Charles A. Radley

U.S. Navy Veteran 1897-1899. During the Spanish American War he was an ordinary seaman on USFS Olympia, flagship of Commodore George Dewey's seven-ship Asiatic Squadron. However, he was one of four enlisted men transferred on April 11, 1898 to the USS Nanshan that were selected by Lt. Hodges, whom Dewey had selected to command Nanshan, a 4,800 ton civilian collier procured at Hong Kong to support the squadron. He was on Nanshan during the Battle of Manila Bay on May 1, 1898.

Radley was a merchant sailor for years before he enlisted in the Navy. Aboard the Portland, ME square-rigger W.H. Conner at Shanghai in 1897 he enlisted on August 19, that year and was assigned to the gunboat, USS Monocacy. In April 1898 a contingent of 50 men was detached from Monocacy to Olympia. Of that fifty, Commodore Dewey ordered Lt. Hodges to pick four sailor to augment the civilian crew of Nanshan that Dewey had appointed Hodges to command. Interestingly, while he was one of four Olympia sailors transferred to the collier Nanshan on April 11, 1898, a few weeks before the Battle of Manila Bay, he claimed not only to have been aboard Olympia at the famous battle, but to have fired the first shot from the maintop gun. The Olympia's log of August 21, 1898 notes that Radley had been placed in single irons to await investigation of alleged theft occurring on Nanshan.

Radley also claimed to have later been part of a landing party of Navy volunteers assisting a Pennsylvania army regiment fighting Filipino guerrillas when he was wounded in the leg and honorably discharged on January 9, 1900. During his merchant sailing career he was on the Roanoke, the largest square rigger in the American merchant marine fleet and the Henry B. Hyde, hailed as the fastest clipper ship.

Sailing out of Bath, ME, he was known as "Captain Radley". He was 85 when he died at the Veterans' facility at Togus, ME and was survived by his wife, Dorris, five sons, two daughters and several grandchildren. His obituary stated that, "He cherished a service medal (the Dewey Medal) awarded all veterans of the Manila Bay engagement.

Radley Charles Albert -- [Service Number] 001968481, [Date of Enlistment] 08/19/1897