I am delighted to have a returning guest join me today, Judith E Pearson, who has shared with us a couple of previous articles.
On 22 February 1815, US Navy Midshipman Richard Sutherland Dale, feverish and in pain, his right leg recently amputated at sea, died in Stennett’s Hotel, St. George’s, Bermuda. He was the last US officer to perish in the War of 1812; ironically, 60 days after the Treaty of Ghent was signed. He was 20 years old. Today, over two centuries after his death, Dale’s grave is the site for an annual commemoration, marking the friendship of Bermuda and the United Kingdom with the United States. Here is the story behind that commemoration.
Midshipman Dale’s Father – Commodore Richard Dale
Richard Sutherland Dale was the first son of Commodore Richard Dale (1756 – 1826), an American merchant mariner who became a naval officer in the Continental Navy under John Barry during the War for American Independence. Thus began his heroic and adventurous naval service, which included serving under John Paul Jones on Bonhomme Richard, Alliance, and Ariel. Commanding the American privateer Queen of France, he captured several British vessels. Following the Treaty of Paris, he became one of the six original commodores of the permanent US Navy. He commanded a blockade of Tripoli during the First Barbary War under President Thomas Jefferson.
Upon retirement in Philadelphia, he directed the Union Insurance Company, was active in the Society of Cincinnati, and held leadership positions in a number of veterans’ organizations and religious societies, until his death at age 69. The US Navy has named five ships in his honor.
Midshipman Richard Sutherland Dale and the Battle between USS President and the British Squadron
Richard Sutherland Dale was the second of eight children born to Commodore Richard and Dorothea (née Crathorne) Dale. Like his father, he joined the US Navy, and with his father’s influence, rapidly secured a position as a midshipman on his father’s former flagship, the US Frigate President (44), Commodore Stephen Decatur commanding.
Although the Treaty of Ghent was signed on December 24, 1814, word of it had not yet reached North America, when, at dawn on January 14, 1815 in treacherous weather, Decatur guided President past the British blockade of New York Harbour. The British spotted the ship and gave chase; the British squadron consisted of the frigates Majestic, Tenedos, and Pomone, led by HM Frigate Endymion, commanded by Post Captain Henry Hope. Subsequently, a fifteen-hour battle raged south of Long Island, New York.
Endymion quickly overtook President, which had damaged her hull on a sandbar off Sandy Hook. A close exchange of cannon fire ensued, to include bar and chain shot. President was outmanoeuvred and suffered numerous casualties. Midshipman Dale was wounded in the right leg. Sources vary as to the cause of his injury (either a cannonball or a sniper’s bullet). President surrendered at 7:58 pm. However, when Endymion withdrew for repairs, Decatur made off to escape at 8:30 pm. Minutes later, Decatur surrendered again, when Pomone and Majestic closed on the crippled American.
Endymion and President were heavily damaged and sailed toward Bermuda for repairs. On the way, a heavy storm dismasted both ships. Dale’s right leg was amputated during the voyage. Arriving in Bermuda as a prisoner of war, he was housed in Stennett’s Hotel, where he subsequently died on 22 February 1815, at age 20. He was buried in the nearby churchyard of St. Peter’s Church (established in 1612), the oldest continuous usage Anglican church in the Western Hemisphere. His family, grateful for the care he received during his confinement, arranged for a large marble stone, resting on six pillars, to be placed over his grave. Midshipman Dale’s story would have ended there, were it not for the efforts of a U.S. Navy officer over a century later.
1932: Captain Scarritt Adams Initiates a Ceremony to Honour Midshipman Dale
An annual ceremony, in St. George’s, Bermuda, marking Dale’s death, began in 1932 at the request of Captain Scarritt Adams (1907 – 1973), US Naval Academy Class of 1930. Adams was born in St. Louis, Missouri and spent his early years in and around Boston. His family moved to Bermuda in 1917 for his mother’s health. His father was a reporter for the New York Times. In Bermuda, Adams developed a knack for sailing and a love of the sea.
Following one year at MIT, he was accepted at the US Naval Academy in 1926. Upon graduating in 1930, he became a gunnery officer on the USS Goff. In 1932 he wrote to the reverend of St. Peter’s Church, sending a check, with the request that on Memorial Day, the Dale gravestone would be draped with a US flag and decorated with a wreath of white passion flowers.
Adams’ career advanced, to include post-graduate school, intelligence training with the FBI, war duty in the Pacific, command of the USS Whiteside, Chief of Staff of the Naval Striking and Support Forces in Southern Europe, command of the USS Mount McKinley, USS Baltimore, and the US Naval Receiving Station in Brooklyn, New York. Throughout, he continued the yearly practice of honouring Midshipman Dale.
In 1956, when the Stennett’s hotel was restored (the building is now a branch of Butterfield Bank) a marker was placed on the exterior wall. It reads:
In this building
then known as the Stennett’s Hotel
died on February 22, 1815
in his twenty-first year,
Midshipman Richard Sutherland Dale
of the American Frigate President,
severely wounded when that vessel,
commanded by Commodore S. Decatur,
after a 15 hour engagement,
was captured by Captain Henry Hope
and brought into St. George’s Harbour.
Midshipman Dale is buried in
St. Peter’s Churchyard.
Captain Adams retired from the Navy in 1960. Returning to Bermuda in 1963, he attended the Dale commemoration for the first time. By then, the US military had a significant presence in Bermuda dating from 1941 (The U.S. Army left in 1948, the Coast Guard in 1965, and the Air Force in 1970. The Navy and Marines remained until 1995). After World War II, members of the US armed forces in Bermuda routinely participated in the Memorial Day ceremony to remember Midshipman Dale.
1967: USS Luce
The Dale ceremony reached a peak in 1967 when Captain Adams coordinated with the US Naval Station to bring USS Luce to Bermuda for the event. It was the first time a US destroyer had entered the tiny harbour of St. George’s. On the day of the ceremony, Luce sailors formed an honor guard in St. George’s town square. Marines formed a colour guard and firing squad. The Bermuda regiment sent trumpeters. American Society members also attended.
St. George’s Mayor Leon Fox of St. George, Captain Paul Arbo, Commander of Destroyer Squadron 8, and Captain John Drake of USS Luce formed the official party. The ceremony began with a fanfare heralding the arrival of Mr. and Mrs. Richard Dale from St. Croix, arriving in an open carriage drawn by two horses. Mr. Dale, the great grandnephew of Midshipman Dale, and Mayor Fox inspected the honor guard. Marines and Luce sailors then marched up the street, forming a double column in front of St. Peter’s Church.
Next, the clergy led a procession past the military column to the churchyard behind St. Peter’s. An Air Force chaplain read from the Bible. The Marines fired three volleys. An Air Force bugler played taps. Mrs. Arbo laid a wreath on the grave on the behalf of USS Luce. Mrs. Dale laid a wreath for Captain Adams. The American Society laid a third wreath. The ceremony was carried on local television. Immediately afterwards, Captain Adams and Mayor Fox oversaw an afternoon reception for 200 to honor Captain Arbo and the ship’s company of the Luce. Captain Drake hosted a luncheon on deck for 40 people. Local residents hosted sailors in their homes for dinner.
Captain Adams passed away in 1973. By that time, the Dale ceremony was an island custom. The event was discontinued in 1995 with the departure of the US Navy from Bermuda. Midshipman Dale’s story would have ended there, were it not for the efforts of Captain Adams’ daughter over a decade later.
Twenty-first Century Developments
In 2006 Captain Adams’ daughter, Louise Hall Reider, visited the island from Seattle, Washington. She and Mr. Beau Evans of the Friends of St. Peter’s Church decided to resume the Dale ceremony on the anniversary of Dale’s demise, using the occasion as a public relations/fund raising event for St. Peter’s. Ms. Reider continued her father’s practice with a monetary gift to St. Peter’s so that each year a wreath of white passion flowers would be placed on the grave.
Captain John Rodgaard (USN, Retired) and his wife, Dr. Judy Pearson (this author) came across the Dale gravesite while visiting Bermuda in November 2013, attracted by the small US flag and the bronze War of 1812 emblem beside the weather-worn, marble gravestone. With a bit of research, they were captivated by the story of Midshipman Dale. They began attending the annual ceremony, flying to Bermuda from their home in Virginia.
As of this writing, Captain Rodgaard and Dr. Pearson hold offices in two naval history organizations: the Naval Order of the US (a non-profit civic organization founded in 1890 by Admiral George Dewey to preserve the history of the US maritime services) and the 1805 Club (founded in England in 1991 to preserve the naval history of the Georgian era). Through these two organizations and the Friends of St. Peter’s Church, they organized a project to fund a new marble gravestone to rest atop the original.
The unveiling of the new gravestone took place at the 2016 ceremony, marking the 201st anniversary of Dale’s death, with then Bermuda Governor George Fergusson in attendance and Reverend David Raths (now retired) officiating. For this occasion, the new gravestone was covered by an American flag. Prior to the wreath-laying, members of the official party removed the flag and handed it to two Sea Cadets, who folded it and presented it to Captain Rodgaard.
Dale’s new gravestone, draped with the American flag. Author’s photo.
The Annual Ceremony
The annual Midshipman Dale commemorative ceremony is part of the history and charm of St. George’s, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The event begins in the afternoon on St. George’s town square, Kings Square, in front of the former hotel were Dale died. There, the T.S. Admiral Somers Sea Cadets, gather for inspection by the island’s governor, who is appointed by the monarchy. The governor’s arrival is announced by the town crier in eighteenth century attire. Town officials join the governor and the US Consul General to Bermuda, forming the official party
After the inspection of the Sea Cadets, a pipe major and a drummer (in kilts), lead a procession to St. Peter’s churchyard, on a hill overlooking the square. Behind the pipe major and drummer are the Sea Cadets, the official party, and various Bermuda citizens and tourists; about 60 to100 people in all.
The clergy of St. Peter’s Church preside over the ceremony, in the rugged churchyard littered with centuries-old gravestones, many crumbling, and most no longer legible. The Sea Cadets stand at attention, holding both the Union Flag and the US flag with fifteen stars. The ceremony opens with a prayer, followed by the Navy Hymn, bible readings about men and the sea (Luke 8: 22 – 25 and Psalm 107:1 – 3, 23 – 32), and The Lord’s Prayer.
On the behalf of Great Britain, the island’s governor lays a wreath of red, white, and blue carnations on Dale’s grave. The US Consul General, representing the people of the US lays a second wreath of white passion flowers. Captain Rodgaard and Dr. Pearson each lay a wreath for The 1805 Club and the Naval Order of the US respectively. The ceremony concludes with the national anthems of both Great Britain and the US.
The Dale commemoration has come to symbolize the friendship between the US, Great Britain, and Bermuda. It is a remnant of the War of 1812 and, for some, a reminder that the US once had military a presence on the island. More importantly, it is an opportunity to honor a young sailor, who, like so many others before and since, died on foreign soil, far from home. The inscription on the gravestone reads:
The inscription on the gravestone reads:
In Memory
Of
RICHARD SUTHERLAND DALE
eldest son of Commodore Richard Dale
of Philadelphia in the U.S. of America
and Midshipman in the U.S. Navy.
He departed this life in St. George’s Bermuda
on the 22nd day of February, A.D. 1815
aged 20 years 1 month and 17 days.
He lost his right leg in an engagement between
the U.S. Frigate President and a Squadron
of His Brittanick Majesty’s Ships of War
on the 15th of January A.D. 1815.
His confinement caused a severe complaint
in his back which in a short time
terminated his life.
This stone records the tribute
of his Parents’ gratitude
To those inhabitants of St George’s
Whose generous and tender sympathy
Prompted the kindest attentions
To their son while living,
And honored him,
While dead.
The author thanks Mrs. Louise Hall Reider for help with this article.
Sources:
Ed Harris, “Remembering the Unfortunate Death of Midshipman Dale”. The Royal Gazette, March 8, 2014.
Find a Grave.com: “Richard Sutherland Dale,”
Gareth Finighan, “Last Casualty of the War of 1812 Between the UK and US Recalled, The Royal Gazette, February 22, 2022.
Historic Marker Database, St. George’s Bermuda: Midshipman Richard Sutherland Dale.
Ibiblio: Commodore Richard Dale, USN, (1756 – 1826). http://www.ibiblio.org/hyperwar/OnlineLibrary/photos/pers-us/uspers-d/r-dale.htm
Scarritt Adams, Letter to Rear Admiral E. N. Eller, Director of Naval History, Navy Department, Wash. D.C. July 26th, 1967.
Scarritt Adams, Biographical Notes 1960: Courtesy of Louise Hall Reider.
Wikipedia: “Richard Dale”
Author’s Note: Other versions of this article have appeared in the quarterly newsletter of the Naval Order of the US and the Autumn 2018 issue of the Kedge Anchor, magazine of The 1805 Club.
All Things Georgian 
Pingback: Loyalist Trails 2024-08 – UELAC