George Preston Blow, son of Judge George Blow, Jr. and Elizabeth Taylor Allmand, was born in Norfolk, Virginia, in 1860. In 1875, Blow enrolled at the United States Naval Academy, one of the first postbellum Southerners allowed to enlist.
After graduating in 1881, he was stationed on the USS Essex before joining the USS Pinta as an Ensign, shortly before its trip to Alaska around Cape Horn in 1883. He later served in the Mediterranean aboard USS Pensacola under the command of Captain George Dewey. In 1887 he was the navigation officer during attempts to raise the treasure ship DeBraak in Delaware Bay.
Ensign Blow was detailed to Hawaiian King Kalakaua's 1890-1891 visit to California. Tragically, during this visit, King Kalakaua suffered a fatal stroke. Blow was later knighted by Queen Liliuokalani, though he was not allowed by Congress to accept his honor until March 1897. His decoration was sent by the Navy Department to the ship he was then stationed aboard - the Maine. Its explosion destroyed this and everything else Lieutenant Blow owned. He resigned his commission in 1900.
Throughout his naval career, Lieutenant Blow invented and patented several revolutionary items, including the depth charge, a weapon critical in anti-submarine warfare.
In 1893, he married Adele Matthiessen of LaSalle, Illinois. Upon his naval resignation, Blow moved to Adele's hometown and served as president of the Western Clock Company, owned by his father-in-law.
He died in Washington D.C. in 1922 survived by his wife and four children and was buried with the Naval Academy Class of 1881 in Arlington National Cemetery. After his death and in his memory, his wife donated the funds to build a new gymnasium for William & Mary, now known as Blow Memorial Hall.
Materials in the Special Collections Research Center
- "George Preston Blow" in SCRC database.
- Photos in SCRC of Blow Hall Tribe Trek: Blow Memorial Hall, Constructed 1923-1925.
Further Reading
- George Preston Blow Naval History and Heritage Command, accessed August 26, 2016.