CDV of Josiah Sturgis, Captain of the US Revenue

CDV vignetted portrait of Captain Josiah Sturgis of the US Revenue Cutter Hamilton. Plimpton & Ruggles: Roxbury, MA, n.d., ca 1864. 69 Washington Street imprint on verso with two-cent revenue stamp. With inscription on verso identifying the subject. Appears to be vignetted from an earlier negative as Sturgis perished in 1850 and Plimpton & Ruggles were not active until the 1860s.

Sturgis (1773-1850) was a lifelong seaman best remembered as the commanding officer of the Revenue Cutter Hamilton which plowed the waters off of New England in the 1840s responsible for rescuing hundreds. The Hamilton was regarded as the fastest in her Morris-Taney Class of ships in service of the United States Revenue Cutter Service, the forerunner to the US Coast Guard.
Condition Report: Two-cent revenue stamp on verso. Small, faint spot above portrait.