Smith Island's Beau Brummell

From an article featured in the Crisfield Times, June 4, 1937.
Submitted by Jennings Evans for the Winter 1995 issue of the Crisfield & Smith Island Newsletter

The death of J. Thomas Tyler at the Philadelphia Navy Shipyard on January 31, 1849 brought to light an interesting lifestyle of a former Smith Islander. Born near Fogg's Point by Kedges Straits, he was a descendant of Butler Tyler (who at one time owned and operated a plantation at Tylerton) and Solomon (uncle Sol) of Solomons Lump (who had watched from a tree in his yard as British and American armed barges fought the last naval battle of the Revolutionary War at the mouth of Kedges Straits on November 30, 1782).

As a boy, Thomas had always loved the water that he had grown up around and dreamed of sailing to distant lands on a clipper ship, like the ones that sailed the Chesapeake each day, as he watched them from his island home by the Bay. He and many of his boyhood pals had grown up sailing around their island in small, but sturdy, canoes on the near-by waters of the Tangier Sound and Chesapeake Bay. They knew how to maneuver their little sailing crafts through the eight miles of marshy guts and creeks that ran from their homes at Kedges to the south-most part of Smiths Island, the Amen Corner.

Some of Thomas' sail-mates were among the first Chesapeake Bay schooner captains to begin dredging for oysters at the start of the oyster boom in the 1840's. But Thomas had even bigger dreams and, while still a very young man, enlisted in the United States Navy in 1838, beginning what was to be a very exciting 11-year career in that service.

On September 9, 1839, young Tyler was assigned for sea duty as a quarter gunner on the warship U.S.S. Brandywine. From that position, he worked his way up through the ranks, until finally he attained the rank of Chief Petty Officer (non-commissioned) on the Brandywine.

Tyler's character was somewhat of the Beau Brummell type proud, adventuresome, classy probably what a representative in the service of the U.S. Navy was trained to be in those days of sailing warships. Thomas would sometimes return to Smith Island on furlough, in full uniform, which was very impressive to the home-folks, to say the least. His attire consisted of navy blue pants with a red stripe down the leg, a Prince Albert gold colored buttoned coat, and a high beaver hat. And his shoes were spit shined to the nth degree. He was a physical specimen to behold!

On his return visits to the Island, Thomas never failed to bring along his famous demijohn with five gallons of the finest liquors that could be acquired in those days he was a very popular fellow indeed! However, in those days, the New Methodist Society there highly disapproved of the consumption of liquored spirits for one's pleasure or drunkenness. Of course, corn whiskey was kept in some Island homes to mix in hot toddy doses to purge a variety of ailments in sick and elderly people, and was sometimes used as a liniment to prevent infection from mosquito and horsefly bites. But it's doubtful if any of Thomas' fine spirits were used for those purposes.

Tyler worked hard in the duties he performed aboard the Brandywine. Yet, he was also known to enjoy a general good-time when on leave from his vessel. Such was the case whenever he returned to Smith Island. That was, until his demijohn fell empty, after which he would bid adieu and wave goodbye to all of his friends and relatives.

On May 23, 1843, the U.S.S. Brandywine was selected as the flagship to lead a fleet of U.S. warships on a cruise around the world, under the command of Commodore Foxhall A. Parker. With Chief Petty Officer Tyler aboard the Brandywine, the fleet embarked from Hampton Roads to the South Atlantic Ocean, proceeding around the tip of Africa's Cape of Good Hope, across the Indian Ocean and into the port of Bombay, India. On October 23, 1843, the fleet left Bombay, sailing on to Australia, where it harbored briefly at Sydney before crossing the South Pacific Ocean and on around South America's Cape Horn, arriving in the harbor at Rio De Janeiro, Brazil on July 22, 1845. Thomas boasted that he saw the most beautiful harbors in the world on that voyage, and no one disputed his claim. The last leg of the fleets' voyage ended when it reached Norfolk,Virginia on September 17, 1845.

A few months later, Tyler received an Honorable Discharge from the Navy. However, civilian life was just too ordinary for the adventurous sailor and, after another visit back home with his Island family and friends, he re-enlisted in the Navy. He went on several more voyages aboard a few other naval sailing vessels, but somehow things were never quite as exciting as his duties on the Brandywine had been. His last assignment was on November 15, 1848, when he was stationed at the Philadelphia Shipyard for land duty. The confinement of land duty was probably more than he could bear after such an interesting sea-going career, with his life devoted entirely to the sea.

After only 14 months of land duty at the Philadelphia Shipyard, Chief Petty Officer J. Thomas Tyler died there on January 31, 1849. The Navy brought members of his family to Philadelphia for his funeral and to settle his estate. Some family members thought Thomas may have been a man of considerable means, according to the high lifestyle that he displayed. But, like so many of those illusive fortunes that people dream of yet never seem to find, Thomas Tyler's fortune was never found either. The Navy said that he died leaving very little money, and no property. But his family was proud to know that Smiths Island's Beau Brummell was a good seaman, a good American, and that he served his country commendably, and died while still in the service of his country. Need we ask for more?