Henry Honychurch Gorringe (August 11, 1841 – July 7, 1885) was a United States naval officer who attained national acclaim for successfully completing the removal of

Cleopatra's Needle Cleopatra's Needles are a separated pair of ancient Egyptian obelisks now in London and New York City. The obelisks were originally made in Heliopolis (modern Cairo) during the New Kingdom period, inscribed by the 18th dynasty pharaoh Thutmose I ...

from

Alexandria Alexandria ( ; ) is the List of cities and towns in Egypt#Largest cities, second largest city in Egypt and the List of coastal settlements of the Mediterranean Sea, largest city on the Mediterranean coast. It lies at the western edge of the Nile ...

, Egypt to

Central Park Central Park is an urban park between the Upper West Side and Upper East Side neighborhoods of Manhattan in New York City, and the first landscaped park in the United States. It is the List of parks in New York City, sixth-largest park in the ...

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

Early life

Henry Honychurch Gorringe was born in the

British colony A Crown colony or royal colony was a colony governed by England, and then Great Britain or the United Kingdom within the English and later British Empire. There was usually a governor to represent the Crown, appointed by the British monarch on ...

Barbados Barbados, officially the Republic of Barbados, is an island country in the Atlantic Ocean. It is part of the Lesser Antilles of the West Indies and the easternmost island of the Caribbean region. It lies on the boundary of the South American ...

on August 11, 1841. His father served as rector to St. Michael's Cathedral. Young Henry came to the United States at a young age, entering the merchant marine. During the

Civil War A civil war is a war between organized groups within the same Sovereign state, state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies.J ...

, he enlisted in the Union Navy, entering on July 13, 1862, with the rank of Mate, serving in the Mississippi Squadron. He received promotion to Acting Ensign on October 1, 1862, to Acting Master on September 26, 1863, to Acting Volunteer Lieutenant on April 27, 1864, and to Acting Volunteer Lieutenant Commander on July 10, 1865. Gorringe elected to stay in the Navy after the war, receiving a regular commission as a Lieutenant on March 12, 1868, and was promoted to Lieutenant Commander on December 18, 1868. Gorringe discovered the underwater mountain range now known as the

Gorringe Ridge The Gorringe Ridge is a seamount in the Atlantic Ocean. It is located about west of Portugal, between the Azores and the Strait of Gibraltar along the Azores–Gibraltar fault zone. It is about wide and long in the northeast direction. It is, ...

in 1875, while commanding the exploration vessel . That same year he compiled a book on the exploration of the

Río de la Plata The Río de la Plata (; ), also called the River Plate or La Plata River in English, is the estuary formed by the confluence of the Uruguay River and the Paraná River at Punta Gorda, Colonia, Punta Gorda. It empties into the Atlantic Ocean and ...

, published by the U.S. Hydrographic Office. He served in the

Mediterranean The Mediterranean Sea ( ) is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the east by the Levant in West Asia, on the north by Anatolia in West Asia and Southern ...

in 1876–1878.

Moving Cleopatra's Needle

In 1879, Gorringe put in an application for the contract to move the

obelisk An obelisk (; , diminutive of (') ' spit, nail, pointed pillar') is a tall, slender, tapered monument with four sides and a pyramidal or pyramidion top. Originally constructed by Ancient Egyptians and called ''tekhenu'', the Greeks used th ...

Thutmosis III Thutmose III (variously also spelt Tuthmosis or Thothmes), sometimes called Thutmose the Great, (1479–1425 BC) was the fifth pharaoh of the 18th Dynasty of Egypt. He is regarded as one of the greatest warriors, military commanders, and milita ...

from Alexandria to Central Park. His was the only complete plan, and in August 1879, he was granted the contract, for which he was to be paid $75,000. Gorringe and his assistant, Seaton Schroeder, left for Europe to purchase materials and then went to Alexandria to move the obelisk. While in Egypt, Gorringe encountered diplomatic obstruction from European countries, technical problems, and obstruction from local authorities. He was able to overcome them all and successfully departed from Alexandria on June 12, 1880. They arrived in

Staten Island Staten Island ( ) is the southernmost of the boroughs of New York City, five boroughs of New York City, coextensive with Richmond County and situated at the southernmost point of New York (state), New York. The borough is separated from the ad ...

on July 20, right on schedule. Gorringe had to commission a special railway to carry the 200 ton obelisk from the shipyards to Central Park. It was finally erected on January 22, 1881. That same year, Gorringe was elected as a member to the

American Philosophical Society The American Philosophical Society (APS) is an American scholarly organization and learned society founded in 1743 in Philadelphia that promotes knowledge in the humanities and natural sciences through research, professional meetings, publicat ...

Later career and death

It was Gorringe, who after attending a lecture about "sin in politics" by a very young New York Assemblyman, approached the young politician telling him how much he enjoyed the talk. The young politician also had a very deep interest in Naval History, which also appealed to the young (now former) Naval officer, and the two became fast friends. The New York Assemblyman told Gorringe how much he wanted to hunt buffalo before they vanished, to which Gorringe invited the young man to join him at his Cantonment out in the Badlands. Gorringe however, backed out at nearly the last minute, but the young assemblyman did go West to the Badlands, arriving in Medora, North Dakota "at 3 a.m. on the morning of September 7, 1883". That young assemblyman-soon-to-be-a-cowboy was none other than Theodore Roosevelt. Gorringe wrote ''Egyptian Obelisks'', a book about the expedition to retrieve the obelisk and a study of the other standing obelisks in Paris and London. He resigned from the navy on February 21, 1883. He died on July 7, 1885, the result of an accident the previous winter while boarding a moving train (although ''

Scientific American ''Scientific American'', informally abbreviated ''SciAm'' or sometimes ''SA'', is an American popular science magazine. Many scientists, including Albert Einstein and Nikola Tesla, have contributed articles to it, with more than 150 Nobel Pri ...

'' notes the complications were from spinal injuries from jumping off a moving train). His friend erected a miniature copy of Cleopatra's Needle over Gorringe's grave. He is buried in Rockland Cemetery in Sparkill, New York.

In media

* Humorist

Arthur Guiterman Arthur Guiterman (; November 20, 1871 Vienna – January 11, 1943 New York) was an American writer best known for his humorous poems. Life and career Guiterman was born of American parents in Vienna. His father was Alexander Gütermann, born in t ...

referenced Gorringe as a rhyme for "orange" in his poetry: In Sparkill buried lies that man of mark Who brought the Obelisk to Central Park, Redoubtable Commander H.H. Gorringe, Whose name supplies the long-sought rhyme for "orange." * The novel ''Prophet of the Sun'', by Russell Blanchard Smith, features Gorringe as a major character in a series of dream sequences.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Gorringe, Henry Honeychurch 1841 births 1885 deaths United States Navy officers Barbadian emigrants to the United States Union Navy officers Members of the American Philosophical Society