Joseph Matthews (Medal of Honor)

He went over the stern in a storm to free the rudder chains.

Joseph Matthews was born in Malta in 1849. He served in the United States Navy as captain of the top aboard USS Constitution.

On 13 February 1879, the ship encountered a heavy gale in the northeast Atlantic, west of the English Channel. Matthews went over the stern and cut the fastenings of the rudder chains. His courageous work at sea earned the Medal of Honor.

Lieutenant Commander Theodore F. Jewell, the ship's executive officer, presented the medal aboard Constitution at the New York Navy Yard on 7 September 1879. Matthews died on 11 November 1912 in Brunswick, Georgia, and is buried there in Palmetto Cemetery.

Medal of Honor citation

For courageous conduct in going over the stern of the U.S.S. Constitution at sea, 13 February 1879, during a heavy gale, and cutting the fastenings of the ship's rudder chains.