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The Story of the "Signal Hill" Name
The following excerpts are taken from Ruckert, Norman G., Federal Hill, a Baltimore National Historical District. Baltimore, MD: Bodine and Associates, Inc. 1980.
| One of the first man-made improvements to the harbor at Baltimore was a means whereby merchants could be informed when one of their vessels was approaching her home port. In the words of an early commentator, knowledge of a vessel‘s nearing port might "afford the merchant an opportunity of saving an insurance premium and the |
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| underwriters the gratification of beholding a flag on which they had largely insured." Well before the vessel dropped anchor, customs officials could get their red tape ironed out and quarantine doctors could ready their bills and bleeding cups. Wives and sweethearts could prepare for the sailor‘s return. In fact, everyone directly or indirectly concerned with waterborne commerce was interested in knowing of the pending arrival of a vessel in port. |
When, in 1797, Captain David Porter, Sr., announced that he was about to provide a means to bring Baltimore quicker news of incoming shipping, his efforts at the outset received hearty support. His ultimate achievement benefited the port for more than a century.
What induced Porter to establish the Marine observatory has not been recorded. Certainly his life afloat had shown him the undeniable usefulness of such an institution, but the reason may have been only that the boredom of life ashore influenced him to seek some touch with the sea. Whatever his motivation, he advertised on March 10, 1797, in the Federal Gazette:
PROPOSAL
For the erection of a Flag-Staff on the highest ground on Federal Hill
DAVID PORTER
Proposes to build a Look-out House, and raise a Flag-Staff on Federal Hill, that early information may be obtained of ships and vessels coming up the Bay.
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He further proposed to equip the station with "a good telescope and perspective glasses," and to have "suitable signal flags prepared."
In return for his own and his station's services, he sought three hundred subscribers at $2.50 annually, half to be paid in advance to finance the construction of the lookout house. Each subscriber who was a vessel owner would have his "private signal" (a banner of distinctive design and coloring selected by the owner in order that his vessel might be identified at considerable distance). The observatory was to fly an identical signal upon sighting that at the masthead of an approaching vessel. Each subscriber would receive a printed copy of all the signals of the port. He would have free access to the observatory and preferential use of the telescope and glasses. Those not subscribers were required to pay twenty-five cents each time they sought admittance.
The earliest extant signal list is that with which "Captain Porter has, for the information of the public, politely favoured the publishers of the New Baltimore Directory & Annual Register." This list gives fifty-six private signals and the ensigns of the city-states of Bremen and Hamburg, both of which were greatly interested in the Baltimore trade. Among the private signals listed were such firms as John McKim and Son, "Green Flag with a white ball and white fly;" William Patterson, "Red above, white below, the letters WP in the white;" Paul Bentalou, "Blue and white, checkered;" Alexander Brown, "Red on top, white strip, red on bottom with a B in the red."
The method of using the signals was, as Captain Porter wrote, "on a scale easy to be understood." When sighted through the telescope by the observatory, the signal flown as the masthead of the approaching vessel was hoisted on the Federal Hill flagstaff, there to be easily seen from every part of the harbor and business district. When a second vessel hove in sight, a small cannon was fired to alert the port to the change in or addition to the flag hoist. Foreign vessels were indicated by their respective national ensigns being hoist. There also seems to have been some scheme whereby, through the use of large canvas or basketwork balls being hauled aloft, other information, perhaps the position of the inward-bound vessel, could be conveyed. Knowledge of this latter system, however, has not survived.
The observatory on Federal Hill became to all who entered the port the most prominent landmark of the town. It was depicted on almost every view and mentioned in every guidebook up to the turn of the twentieth century. The hill itself, "a beautiful and commanding eminence, on the south side of the Basin" rose about 75 feet above the water. On its crest was a two-story frame house, evidently Porter's residence, and the look-out house itself. The latter was a square pyramid thirty feet high with a projecting balcony. A "watcher's room" had a window in each side giving an unobstructed view of the whole land- and waterscape downriver. A flagstaff stood atop the roof, and there were other masts. An eventual four were erected in the dooryard and the yard itself was enclosed by a high board fence.
Even though the observatory was fully functioning in May, the real opening came on July 4, 1797. Not since the celebration following the ratification of the Federal Constitution had Federal Hill seen such a fete. Captain Porter's program was announced in the newspaper as follows:
"OBSERVATORY"
The Citizens are respectfully informed that the observatory will be illuminated This Evening. The fire works of various forms will be exhibited but no squibs [firecrackers] - a proper place is prepared for this exhibition.The morning of this memorable day will be ushered in with the discharge of the Observatory Artillery. At 10 in the evening the citizens who may please to honor the observatory with their company, shall have a Federal Salute and a rocket for each gun. The Fire works will be as follows; wheels horizontally and otherwise, a discharge of one of Buonaparte's conquering Pistols - this scene will be open by the drawing of the cork of a bottle of Porter which will turn into a volcano. A collation and the very best liquors will be provided; the proprietor of the observatory earnestly solicits the patronage of the citizens, every exertion shall be to please...
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Source: Ruckert, Norman G., Federal Hill, a Baltimore National Historical District. Baltimore, MD: Bodine and Associates, Inc. 1980
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