United States Navy Service
Maffitt entered the United States Navy as a midshipman in February 1832, at the age of thirteen. He first served aboard USS St. Louis in the West Indies, and was later assigned to the Pensacola Navy Yard. In 1835 he was assigned to USS Constitution, serving as an aide to Commodore Jesse Elliott in the Mediterranean; his service aboard Constitution would later become the basis for a novel, Nautilus; or, Cruising under Canvas, published in 1871. He also served on the frigate USS Macedonian, becoming its acting Master in 1841.
Maffitt was ordered to the United States Coast Survey in 1842, and was promoted to the rank of Lieutenant in 1843. He spent more than fourteen years in the hydrographic survey, chiefly in Nantucket, Massachusetts, Wilmington, North Carolina, Charleston, South Carolina, and Savannah, Georgia. A channel in Charleston Harbor still bears his name.
In 1857, Maffitt was placed in command of the brig USS Dolphin and ordered to capture pirates and slavers in the West Indies. On August 21, 1858, Dolphin captured the slaver Echo with 318 Africans on board and sent her into Charleston; the liberated slaves were later sent back to Africa. Maffitt became commander of USS Crusader in 1859 and continued his assignment to suppress slavers in the West Indies until February 7, 1861.
Read more about this topic: John Newland Maffitt (privateer)
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