enslaved workers were leased to the Navy by naval officers including Seamen Abram Lynson and Charles Lancaster, (see thumbnail) the Commodore’s enslaved "servants". In his conclusion Tingey, cited the custom of the service, and implored Robert Smith to reconsider this ban.Smith would not reconsider,Commodore Tingey, later manumitted the 29 year old Lynson on 21 July 1809. The Navy Yard though in 1809 returned to employing enslaved labor with Tingey's request to Secretary Smith to, "...direct the employment in the Ordinary of good Slaves, belonging to this neighborhood - and the number not to exceed twenty at present." On 11 May 1815, an alarmed Board of Navy Commissioners, again wrote Tingey, about WNY employment practices "Particularly pressure in the employment of characters unsuited for the public service – maimed & unmanageable slaves for the accommodation of distressed widows & orphans & indigent families - apprentices for the accommodation of their masters – & old men & children for the benefit of their families & parents. These practices must cease." As naval agent in accordance with the naval regulations of the era, Commodore Tingey received 1% of his Washington Navy Yard disbursements as commission. His involvement in procurement and contracting issues soon gave rise to a perception of irregular purchase and an inquiry into these charges on 10 December 1810 Secretary of the Navy Robert Smith establishing inquiry into the Commodore's conduct. The inquiry failed to find any substantive violations. During Tingey's tenure as commandant, Washington Navy Yard personnel were frequently used to design and test new weapons. Secretary Smith requested Tingey on 6 February and 17 August 1808 arrange a test of Doctor Wallace's invention and Robert Fulton's torpedo both projects which required yard employees and resources. In August 1814, as the British advanced on Washington, the Secretary of the Navy ordered Tingey to set fire to the yard. He wrote to his daughter under date of 17 September 1814, "I was the last officer who quitted the city after the enemy had possession of it, having fully performed all orders received, in which was included that myself retiring, and not to fall into their possession. I was also the first who returned and the only one who ventured in on the day on which they were peaceably masters of it." Tingey resumed his duties as commandant after the withdrawal of the British forces. Throughout his twenty-nine year tenure as Washington