Edward Brinley, Jr. (1824-1867), was born in Perth Amboy New Jersey to Francis W. Brinley. He was proceeded by two other Edward Brinley's, Edward I being Edward Jr.'s paternal grandfather, and Edward II his paternal uncle. After a childhood in New York, Pennsylvania, and New Jersey; and an education at the fledgling Rensselaer Institute in Troy, New York, where he earned a degree in civil engineering, Brinley was appointed a midshipman in the U.S. Navy in 1840. Brinley served aboard a number of ships over his career, including the U.S.S. North Carolina, U.S.S. Delaware, U.S. Frigate Brandywine, U.S. Frigate Congress, U.S.S. Falmouth, U.S.S. Preble, and the U.S.S. Potomac. During his time in the Navy, Brinley served up and down the U.S. Atlantic coast, as well as in the Mediterranean from approx. 1841-1843, the Caribbean and Gulf of Mexico from approx. 1844-1846, the Pacific (aboard the U.S.S. Preble) from 1847-1850, and finally the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean again 1855-1856. While aboard the Preble in the Pacific theatre, Brinley participated in the naval blockades of the U.S.-Mexican war, visited ports-of-call including Honolulu, Shanghai, and most notably, Nagasaki, during Captain James Glynn's famed negotiation for the release of the sailors of the shipwrecked U.S. Whaler Lagoda. Brinley's health began to suffer at the end of his Pacific cruise in 1850 (his letters indicate that nearly 50 of his shipmates aboard the Preble died of dysentery while en route to California from China), and forced him to quit the Navy following his cruise on the Potomac during 1856. He returned to Perth Amboy, NJ, where he served as Surveyor General of the East Jersey Proprietors and Commissioner of Pilotage for the State of New Jersey. He was granted a certificate of exemption from the draft during the American Civil War due to disability on account of a "permanent organic stricture of the urethra." He died of unknown causes on February 18, 1867 in Charleston, North Carolina.
From the description of Papers of Edward Brinley, Jr., 1823-1925 (bulk 1840-1856) (Huntington Library, Art Collections & Botanical Gardens). WorldCat record id: 669192447
