Frank Hamilton Newcomb (10 November 184620 February 1934) was a United States Revenue Cutter Service commodore, best known for his actions at the Battle of Cárdenas during the Spanish–American War. Early life and education Newcomb was born in Boston, Massachusetts on 10 November 1846, the oldest of three children. His father, Hiram Newcomb was a merchant sea captain and Frank sailed on his father's ship at an early age. At the age of sixteen he served on another merchant ship that made an around the world trading voyage. Career U.S. Navy In 1863 at the age of 17, Newcomb received a U.S. Navy officer's appointment as acting master's mate aboard the mortar schooner . As a part of the Atlantic Blockading Squadron during the American Civil War, Para served through many engagements. In early 1865, Newcomb was transferred to , which was a coaling vessel home-ported at Port Royal, South Carolina. At the conclusion of the war, Newcomb resigned from the Navy and attempted to make a living as a merchant and as an officer on a merchant ship. He made trips to Europe and the West Coast, but due to a decline in United States merchant shipping after the war he was not able to make a living as a merchant mariner. In 1869, he began working for the Alabama and Chattanooga Railroad and later the Atchison, Topeka, and Santa Fe Railroad. U.S. Revenue Cutter Service Desiring to return to a sea career, Newcomb applied for and received a commission in the United States Revenue Cutter Service. He was commissioned as a third lieutenant on 8 March 1873 and assigned initially to . Petrel was sold on 21 October 1873 and Newcomb was transferred to USRC W.H. Crawford, reporting aboard 25 November 1873. Newcomb was transferred to based at Milwaukee, Wisconsin in June 1876. He was promoted to second lieutenant on 25 March 1878. In 1879, Newcomb was appointed as an assistant inspector for the United States Life-Saving Service by USLSS superintendent Sumner I. Kimball. While he served in this capacity he was placed in charge of based in Elizabeth City, North Carolina, and he used the boat to aid in inspecting USLSS stations in south Virginia and North Carolina. The senior inspector, Lieutenant Charles F. Shoemaker and Newcomb helped establish an all black crew located on North Carolina's Outer Banks at Pea Island because some of the white