Page:The Biographical Dictionary of America, vol. 05.djvu/445

 HULL

HULL

professor of political economy at Cornell univer- sity in 1893. He was elected a member of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, was treasurer of the American Economic association, contributed to economic journals, and edited TJie Economic Writings of Sir William Petty (1899).

HULL, Isaac, naval officer, was born in Derby, Conn., March 9, 1773; son of Lieut. Joseph Hull; grandson of Capt. Joseph and Elizah (Clark) Hull; and a nephew of Gen. Wil- liam Hull, U.S.A. His father, a lieutenant of artillery in the Rev- olutionary war, was distinguished for gal- lantry at the defence of Fort Washington, where he wSs taken prisoner and exchang- ed in 1778. He again entered the army, was given command, in 1779, of a flotilla on Long Island sound, consisting of several old whale-boats, and captured a British armed schooner.

After the war he en- gaged in farming and whale fishing. He died while Isaac was quite young and the boy was adopted by an uncle, who desired to have him attend Yale college and adopt a learned profession. Isaac, however, chose to follow the sea, and when sixteen years old lie be- came cabin boy in a merchant ship. The ship was wrecked and the captain owed his life to the skill of the cabin boy in supporting him and getting him ashore. In 1793 he commanded a ship sailing to the West Indies, and on the reorganization of the U.S. navy he was commissioned fourth lieutenant, March 9, 1798. He served under Com. Samuel Nichol- son on the Constitution, 1798-1800, and on the same ship under Com. Silas Talbot, 1800. He was promoted first lieutenant in 1801, and as sailing master he liandled the Constitution in her friendly race with an English frigate, which was continued an entire day, and the English- man was beaten by several miles, and lost the stake, a cask of wine. During the same cruise Lieutenant Hull manned the Sally, a small sloop, and with her boarded and captured a French letter of marque in Puerto Plata, Haiti, and land- ing his marines, spiked the guns of the battery before the commanding officer could prepare for defence. He was raised to the rank of master commandant. May 18, 1804, and commanded the brig Argus, one of the vessels of the fleet of

Com. Edward Preble, in the Mediterranean. He was made captain in 1806, and commanded the Constitution when she carried Joel Barlow to France in 1811, as U.S. minister, and on the same voyage he carried specie to Holland to pay the interest on the debt due from the United States. While in the harbor of Portsmouth, England, the Constitution was followed and watched by two English ships and as the question of right of search was at the time unsettled. Captain Hull, being suspicious of their movements, ordered the ship cleared for action. The next day he sailed for Cherbourg, France, and was followed by several men-of-war. The Constitution outsailed all but one, and when a safe distance had been gained Hull hove to, beat to quarters, and when the frigate came close to the Constitution no hostilities were offered and the incident was over. It resulted, however, in the return of two seamen taken by the Leopard from the Chesa- peake four years before. Returning to America the Constitution was cleaned and recoppered at Annapolis and ordered to join the squadron of

ENGAGEMENT BETWEEN THE CONSTITUTION AND QUERBIERE.

Commodore Rodgers at New York. On July 19, 1812, when five days out and near Sandy Hook Captain Hull encovmtered a British fleet of five sail under Commodore Broke and the entire fleet gave chase, which lasted for three days and tliree nights, during which time the Constitution kept the lead of her pursuers and used every de- vice known to seamanship to escape. Every man on board was on duty the entire time and the excitement of the cliase was intense. On reaching Boston Captain Hull was given a ijublic reception and in a letter posted by him in the Coffee House lie gave all the credit for the escape to his officers and men, as he did in his official report to the secretary of the navy. He re- ceived no orders to leave Boston, but tiring of inactivity he put to sea, Aug. 2, 1813, without orders, and on August 19 gave chase to a strange sail that proved to be the British frigate Guer- riere. The Constitution cleared for action, with guns double shotted and the crew and officers at