For further examination and a professional opinion (in Maury's own words)
wrote to Maury of the USNO on the feasibility of laying a transatlantic cable and was given a positive reply and later details explanation face to face. Cyrus Field also contacted Samuel Morse regarding the feasibility of transmitting an electric current a distance of 1600 miles (2,574.9 km) underwater. Again, Field was given an affirmative and soon visited Morse. Cyrus Field continued contacting these two men, Maury and Morse, gathering all possible information and offered them shares in his great adventure that would become a reality in 1858 when the Queen of the United Kingdom spoke to President Buchanan through the transatlantic cable.
Had it not been for Brooke's deep sea and core sampling device, the world would have had to wait on charting the floors of the undersea world and would not have had the undersea trans-atlantic cable for generations to come.
.
He was also instrumental in the development of a new rifled gun for the Navy that became known as the Brooke Gun.
In 1861, Brooke resigned from the U.S. Navy to join the Confederate Navy. He was involved in the conversion of the frigate USS Merrimack
into the ironclad CSS Virginia
. In 1862, he was promoted to commander, and in 1863, to Chief of the Confederate Navy's Bureau of Ordnance and Hydrography, until the end of the war. He was instrumental in the organization and establishment of the Confederate States Naval Academy.
After the war, he became a professor at the Virginia Military Institute
, at Lexington, Virginia
. He retired in Lexington in 1899. He died there in 1906.
John Mercer Brooke married:
John Mercer Brooke and Catherine Carter "Kate" Corbin-Pendelton-Brooke are buried beside each other in the Stonewall Jackson Cemetery, Lexington, VA
Sailor
A sailor, mariner, or seaman is a person who navigates water-borne vessels or assists in their operation, maintenance, or service. The term can apply to professional mariners, military personnel, and recreational sailors as well as a plethora of other uses...
, engineer
Engineer
An engineer is a professional practitioner of engineering, concerned with applying scientific knowledge, mathematics and ingenuity to develop solutions for technical problems. Engineers design materials, structures, machines and systems while considering the limitations imposed by practicality,...
, scientist
Scientist
A scientist in a broad sense is one engaging in a systematic activity to acquire knowledge. In a more restricted sense, a scientist is an individual who uses the scientific method. The person may be an expert in one or more areas of science. This article focuses on the more restricted use of the word...
, and educator. He was instrumental in the creation of the Transatlantic Cable
Transatlantic cable
Transatlantic cable may refer to:* Transatlantic telegraph cable* Transatlantic telephone cable* Other transatlantic submarine communications cable...
, and was a noted marine and military innovator.
Early life and career
John M. Brooke was born in FloridaFlorida
Florida is a state in the southeastern United States, located on the nation's Atlantic and Gulf coasts. It is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the north by Alabama and Georgia and to the east by the Atlantic Ocean. With a population of 18,801,310 as measured by the 2010 census, it...
. He was related to Congressman John Francis Mercer
John Francis Mercer
John Francis Mercer was an American lawyer, planter, and politician from Virginia and Maryland. Born in 1759 in Marlborough, Stafford County, Virginia, to John Mercer and Ann Roy Mercer, he graduated from the College of William and Mary in 1775 and was a delegate for Virginia to the Continental...
. His father was an army officer, General George Mercer Brooke, who died in San Antonio, Texas
San Antonio, Texas
San Antonio is the seventh-largest city in the United States of America and the second-largest city within the state of Texas, with a population of 1.33 million. Located in the American Southwest and the south–central part of Texas, the city serves as the seat of Bexar County. In 2011,...
. He was a kinsman of General Dabney Herndon Maury as well as the three men being related to Virginia governor Robert Brooke (Virginia)
Robert Brooke (Virginia)
Robert Brooke was the son of Richard Brooke, and grandson of Robert Brooke, a skilled surveyor, who had been one of Lt. Governor Alexander Spotswood's "Knights of the Golden Horseshoe Expedition"...
.
Brooke graduated from one of the earliest classes of the United States Naval Academy
United States Naval Academy
The United States Naval Academy is a four-year coeducational federal service academy located in Annapolis, Maryland, United States...
and became a lieutenant
Lieutenant
A lieutenant is a junior commissioned officer in many nations' armed forces. Typically, the rank of lieutenant in naval usage, while still a junior officer rank, is senior to the army rank...
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...
in 1855. He worked for many years with Commander Matthew Fontaine Maury
Matthew Fontaine Maury
Matthew Fontaine Maury , United States Navy was an American astronomer, historian, oceanographer, meteorologist, cartographer, author, geologist, and educator....
in the United States Naval Observatory
United States Naval Observatory
The United States Naval Observatory is one of the oldest scientific agencies in the United States, with a primary mission to produce Positioning, Navigation, and Timing for the U.S. Navy and the U.S. Department of Defense...
(USNO), charting the stars as well as assisting in taking soundings of the ocean's bottom to determine the shape of the bottom. Many believed the sea floor was flat but attempted soundings of the past in blue water (deep sea) as far as eleven miles (18 km) could not find the ocean bottom. Part of this was due to powerful under currents far below, rivers in the ocean traveling in various directions. In the struggles with soundings, which nobody had done anything of value at great depths it was after Maury's failure with a unique device he invented that gave Brooke an idea of taking deep sea soundings. Brooke perfected a "deep sea sounding device" which was always used afterwards by navies of the world until modern times and modern equipment replaced it. Working together on this project of many trials, Maury wanted to add a sea floor "core sampling device" which Brooke was able to invent.
The outcome was a cannonball with a hollow tube through the center of it—a tube coated with tallow on the inside and other experimental materials until the right coating was decided so as not to contaminate the samples of the sea floor brought up several miles. Studying this sea floor material with his microscope, Maury saw something that fascinated him. For further examination and a professional opinion (in Maury's own words)
. . . a part was sent for examination to Professor Bailey, Jacob Whitman BaileyJacob Whitman BaileyJacob Whitman Bailey was an American naturalist, known as the pioneer in microscopic research in America. He was born in Auburn, Mass., and in 1832 graduated at West Point, where, after 1834, he was successively assistant professor, acting professor, and professor of chemistry, mineralogy, and...
, professor of chemistryChemistryChemistry is the science of matter, especially its chemical reactions, but also its composition, structure and properties. Chemistry is concerned with atoms and their interactions with other atoms, and particularly with the properties of chemical bonds....
, mineralogyMineralogyMineralogy is the study of chemistry, crystal structure, and physical properties of minerals. Specific studies within mineralogy include the processes of mineral origin and formation, classification of minerals, their geographical distribution, as well as their utilization.-History:Early writing...
and geologyGeologyGeology is the science comprising the study of solid Earth, the rocks of which it is composed, and the processes by which it evolves. Geology gives insight into the history of the Earth, as it provides the primary evidence for plate tectonics, the evolutionary history of life, and past climates...
at the United States Military AcademyUnited States Military AcademyThe United States Military Academy at West Point is a four-year coeducational federal service academy located at West Point, New York. The academy sits on scenic high ground overlooking the Hudson River, north of New York City...
— eminent microscopist. The latter, in November, 1853, thus responded: "I am greatly obliged to you for the deep soundings you sent me last week, and I have looked at them with great interest. They are exactly what I have wanted to get hold of. The bottom of the ocean at the depth of more than two miles (3 km) I hardly hoped ever to have a chance of examining; yet, thanks to Brooke’s contrivance, we have it clean and free from grease, so that it can at once be put under the microscope. I was greatly delighted to find that all these deep soundings are filled with microscopic shells; not a particle of sand or gravel exists in them. They are chiefly made up of perfect little calcareous shells ForaminiferaForaminiferaThe Foraminifera , or forams for short, are a large group of amoeboid protists which are among the commonest plankton species. They have reticulating pseudopods, fine strands of cytoplasm that branch and merge to form a dynamic net...
and contain, also, a small number of siliceous shells DiatomDiatomDiatoms are a major group of algae, and are one of the most common types of phytoplankton. Most diatoms are unicellular, although they can exist as colonies in the shape of filaments or ribbons , fans , zigzags , or stellate colonies . Diatoms are producers within the food chain...
acæ..."
Telegraph
The inference in all of this is that the area where the samples came from was the "telegraphic plateau" as called by Maury who had sent out ships to sound those depths at two hundred mile intervals from Newfoundland to Ireland. Maury had charted the underwater mountain ridge. The microscopic organisms left the sea floor on this "telegraphic plateau" were deep and soft so that the area was that of a long mountain chain with the top of those underwater mountains having a firm and soft coating of these dead organisms. This meant that the area was deep enough that no ship's anchor nor any fisherman's net would drag the area. The fact that there was no abrasion on these minute organisms meant that there were no strong currents in that area at that depth. Soon after publishing this, Cyrus West FieldCyrus West Field
Cyrus West Field was an American businessman and financier who, along with other entrepreneurs, created the Atlantic Telegraph Company and laid the first telegraph cable across the Atlantic Ocean in 1858.-Life and career:...
wrote to Maury of the USNO on the feasibility of laying a transatlantic cable and was given a positive reply and later details explanation face to face. Cyrus Field also contacted Samuel Morse regarding the feasibility of transmitting an electric current a distance of 1600 miles (2,574.9 km) underwater. Again, Field was given an affirmative and soon visited Morse. Cyrus Field continued contacting these two men, Maury and Morse, gathering all possible information and offered them shares in his great adventure that would become a reality in 1858 when the Queen of the United Kingdom spoke to President Buchanan through the transatlantic cable.
Had it not been for Brooke's deep sea and core sampling device, the world would have had to wait on charting the floors of the undersea world and would not have had the undersea trans-atlantic cable for generations to come.
Later career
As an expert in maritime surveys, he participated in exploratory missions in the Pacific. He had a role in the counseling and instruction of officers of the nascent Japanese Navy. In Japan, he was a technical adviser aboard the Japanese steamer Kanrin Maru, and he helped sail the ship to the United States in February 1860. He was accompanied by Japanese representatives aboard the PowhatanPowhatan
The Powhatan is the name of a Virginia Indian confederation of tribes. It is estimated that there were about 14,000–21,000 of these native Powhatan people in eastern Virginia when the English settled Jamestown in 1607...
.
He was also instrumental in the development of a new rifled gun for the Navy that became known as the Brooke Gun.
In 1861, Brooke resigned from the U.S. Navy to join the Confederate Navy. He was involved in the conversion of the frigate USS Merrimack
USS Merrimack (1855)
USS Merrimack was a frigate and sailing vessel of the United States Navy, best known as the hull upon which the ironclad warship, CSS Virginia was constructed during the American Civil War...
into the ironclad CSS Virginia
CSS Virginia
CSS Virginia was the first steam-powered ironclad warship of the Confederate States Navy, built during the first year of the American Civil War; she was constructed as a casemate ironclad using the raised and cut down original lower hull and steam engines of the scuttled . Virginia was one of the...
. In 1862, he was promoted to commander, and in 1863, to Chief of the Confederate Navy's Bureau of Ordnance and Hydrography, until the end of the war. He was instrumental in the organization and establishment of the Confederate States Naval Academy.
After the war, he became a professor at the Virginia Military Institute
Virginia Military Institute
The Virginia Military Institute , located in Lexington, Virginia, is the oldest state-supported military college and one of six senior military colleges in the United States. Unlike any other military college in the United States—and in keeping with its founding principles—all VMI students are...
, at Lexington, Virginia
Lexington, Virginia
Lexington is an independent city within the confines of Rockbridge County in the Commonwealth of Virginia. The population was 7,042 in 2010. Lexington is about 55 minutes east of the West Virginia border and is about 50 miles north of Roanoke, Virginia. It was first settled in 1777.It is home to...
. He retired in Lexington in 1899. He died there in 1906.
Family life
John Mercer Brooke's parents were George Mercer Brooke, b. 1785 (Va.) and Lucy Thomas.John Mercer Brooke married:
1. Mary Elizabeth Selden Garnett, b. 1 Mar 1826 who died. They had one daughter named Anna Maria Brooke, b. 12 Dec 1856 who never married.
2. Catherine Carter "Kate" Corbin, the widow of Alexander Swift "Sandie" PendletonSandie PendletonAlexander Swift "Sandie" Pendleton was an officer on the staff of Confederate Generals Thomas J. Jackson, Richard S. Ewell and Jubal A. Early during the American Civil War.-Early life and career:...
kia September 22, 1864.
John Mercer Brooke and Catherine Carter "Kate" Corbin of "Mossneck plantation" (which is in excellent condition and still lived in—as seen in film, "Gods and Generals,) married on 14 Mar 1871 at St. George's Episcopal Church, Fredericksburg, Virginia. John and "Kate" had three children:--
- George Mercer Brooke, b. 17 May 1875
- Rosa Johnston Brooke, b. 1876
- Richard Corbin Brooke, b. 1878
John Mercer Brooke and Catherine Carter "Kate" Corbin-Pendelton-Brooke are buried beside each other in the Stonewall Jackson Cemetery, Lexington, VA
Namesake
The US Navy honored his career by naming the first ship of a new class of Destroyer Escort / Fast Frigate ships in his name. USS BROOKE - DEG-1 (Later re-named FFG-1)External links
- John Mercer Brooke
- Brooke gun
- John Mercer Brooke Photo of Commander J. M. Brooke #: NH 58902