Uriah Levy: From Cabin Boy to Commodore

By Phyllis Appel

Uriah Phillips Levy had no intention of becoming a shopkeeper like his father. That’s why the ten-year-old secretly signed up as a cabin boy and ran away to sea. During his apprenticeship he faced French pirates, was shipwrecked, and taken aboard a British man-of-war. The captain was so impressed with him that he offered Uriah a British commission. Levy politely refused explaining that his loyalty was to his country. (Later when Emperor Dom Pedro asked Levy to captain a new sixty-gun frigate in the Imperial Brazilian Navy, he replied, “I would rather serve as a cabin boy in the United States Navy than hold the rank of Admiral in any other service in the world.”)

While serving on the Argus during the War of 1812, Levy was captured and spent sixteen months as a prisoner of war. When he returned home, Uriah continued his service in the navy. His fiery temper against anti-Semitic bias resulted in a duel, six courts-martial, and three dismissals from the service. His patriotism led him to defend President Andrew Jackson and to become the only American to donate a full-size statue (President Thomas Jefferson) to the United States government. Uriah purchased Jefferson’s run-down estate to preserve it. This would remain in the Levy family far longer than the Jefferson family. (His mother, Rachel Phillips Levy, is buried at Monticello.)

After witnessing flogging, Levy fought to oppose the corporal punishment. When the Commission of Fifteen determined him unfit for active duty, he fought back. His trial and his fifty-three Christian and Jewish witnesses put anti-Semitism in the forefront. Once returned to active duty, Uriah Levy became the first Jewish flag officer in U.S. Navy.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Phyllis Appel
• Release date: Mar 20, 2016
• ISBN: 9781310982514

Phyllis Appel

A life-long resident of Missouri, Phyllis Appel has always loved to learn. That is why for the past 27 years she worked for a large school district in the Show-Me State. Now retired, Phyllis is combining her interest in writing and research to create historical biographies.

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Uriah Levy: From Cabin Boy to Commodore

Phyllis Appel

Special thanks to my husband, Craig, for his constant love and multi-talents.

Without his, encouragement, I could never have completed this book.

Thanks also to: To my children--Fred, Jeff, Susan, and Emily-- for their support and love

To my grandkids: Evan, Chloe, Lucas, and Elena for humoring me by listening to my stories.

Copyright 2020© Phyllis Appel

Cover Design Copyright 2020© Craig Appel

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without express written consent from the author or publisher.

Special Thanks:

Alison Burden, Secretary Ashburton Museum

Todd Creekman, Captain, USN (Ret.), Executive Director, Naval Historical Foundation

Brian Dingle, Curator, Dartmoor Prison Museum

Pamela Elbe, Collections Manager & Archivist, National Museum of American Jewish Military History

George Hay, Remote Enquiries Duty Officer, National Archives of the UK.

Jeffery T. Hartley, Librarian, National Archives and Records Administration 

Christine F. Hughes, Historian Naval History & Heritage Command

Louis Kessler, Congregation Mikveh Israel, Archives & Artifacts

Captain John Rodgaard

Lisa Snider, Administrative Director, American-Israeli Cooperative Enterprise (AICE)

CHAPTER 1: RUNNING AWAY TO THE SEA

Uriah Levy hurried along the Delaware River towards Chestnut Street wharf. School had let out for the semester and although the ten-year-old had been a good student, he longed for a different life. Rumor had it that the cabin boy on the New Jerusalem had taken ill on the run from Boston. Uriah hoped to replace him.

Becoming a sailor wasn’t a spur of the moment decision. He had always felt connected to the sea. It was as if he had salt running through his veins. Although his father and Uncle Isaac had been grooming him at their clock shop for the last four years, he knew that the life of a shopkeeper just wasn’t for him.

Unlike most of his schoolmates who were content to play ninepins in the open lot next to where George Washington used to reside at the corner of Sixth and Market Streets, he always drifted towards the water.

When Uriah wasn’t fishing or sailing his small boat on the Delaware, he was visiting the bustling docks. There he watched the ships being loaded and unloaded and listened to the seamen’s tales about bygone days.

More often than not, the older sailors would reminisce of their days running their Yankee ships past the British blockades. Although it was noble during the Revolution, the younger seamen grumbled that even six years later, American sailors were still being yanked from ships to serve in King George’s Navy.

Often Uriah wandered to the high brown fence at the foot of Federal Street. There he would stop by to visit the nation’s best shipmaker, Joshua Humphreys. While gazing at the’ yard, the young boy would imagine the Philadelphian Quaker busily refitting the merchant ship Black Prince into the man of war ship Alfred.

Once converted for the Continental Navy, Levy’s hero John Paul Jones would sail it away down the Delaware River. He could almost see the Grand Union flag with its thirteen stripes and stars blowing in the wind for the first time.

Humphreys welcomed the young boy’s interest and taught him the intricacies of riggings (ropes) and sails. After, Wharton Humphreys shipyard became the location of the first Philadelphia Navy Yard, Levy’s fascination with the sea intensified. He spent so much time watching the merchant ships that he could identify the names and flags of all fourteen hundred vessels that sailed from the harbor by their silhouettes.

Gathering his courage, Uriah walked up the gangplank and was directed to the captain’s cabin. Captain James Wilkins listened to the applicant boast about his nautical skills and his knowledge of the sea. Levy then offered his services provided he could return in time to prepare for his Bar Mitzvah.

Although Wilkins had never known any seagoing Jews, there were only thirty-five hundred Jews throughout America at the time, he signed the boy up for the four-dollar-a-month position.

That night Uriah prepared for his departure. He filled a ditty bag with heavy trousers, flannel shirts, a greatcoat, two blankets, two pairs of high top shoes, two schoolbooks, a Bible, and a Barlow pocket knife.

Too afraid to tell his parents of his two-year contract, the new cabin boy left a brief note promising to write from his ship’s first port of call.

The following morning, he crept quietly down the marble steps of his three-story brick house. Once outside, he took one last quick look at his home and then walked towards the water.

The New Jerusalem sailed from Boston to Savannah, Georgia, anchoring at most of the ports in between. It carried tobacco and cotton from the South and returned with lumber from the North. This made long busy days for the small crew.

Captain Wilkins ran one of the cleaner ships. Uriah’s daily duties included tidying the cabins, making the captain’s bunk, handing out the food, and clearing the tables. His least favorite job was assisting the cook. He found it took a lot of scrubbing to scour the copper pots and pans with sand and soapstone under cook’s watchful eye.

Once those tasks were completed, he still had to make time to scrub the decks and paint, polish the brightwork (exposed metal), and varnish the woodworking. Still his work was not done. As cabin boy, he also was responsible to scamper up the rigging to furl (fold) and reef (reduce) the sails.

After finishing his chores, Levy took to studying his books. Impressed with his cabin boy’s quest to learn, Wilkins loaned him some volumes from his own library, and often the two found time to discuss the Bible. The captain gave him lessons on navigation and taught Uriah how to buy and sell goods for a profit. Unlike the other sailors who freely spent their money whenever they docked, the young boy saved his pay or purchased cargo to sell at the next port.

Uriah’s letters home never revealed the cramped dark quarters that he and the crew shared or that his bed was merely a pile of spare sails. He conveniently forgot to mention the beetles that invaded his woolen clothes and the thousands of cockroaches that resided throughout the ship. Uncomplainingly, he ate the salted beef, potatoes, rice, and codfish and learned to break his biscuit in half in a bowl of hot coffee so that the weevils that floated to the top could be scooped up. He even learned to ignore the bedbugs that found their way into the stew. However, Levy always declined rations with pork or shellfish trying his best to uphold the Jewish dietary laws Kashrut. This led to good-natured teasing from the crew.

Many days Uriah would lean against the rails breathing in the salty air. As the wind scattered his dark curly hair, his thoughts drifted back home to his family. Closing his eyes, he smiled remembering all he times he trailed his grandpa Jonas Philips through the streets of Philadelphia. Jonas would stand ramrod straight in his outdated tailcoat, knee breeches, and silk stockings as the two strolled down Chestnut Street.

As the nation’s capital, the streets of Philadelphia were always filled with foreign dignitaries, immigrants from around the world, and delegates of Indian chiefs. Whenever they would catch sight of a Congressman scurrying to the State House (Independence Hall), Jonas, the old patriot, would grin and boast that was where both the Declaration of Independence and the Bill of Rights had been debated and approved.

While touring the city, they would explore Congress Hall on Independence Square where President George Washington held his second inauguration. Proudly his grandfather bragged that when Washington was but a Virginia planter, he had danced at his wedding.

Only a few blocks away stood the imposing three-and-a-half story brick mansion at 190 High Street.