Sam Whiting was born on Long Island, New York, and first shipped in his teens (Ross, 16). Sam would serve two years in the US Navy, 33 years on merchant ships (S.S.Harbor Samuel Whiting ID Page - 581), and part of 1855 on an arctic rescue mission to save the crew of the Ship Advance (Ross,16).
PERILOUS SITUATION OF THE ADVANCE AND RESCUE IN MELVILLE BAY - Harper's New Monthly Magazine Vol IV, December 1851
In the 1840s Sam Whiting served on the USS Steamer the Poinsett (North, ). The USS Poinsett was a sidewheel gunboat that took part in the Second Seminole War. The Seminole War would last until 1842 (Naval History and Heritage Command); after the Seminole War, Sam Whiting worked boats operating on the Great Lakes. He would become an editor for the first newspaper in Panama, and once he met his wife, he would try to settle in Winona, Minnesota. In the 1850s, Sam would secure work as assistant editor of a Winona Newspaper (Ross,16).
Sam Whiting would eventually leave Winona and return to the sea, first on the expedition to save the crew of the Ship Advance. Elisha Kent Kane, the artic explorer, and his men from the Ship Advance were stranded on Disko Island. Then by 1860, Sam Whiting was the Captain of the Steam Ship Marion. Sam Whiting and his crew took passengers and freight between Charleston and New York (Ross,17).
In December of 1860, after the secession of South Carolina from the Union, Sam Whiting, on his way out of Charleston Harbor, refused to lower the United States Flag and raise the North Carolina Palmetto Flag when passing Fort Sumter. His response to a letter from the North Carolina Authorities was that he was born under the Stars and Stripes and would die under them (New York Times - January 7, 1861). The Palmetto incident made Captain Whiting a bit of a Hero in the North (Ross,17). Captain Whiting lost his command of the Ship Marion on a trip back to Charleston. The authorities in South Carolina forced him to take a train North (Ross,17). Whiting, once in New York, became a popular speaker, giving lectures on his Polar Expedition and his exploits on the Steam Ship Marion (New York Times - January 24, 1861).
A drawing of a typical blockade runner during the latter half of the Civil War. US Navy - historycollection.com.
Samuel Whiting was appointed by the Lincoln Administration to Council at Nassau Bahamas in 1861 and would take his post on July 1, 1861. Whiting would arrive on the British Steam Ship the Karnak. Sam Whiting would work to keep the Lincoln administration informed of the Confederate activities on Nassau - the Blockade running Ships and the hostilities that Northern citizens faced in Nassau. Whiting would greet Prince Alfred in Nassau in December 1861 and write a Poem in his Honor(Ross,27). In March of 1863, due to increased hostilities in Nassau, Samuel Whiting resigned his commission and returned to New York on the Ship British Queen (Ross, 119). Sam Whiting would begin giving speeches again and writing poetry for the local newspapers.
Samuel Whiting entered Sailors Snug Harbor in 1876 when he was 62. He would remain at the Harbor for four years, six months, and 27 days dying on July 30, 1882. Sam Whiting is buried in Sailors Snug Harbor in Plot 4, Row 2, and number 27 grave. According to the cemetery map, this gives Sam a grave number of 1343.