A New Deal for a Ship's Wheel

South Porch, Springwood. NPS Photo.

The large steering wheel hanging at the south porch at Franklin D. Roosevelt's home, Springwood, was once at the helm of two noteworthy US Navy ships—USS Gloucester and USS Mayflower. A brass plate on the wheel reads "H.T.M. to F.D.R. 12-25-19." The wheel was a gift to Roosevelt in December of 1919 from Henry T. Morningstar, the Master Mechanic of the Electrical Shop in the Navy Gun Factory in Washington, DC. At the time, Roosevelt served as the Assistant Secretary of the Navy in the administration of President Woodrow Wilson. A silver plaque fixed to the center of the wheel reads: “Wheel of U.S.S. Gloucester in Battle of Santiago 1898 and later of U.S.S. Mayflower - during Administrations of President Roosevelt, Taft and Wilson.” The wheel is believed to have be used on both vessels, however it is unknown when the wheel was removed from the Gloucester and installed on the Mayflower.

 

J. P. Morgan's yacht, Corsair II, August 1892 (left, Library of Congress photo), and USS Gloucester (1898-1919) at anchor in an East Coast harbor, circa summer 1898 (right, U.S. Naval History and Heritage Command photo).

The USS Gloucester was built in Philadelphia in 1891 for Gilded Age financier J. P. Morgan and originally named Corsair II. In 1898, the Spanish-American War obliged the United Sates Navy to increase the size of its fleets. The Navy purchased Corsair II from Morgan, refitted the ship as a gunboat, and changed its name to USS Gloucester.

Gloucester was sent to Cuba and sunk two Spanish ships in early July at the Battle of Santiago; a few weeks later, the ship secured the port at Guanica, Puerto Rico. After the end of the war, Gloucester was used as a training vessel at Annapolis until 1902. For the rest of 1902 through 1905, Gloucester served as a support ship for President Theodore Roosevelt during trips to the Caribbean Sea. Sailing north, the ship served in the militia navies of Massachusetts and New York, and patrolled New York Harbor until the end of World War I. The Navy finally decommissioned Gloucester in November of 1919.

 

USS Mayflower, October 1909. Library of Congress.

Like the Gloucester, Mayflower was originally constructed as a private yacht. Built in Scotland for New York City socialite and millionaire Ogden Goelet, Mayflower was launched in 1896. Goelet entertained European royalty and nobility onboard, including the Princess of Wales and the King of Belgium. The following year, Goelet died onboard the yacht while off the coast of England.

In 1898, Goelet’s estate sold the Mayflower to the United States Navy. During the Spanish-American War, the USS Mayflower was sent to Cuba, where it participated in the blockade of Havana. After the end of the war, Mayflower served as temporary headquarters for the Government of Puerto Rico after the United States gained control of the island. Mayflower also briefly was used as Admiral Dewey’s flagship in 1902. Then, in 1904, the ship took President Theodore Roosevelt’s Secretary of War, William Howard Taft, on a tour of the Caribbean.

After being refitted, Mayflower was sent to Oyster Bay, on Long Island, New York, to serve as the presidential yacht and to participate in the peace negotiations that formally ended the Russo-Japanese War between Russia and Japan. These negotiations earned President Theodore Roosevelt the Nobel Peace Prize—the first time an American received a Nobel Prize.

 

President Theodore Roosevelt and Envoys of Japan and Russia on the Mayflower, 1905. Library of Congress.

After being refitted, Mayflower was sent to Oyster Bay, on Long Island, New York, to serve as the presidential yacht and to participate in the peace negotiations that formally ended the Russo-Japanese War between Russia and Japan. These negotiations earned President Theodore Roosevelt the Nobel Peace Prize—the first time an American received a Nobel Prize.

On board the Mayflower at Hampton Roads, Virginia, President Theodore Roosevelt welcomed back the famous Great White Fleet from its circumnavigational trip in February of 1909, the fleet that had displayed American naval might around the world. Mayflower maintained its presidential yacht status during the administrations of Presidents William Howard Taft, Woodrow Wilson, Warren G. Harding, Calvin Coolidge, and Herbert Hoover. Assistant Secretary of the Navy Franklin D. Roosevelt was given the wheel of the Mayflower as a Christmas present in 1919, during President Wilson’s administration. President Hoover had Mayflower decommissioned in March of 1929 in an attempt to trim the federal budget. Several pieces of furniture from the Mayflower were relocated to President Hoover’s retreat, Rapidan Camp, in today’s Shenandoah National Park.

 

After being sold to private investors and changing hands several times in the 1930s, the Navy, needing to expand the fleets due to World War II, again purchased Mayflower in 1942. Mayflower’s name was changed to Butte before being transferring to the US Coast Guard in 1943. The Coast Guard restored the name Mayflower to the ship and used the vessel to patrol the Atlantic seaboard for German U-boats. Mayflower was decommissioned by the US military for the last time in 1946, and Mayflower was sold for use as a sealing ship in the Artic.

After finding its way to Italy as a merchant ship in the Mediterranean under the new name Malla, the ship was used to secretly sail European Jewish refugees to the new nation of Israel. The refugees had previously attempted to reach Palestine on the ship Exodus 1947, following the horrors of the Holocaust. The Israeli Navy bought Malla, renamed it Moaz, and used the vessel as a training ship. Mayflower was finally broken up in 1955 following service in three wars, for two nations, and for six American presidents.

 

FDR works on one of his ship models, 1930. FDR Library Photo.

FDR had a deep passion for the Navy and its history. Roosevelt closely studied the ships and the naval engagements of the Revolutionary War and the War of 1812, this intimate knowledge of the Navy’s history was rather helpful during the Second World War. Roosevelt had familial roots in seafaring-- a young Franklin listened to stories from his grandfather’s, Warren Delano, time as a merchant on the open seas and FDR greatly admired his fifth cousin Theodore Roosevelt, who served as the Assistant Secretary of the Navy for President William McKinley. FDR followed TR’s political footsteps, from serving as a New York state senator in Albany, to the office of the Assistant Secretary of the Navy, as his party’s nominee for Vice President, back to Albany as New York’s governor, and finally to the White House.

An avid collector, Franklin Roosevelt assembled an impressive collection navy memorabilia and history, including 72,000 manuscripts, 5,000 prints and paintings, and over 400 ship models, many prominently displayed in his private study at the White House, and today at Springwood and the Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library and Museum.