WOOD, William Willis Wiley, naval engineer, born in Wake county, North Carolina, 30 May, 1818; died near Jutland, St. Mary's County, Maryland, 31 Aug'., 1882. He acquired a knowledge of engineering at the West Point foundry, New York, entered the navy as a chief engineer, 15 March, 1845, and superintended the construction of the boilers and engines of the steam frigate " Merrimac" in 1854-'7 at Cold Spring, New York During the civil war he rendered valuable services on special duty connected with the steam-engineering service at the navy-yards in New York, Philadelphia, and Boston. He was head of the department of steam engineering at the naval academy in 1866-'7, chief engineer of the New York navy-yard in 1868-'9, inspector of machinery afloat in 1870-'2, chief of the bureau of steam engineering from 1872 till 3 March, 1877, and on special duty at Washington until 30 May, 1880, when he was placed on the retired list. He was one of the pioneers in the United States steam navy, and held the relative rank of commodore when he was retired as he had served as engineer-in-chief. He was drowned in a boat capsized by a squall.