Naval History and Heritage Command

Instructions, signals, and explanations, ordered for the United States Fleet, by Thomas Truxtun, Baltimore, Printed by John Hayes, in Public-Alley, 1797.

This, the first U.S. Navy signals book, is a work of great rarity. The copy in the Navy Department Library belonged to the author, Commodore Thomas Truxtun. During the Revolutionary War, Truxtun in the Privateer St. James, 20 guns, had "brought back the most valuable cargo entered at Philadelphia during the Revolution, and Washington at a dinner in Truxton's honor, declared his services worth a regiment."

The top image is of the title page and the bottom image is of the Table of Signals.

7 November 2003