Consul General in the Azores, married Roxanne Lewis and moved to a home in Horta. Their son Charles William Dabney (who later married Francis Alsop Pomeroy) succeeded his father in this position and played an important part in the history and economy of Horta and Faial. This was helped by the construction of a commercial port in 1876 and the installation of transatlantic telegraph cables in 1893. The Dabney family steered the island's economy for 83 years with good effect on the dynamic growth of the port, the export of oranges and Verdelho wine from Pico, and commerce related to the whaling industry. On September 26, 1814, the American privateer brig General Armstrong, under the command of Samuel Chester Reid, was sunk by three ships of the British Royal Navy under the command of Robert Lloyd. After being forced to scuttle his ship, Reid formally protested the ship's destruction in a neutral port, criticizing Portuguese incapacity to defend their own waters. Her principal piece of naval artillery, the cannon "Long Tom", was later recovered from Horta Bay. It was eventually offered to General Batcheller, the United States Minister in Lisbon, in compensation. General Batcheller returned to Horta to pick up the cannon and delivered it to New York City on board the ship USS Vega on or about April 18, 1893. On July 4, 1833, the vila of Horta, through the initiative of the Duke d'Ávila and Bolama, was elevated to the status of city and the district capital as a reward for Faial's support of Liberal forces during the Portuguese Liberal Revolution. The city hall's coat of arms were changed to read “Very Loyal City of Horta” by decree of King Luís I of Portugal on May 3, 1865. Construction of Horta's commercial port in 1876 increased the city's international importance. On August 23, 1893, the first telegraph cables linking Horta (Alagoa) and Lisbon (Carcavelos) made Horta a link in transatlantic communication. The presence of several foreign cable companies in Horta increased the economic activity and development, urban growth, and frequency of cultural and sporting activities on the island. Between 1893 and 1969 Horta was an important post in intercontinental communications. 20th century Horta entered into the annals of early aviation history when United States Navy Captain Albert Cushing Read completed the first Atlantic leg of the first transatlantic flight when he landed his Curtiss NC-4 floatplane in the