MEDIA ADVISORY
For Immediate Release
Office of the Oceanographer of the
Navy
Contact: Gail S. Cleere 202/762-1045 November 13,
1998
Navy Ship Named for African
American Co-Discoverer of North Pole to Sail to
Alexandria, VA with Namesake's Family Descendants
Aboard
WASHINGTON, DC. The Navy's newest
oceanographic survey ship, USNS Henson, named
for the African American Maryland native who reached
the North Pole with Navy Lieutenant Robert E. Peary,
will be docked at Maryland's Inner Harbor Nov 16-19.
On November 19,1998, at 5 p.m., USNS
Henson will sail out of Baltimore with twelve of
Henson's family descendants aboard. They will make an
historic journey to Alexandria, Va., and the Arlington
National Cemetery, where they will be joined at 10
a.m., November 21, by the Navy, the National
Geographic Society, other Henson family members, and
many more, to pay tribute to an explorer who only
rarely got such recognition when he was alive. Two of
the youngest Henson family members will lay a wreath
on Henson's grave, now located next to Peary's grave
at Arlington. The public is invited to this ceremony,
where formal military honors will be given, conducted
by the Naval Order of the United States.
The USNS Henson will be docked at
Robinson Terminal in Alexandria, VA (Oronoco and
Union Streets), November 20th - 22nd, and open for
public visiting from noon to 4:00 p.m. on Sunday, 22
November.
Matthew Alexander Henson was born in
rural Maryland in 1866. His parents died when he was
young, and Henson moved to Washington DC to live with
relatives. At the age of 12 he shipped out of
Baltimore aboard a merchant ship. Traveling around
the world for the next 5 years, Henson learned
mathematics, navigation, the classics, and became
fluent in Mandarin. In 1887, Henson was back in
Washington working in a shop on Pennsylvania Avenue,
when Navy's Robert Peary entered the store as a
customer. The store's owner recommended Henson to
Peary.
Recognizing Henson as an unusual man,
Peary signed Henson on to accompany him on a survey
expedition to Nicaragua. This was the beginning of a
long association between the two men, which
culminated in Peary's and Henson's arrival —
after 8 attempts — at the North Pole on
April 6, 1909, twenty-two years later.
Henson was an indispensable part of
Peary's Arctic expedition team — learning the
Eskimo language, becoming expert in the handling the
dog teams, skilled at building igloos and sledges.
Henson was the only one to remain with Peary as they
approached the Pole. In all likelihood, Henson was
the first to break trail to the Pole with his Eskimo
team, while Peary rode in the sleds. He may have
given the honor of planting the American flag at the
Pole to his long-time partner.
After his death in 1920, Peary was
buried in Arlington National Cemetery. When Henson
died in 1955, he was in Woodlawn Cemetery in New
York. While Henson was eventually elected an honorary
member of the Explorers Club and awarded the Navy's
silver medal, he was not given full public credit for
his role in conquering the Pole until recently,
thanks in large part to recent publicity by the
National Geographic Society and to efforts on the
part of Dr. S. Allen Counter.
In 1988, Dr.
Counter—neuroscientist, explorer, Director of
the Harvard Foundation, and recognized expert on
Henson—petitioned President Ronald Reagan to
have Henson's remains reinterred with full honors in
Arlington National Cemetery beside those of Peary.
Both Henson and Peary family descendants were present
at that occasion.
In 1996, on the 130th anniversary of
his birth, the Navy named its newest oceanographic
survey ship after Matthew Alexander Henson. Family
descendants were present at its christening and
launch.
USNS Henson (T-AGS 63) is the
fourth in the T-AGS 60 class of multi-purpose
oceanographic survey ships built for the Navy. It was
preceded by sister ships USNS Pathfinder, USNS
Sumner, and USNS Bowditch. USNS Henson
is now part of a fleet of oceanographic ships
surveying around the world collecting the vast amount
of oceanographic data needed to update nautical
charts and create new ones.
Like all of the Pathfinder
class ships, USNS Henson is a multi-mission
ship, able to survey in both coastal and deep ocean
waters. The dual capability is also indicative of the
U. S. Navy's increased emphasis on shallow water or
littoral investigations.
The 5,000-ton ship, equipped with the
latest survey technology, is designed and constructed
to carry out multiple surveys, including physical,
chemical and biological oceanography;
multi-discipline environmental investigations; ocean
engineering and marine acoustics; marine geology and
geophysics, and bathymetric, gravimetric and
magnetometric surveying.
The resource sponsor for USNS Henson
is the Oceanographer of the Navy. The surveys are
conducted for the Naval Meteorology and Oceanography
Command, Stennis Space Center, by personnel of the
Naval Oceanographic Office. The ship is operated by
Navy's Military Sealift Command.
-end-
Note to Media: For more
information about the USNS HENSON visit in Baltimore,
contact Cathy Willis (410) 539-8400 after November 14
at the Baltimore Hilton Inner Harbor. For information
about the Henson Family, the ship visit to
Alexandria, VA, and the Arlington National Cemetery
Ceremony, contact Gail Cleere at (202) 762-1045.
Due to heightened security around
the ship, we ask that media who wish to visit the
ship call Gail Cleere ahead of time (leave name and
number on voice mail). They must bring a press badge
and photo ID to show at the ship's gangway. We
apologize for any inconvenience this may cause.