Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography/Fry, Joseph

FRY, Joseph, naval officer, b. in Louisiana about 1828 ; d. in Santiago de Cuba, 7 Nov., 1873. He entered the navy as midshipman in 1841, and became passed midshipman, 10 Aug., 1847. In that year he fought a duel with Midshipman Brown, of Mississippi, near Washington, in which, after drawing his antagonist's fire, he refused to return it. He was promoted to master, 14 Sept., 1855, to lieutenant on the following day, and re- signed, 1 Feb., 1861, after the secession of his nati'V'B state. He was unable to secure a commission in the Confederate navy owing to its limited size, and was given a conmiand in the army. After serving in the southwest through the war, he removed to Albany, N. Y. He accepted the command of the filibustering steamer "Virginius" in 1873, and with thirty-six of his crew was shot as a pirate by the authorities in Cuba, after the capture of his vessel by a Spanish man-of-war.