Seth Ledyard Phelps

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As a boy, inspired by his father's accounts of family history during the American Revolution and the War of 1812, Seth longed to join the Navy. Before going off to join, he bid farewell to his mother, who was apprehensive of his joining the navy, and to his proud father, who whole heartily supported Seth's aspirations, and set off for New York, arriving there in January 1842. Here Phelps saw for the first time many tall clipper ships and warships and was impressed with their huge masts and banners filling the skyline. He was assigned to the USS Independence, launched in 1814, a ship of the line, 190 feet long with 74 guns. At the time of Phelps' commission, the vessel had been converted to a 60-gun frigate.

Phelps was anxious to go out to sea, but the Independence remained in port for several months. On May 14, 1842, he finally got his first such orders, boarded the Independence and headed for Boston. Phelps found his first day at sea exhilarating; however, as the sea became rougher, the young Phelps had to deal with sea sickness by stomping on the deck while marching from stem to stern. As a midshipman, his visit to Boston marked the end of his probationary period, at which time his captain would decide if Phelps was fit to continue service, and Phelps was approved. When he learned that the USS Columbus needed midshipmen for its service in the Mediterranean, he wanted to transfer. To get past the six months' required service as midshipman for that position, he wrote to Ohio representative Elisha Whittlesey in Washington, D.C., for a transfer. Upon Whittlesey's recommendation, at age seventeen, Seth's appointment to midshipman was made on October 24, 1841. He transferred to Columbus, a ship of the line, and when his orders arrived he served the next three years with the Mediterranean Squadron, considered the choicest of the several active U.S. squadrons stationed about the globe. The Columbus was an old ship that had seen years of duty. When Phelps reported aboard he found the ship's rigging, sails and other fixtures in very poor condition. Before departing from Boston, Phelps and other crew members were given the task of replacing the ship's ropes and sails with new ones. After weeks of repairs, the Columbus finally departed Boston and on August 24, 1842, Phelps was at sea for the first time. While aboard, Midshipmen were required to continue their education, studying mathematics and schooled in the ways of navigation, weapons, along with knot-tying classes, where more than fifty knots, splices, and hitches had to be mastered.

After an uneventful voyage, the Columbus's first call was at Gibraltar. Stopping briefly, she then joined the USS Congress and set sail for Port Mahon in the Balearic Islands, where upon arrival they joined with the rest of the Mediterranean Squadron. That winter, after demonstrating that Phelps was a hard worker he was made Master-Mate of the Main Gun Deck. His promotion was the cause of resentment to a couple of Phelps's shipmates, who sometimes would resort to measures aimed at getting him into trouble, but which never succeeded. Writing to his father, Phelps maintained that there were times when they would attempt to provoke him to a duel, but reassuring his father, he said he abhorred the practice and always managed to avert the situation.

After a foiled smuggling attempt in Havana aboard the Robert Wilson, custody of the ship was given to the Americans. Phelps volunteered to help get the ship back home and was made midshipman. With the former crew under arrest, the ship departed on February 1, 1846, headed for Portsmouth, Virginia. Later he removed to Washington, D.C., where he lived for a brief period.

In June 1846 Phelps received his long-awaited orders to attend the naval school at Annapolis, Maryland. He was to report aboard the Bonita. In a June 15 letter to his father, he expressed his regrets that he could not visit with family, who were only 30 miles away D.C.

Phelps served aboard the Bonita and Jamestown during the Mexican–American War, giving naval support to Winfield Scott's Army during the Siege of Veracruz. Much of his time was also spent patrolling the Mexican coast on blockade duty. In little time Phelps had already developed strong opinions about how the war should be conducted, and was displeased that the Navy was lending much of their service protecting merchant ships while sailors were coming down with scurvy for want of provisions.

In 1857, after ten years of shore duty, Phelps was assigned to the USS Susquehanna, a side-wheel man-of-war and returned to serving at sea in the Mediterranean Squadron.

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