Hercules Watches Over Stony Brook Harbor
Not far from the flooding that took out homes and Harbor Road in Stony Brook stands Hercules, the former figurehead of the U.S.S. Ohio.
Built at the Brooklyn Navy Yard in 1820, the Navy ship sported 104 guns and was part of the Mediterranean Squadron under Commodore Issac Hull. Acting as a flagship, she protected commerce and suppressed the slave trade off the African coast. It was dismantled at Greenport in 1884.
The U.S.S. Ohio. |
The ship’s figurehead was presented to the community by Cornellius N. Van Pattern and Thomas L. O'Donnell of the Ward Melville Heritage Organization.