USS Triton was one of Navy's first steam-powered ocean-going tugs.

Indian Head’s June Gregory and her cousin, Audrey Thurman of Silver Spring, Md., are two women that have recently discovered such genealogical importance. It led them to William Henry Kendrick, better known as ‘‘Capt’n Billy” when he piloted Navy boats between what is now Naval Support Facilities Indian Head and Dahlgren.

‘‘I had always heard stories as a little girl about Capt’n Billy,” said Thurman, a retired registered nurse who, like Gregory, grew up in Charles County. ‘‘I learned more from another cousin (Tony Kendrick) and so I went on ‘Ancestry.com’ and discovered a lot more.”

Thurman then told Gregory about her findings.

‘‘I had always been interested in the Kendrick name and where it came from,” Gregory said. ‘‘I am close with my cousin and we began talking about the research...I started going on the (genealogy Internet sites) and realized how much fun they could be!”

The two women were amazed at what they discovered as Capt’n Billy, a veteran of the Spanish-American War, had logged more than 54 years of continuous service with the Navy as both a Sailor and a federal worker before retiring at the age of 70. Perhaps it is best to let him relate his background in a letter he wrote to the Marbury (Md.) Gazette Newspaper in 1926:

DEAR SIR -- I most respectfully ask a small space in your valuable paper to print what I believe the longest time any man in Charles County ever served in the capacity of “sailorman.“ I entered the service when 16 years of age on river and bay sail vessels and steam boats. Then on the sea going vessels for many years; also served in U.S. Navy for five years, from 1894 to 1899, through the Spanish-American War. After that went back to merchant sailing vessels. I have held Steam Pilot's License for 32 years. For the past 10 years I have been in charge of Government boats at Indian Head and Dahlgren, Va. I am now retiring on account of the age limit of 70 years. Having spent 54 years of continuous service, the longest, I am sure, of any man in the county and probably in the state....

Thurman retrieved Capt’n Billy’s service jacket from her research and discovered that he had first enlisted in the Navy in 1894. These were the heady days of the U.S. Navy’s transformation to steel steam-powered big gun ships. But Capt’n Billy’s first ship was the USS Dale, a three-masted sailing sloop-of-war. Sloops typically had 18 guns (many were still 11 and 15-inch Dahlgrens at the pre-turning of the century) and could do 20 knots with a good wind.

‘‘The Dale had an interesting history,” Thurman said. ‘‘She was launched in 1839. Her history involved cruises off the coasts of North and South America and her last service was as a receiving ship at Washington Navy Yard until 1894.”

The Dale was indeed an interesting ship. Between June 1846 and August 1849, she deployed to the Pacific for her second tour, this time taking part during the U.S.-Mexican War in operations off California and the Mexican west coast. During the 1850s, Dale primarily served off Africa as part of the effort to help arrest the slave trade.

During the Civil War, Dale cruised along the Confederacy's Atlantic shore. In 1861, she captured two Rebel schooners in October and November. For the rest of the Civil War she was employed as a store ship at Port Royal, S.C., and Key West, Fla. Then, between 1867 and the mid-1880s, the sloop was stationed at Annapolis as a training ship for U.S. Naval Academy midshipmen.

So, when Capt’n Billy served aboard her, the Dale was quite old. And at the Navy Yard he was looking for a new ship. He saw an opportunity aboard a steam-powered tug. He had attained rank as a quartermaster and applied for a transfer to the USS Triton. And it was aboard Triton, probably, that he gained the skills of river navigation that would later serve him as he steered steamboats up and down the Potomac from Indian Head to Dahlgren.

At the time he was at the Navy Yard, petty officers often had to find a job before they could be promoted to a higher rank. But to get to a higher rate it often meant that there had to be a vacancy (it was not uncommon to see enlisted Sailors remain in lower grades their entire naval careers as the needs of the Navy had to be met first before any consideration of rank increase). Capt’n Billy served aboard Triton for five years as a lower ranking quartermaster then apparently was honorably discharged around 1899 and sought re-enlistment aboard Triton again when a vacancy became available in 1903. Here is Capt’n Billy’s letter to the USS Triton’s skipper, Capt. E.M. Isaac, seeking a Navy job as a Quartermaster 1st Class:

Capt. Isaacs

Dear Sir,

Yours of the 23rd just received and was surprised to hear from you as I wrote you about the 10th or so and did not hear from you. I took it for granted you had shipped a man to fill the vacancy caused by the discharge of “Frank.“

Your letter says I will have to serve one year as Quartermaster 2nd class. I do not see why I could not be rated first class as was the Quartermasters that have just been discharged. I have more service in than they had.

I left the Tug four years ago because the pay was too small. Then after a higher rate of Quartermasters was allowed the Tugs-I thought it a little inducement to ask for the place again.

There is too much required of one for the small pay as I know you will admit- if I could get the rate of first class I would take the place. But I could not accept it at so small a pay as Second Class.

I am loading my boat with wood, but winds and low tides prevents me from making any head way.

I hope to be in Washington the last of this week at any rate and will come over to Navy Yard and have a talk with you. Although I cannot expect you to have the place for me.

I hope you can get permission to rate me 1st Class and should you do so I will accept the place- I can do my daily aboard any kind of vessel. I do not come there as an apprentice or anything of the kind. I have a lifetime experience with both steam and sail vessels. Hoping to see you soon.

I am Sincerely yours,

W. H. Kendrick

When Capt’n Billy was discharged again from the Navy he went to work for the Navy Yard on a steamboat carrying goods to what was then known as the Naval Proving Ground at Indian Head. The principal site for testing the Navy’s new big guns was opened in September of 1890 but, in the short period of 15 years, the range was becoming obsolete as world ordnance technology was demanding greater distances for naval gunnery. And, in 1906, a little known British Admiral named Jackie Fisher shocked the world’s navies even more with the launching of the first modern battleship, HMS Dreadnaught. Fortunately, Indian Head was also the Navy’s principal site for the manufacture of smokeless powder and Capt’n Billy was no doubt busy transporting a lot of it to the U.S. Navy’s new gun range at Dahlgren which opened on Oct. 16, 1918 along with some of the big battleship guns that the Navy Yard was busy producing in Washington.

Thurman tells a little of what he was doing at this time.

‘‘My mother told of moving to Marbury about 1920,” she wrote in an e-mail to her cousin Gregory. ‘‘At that time my grandfather was a riverboat captain in charge of a vessel—I believe it was a tug boat that ran from the Washington, D.C. Navy Yard to Indian Head. A picture of this vessel was on the wall in our family home. Most of my childhood I remember it there, with my grandfather pictured on deck. His back was turned and the picture was taken at some distance so my memories of this picture were thinking how awesome it must have been to have a job of this importance. My mother seemed proud of his accomplishments and his job stability...I just wish I had listened more to hear of his many accomplishments.”

Capt’n Billy’s story is reflective of one of the most exciting and interesting periods in the history of the U.S. Navy. It was a time of ‘‘iron men and tall ships;” a time of rapid modern progression into the world’s most powerful nation built upon sea power. And, like Gregory and Thurman, many people are researching their ‘‘roots” and discovering how their ancestors helped built the nation’s greatness.