CHAPTER 6.

Efforts of naval officers to establish a naval school - Views

of Captains Stewart, Tingey and Evans in 18]4 - Views of the Mid-

-shipmen of this period - Their opposition to trie promotion of

sailing Masters - Naval Regulations of 1818 - Examination of Mid-

-shipmen - First practice cruise for Midshipmen in 1817 - Lieuten-

\. -ant Mackay's warning voice - Naval officers as writers - Naval

progress between 1830 and 1840 - Depot of Charts and Instruments -

The Naval Lyceum - Chaplain Jones's letters - First professional

book by an American naval officer - Revised Regulations of 1835 -

Second practice cruise of 1839 - Lieutenant Mackenzie's plan of a

naval school - His strictures on tho naval uniform of his day -

His proposed uniform for the navy - Action of officers on board the

"Constitution" and "Vandalia" in 1835 - Plan of Lieutenant Powell -

Chaplain Jones's plan - His efforts in Washington - Secretary IJp-

-shur's failure to establish a school - Commodore Stewart's views

in 1842 - Efforts of Lieutenant J.IT.Ward - Effect of the discussion

of the subject of naval education by naval officers.

The earliest expression of opinion by American naval officers

upon the subject of naval ediication is found in the replies of Cap­

tains Stewart, Tingey and Evans to a circular Ietter1 (f ,n. ^ This

letter was dated November 17, 1814. Secretary Jones's report to

the Senate Committee was dated March 18, 1814.) from the Senate

Naval Committee, forwarded in 1814, to every Captain in the service

with the request that each should give his views in regard to eer-

-tain plans of naval organization and reform discussed in a report

of Secretary Jones. In response to that portion of the report

Chap.6. - 1 - (p.l of ms.)

recommending the establishment of a naval school on shore, the fol-

-1 owing opinions were given:-

Gaptain Charles Stewart, commanding the frigate Constitution,

Boston Harbor, November 26, 1814. "The best school for the in-.

-struction of youth in the profession is the dock of a ship, pre-

-suming that none would be offered or received into the service,

as Midshipmen, whose education had not been such as to fit them for

officers, and calculated for gentlemen. To derive advantage from

expenditure, and induce that corps of officers to pursue their pro­

fession in time of peace, through private service, I would allow

no half pay to Midshipmen, except for such term as they can produce

a journal of their voyages, and certificates of the Master or owner

of the vessel, countersigned by the collector of the port. By

this means, many will be induced to pursue that calling to acquire

the essential knowledge of seamanship, the properties of different

species of vessels, an acquaintance and familiarity with coasts,

coimtries and nations; a knowledge of their marine, commerce and

fortresses; the genius of the people and their language; which

would be essential to them as officer's, and important to the nation

It would enable them to form a true estimate of the requisite force

for the attack of any point, place or object, and the seasons best

calculated for expeditions and enterprises with the least hazard to

themselves, when they should, be called to execute the object, or

plant the standard of Our Union over the humbled foe".

2. Captain Thomas Tingey, at Navy Yard, Washington, December

10th.,1314. "It is firmly believed that a Naval Academy will have

an amply beneficial effect on the Naval Establishment, and tend to

Chap. 6. - 2 - (p. I,'3, of ms. )

preclude the probibility of public ships and vessels falling under

the management of incompetent, uninformed men",

3. Captain Samuel Evans - at Navy Yard, Brooklyn, December

6, 1314 - "Such an institution would unquestionably be productive

of great advantage to the service".

Captains Bainbridge, Decatur, Hull, Morris, Perry, Porter,

Shaw and Warrington were silent upon the subject of a naval school.

This inquiry was made in the midst of great excitement caiised

by our naval triumphs, which perhaps accounts for the inattention

of so many distinguished officers to the educational project of

t

Secretary Jones. In fact, the young Captains of that day were too

much absorbed in the struggle upon the sea to discuss a subject

which involve-i such a radical change in established ideas. As a

class, they were self-educated men, well versed in the seaman's

art, and the great majority of them believed with the gallant ,Stew-

-art, that all the needed accomplishments of a naval officer, could

best be acquired on the deck of a ship-of--.war. The events of the

hour and their own brilliant example, seemed to corroborate this

view of the case, and many years elapsed before the now theory of\

naval training found willing acceptance in the higher ranks of the

service.

What the opinion of the Midshipmen of this period in regard to

the proposed naval school may have been, we are not informed; but

it appears they were sensible of the want of better education.

In a memorial addressed to the Senate, January 16, 1815, by a large

number of Midshipmen, protesting respectfully against the practice

of promoting sailing masters to the grade of Lieutenant, their ed-

Chap.6. - 3 - (p. 2,3 of us.)

-ucational status is thus alluded to - "Your memorialists beg

leave further to observe that the extent of their information and.

acquireme/its depends only in a slight decree upon themselves.

Thoy have been separated at a very early age from thoir families

and friends, anci made, as it were, the wards and children of the

public. The education they may have received depended riot upon

their parents, guardians or private preceptors, but on the consti-

-tuted authorities of the Country and on the teachers of their

choice. Your memorialists, without presuming to praise themselves

hope they will be found to have availed themselves of every oppor-

-tujuty given them for acquiring knowledge. But if there could be

any doubt that a Midshipman regularly serving his time in thff Navy

of the United States, i;- fit for promotion, they with the utmost

deference, submit, whether that great ovil would not be better re-U«-

-rnedied by devising some more effectual p*i#. for their education,

than by promoting over their heads st--angers entering from the

merchant service". 1 (f.n. ^ American State Papers - Naval Affairs

Vol.1, p.360.)

The inference to be drawn from this statement is, that Mid-

-shipmen had been receiving some theoretical instruction; but not

such as could aid their advancement in the service in time of

peace. Their modest suggestion of a better system of edxication

was not heeded by the authorities who, perhaps, supposed that the

appointment of schoolmansters, already s^jacti^ed by law ^(f.n. ̂ Act

of Congress approved January 2d.,1813.) , would be a sufficient

remedy for the evil complained of. It will be shown, however,

that this expedient was a failure from the start and could not be

Chap. 6. - 4 - (p. 3 of ;ns.)

depended, upon to prepare Midshipmen for their examination for pro-

-motion which was the sole object of all the early attempts at edu-

-cation in the Navy. Yet, wo find that the Board of Navy Commis-

- sioners who, by authority of CongressJCf.n.^ The Act of February

7, 1815, "To alter and amend the several acts for establishing a

navy department", created a Board of Navy Commissioners as an ad-

-junct to the Navy Department, and authorized their Board to pro-

-pare rules and regulations for the better government of the Navy.

The original regulations of 1802 needed revision in many particulars

to adapt them to the altered state of the Mavy at the close or the

war with England, -1815 - and it was not unt ' 1 1818 that the new

regulations we re issued. The Commissioners who discharged this

important duty were Captains John Rodgers, David Porter and Stephen

Decatur.) prepared the revised regulation of 1818 made the condi-

-tions of promotion more severe.^(f.n. See Chapter 6 for the re-

-quirements for promotion in 1818.) It seemed absurd to require

of candidates a knowledge of arithmetic, geometry, trigonometry and

astronomy in addition to the professional branches, without giving

them facilities for the study of those subjects, and we can account

for this anomaly only upon the hypothesis that the Board of Navy

Commissioners sought to fix a standard for the future which might

possibly be reached under some system of naval education.

A few captains of this period took particular interest in the

professional welfare of the Midshipmen. Among these was captain

William Eainbridge, at whose suggestion the U,3.Brig "Promethens"

of 1?, guns, and commanded by Alexander S Wads worth, was dispatched

in 1817 with a large number of Midshipmen on a criiise of iristruc-

Chap.6 - 5 - - (p.4 of rns. )

-tion aloi^g the coast of the United States. This was th^ first

practice cvuu.se for Midshipmen in our Navy, and it is stated that

great benefit VMS derived from it in every kind of professional

work, including the surveying of harbors, ana coast lines, in which

young officers had not been previously exercised. If this suc-

-cessful experiment had been repeated yearly, there would have

grown up on board the "Promethens" a school both of practice and

theory worthy of the name and adapted to the wants of young offi-

-cers, But the inactivity of peace, in despite of nov.- regulations

commenced to tell unfavorably upon the tone and spirit of the ser-

-vicet apathy succeeded energy among officers of all grades, and GO

rapid was the decline of the once efficient Navy of the United

States, that in 1828 one of its most active minds made the inorti-

-fying confession that "it were better to dismantle and sell our

chips, and turn the officers adrift to seek a livelihood in some

other way". Moreover, in the years succeeding the war with En-

-gla.nd there occurred frequent duels in the Mediterranean and olso-

-where between our officers and English naval officers resulting

from trifling causes, and such was the pugnacious spirit of the

midshipmen, that they often fought each other when an enemy of the

right sort could not be found. The young captains were inclined

to be autocratic, on board their ships, beyond the limits of the

regulations; Commodores' fists were shaken in Lieutenants' faces,

and if some Midshipmen were not pitched overboard it was not from

any tender consideration "or them. Indeed there was a time (1816)

when 54 Midshipmen serving in the Mediterranean squadron addressed

memorial upon the subject of their ill-treatment to the President

Chap.6. " - 6 - (p.4,5, of ms.)

of the United States, James Monroe, praying him to urge Congress to

enact a law "holding sacred our feelings from abuse, and our per-

-sons from injury, until duly convicted of offences for which suit-

-able punishment shall have been awarded by a competent tribunal".

(f.n.-. 1 American State Papers - Vol.1.) It must have been an ex-

-treme necessity that compelled so large a body of Midshipmen to

the .unusual step of officially charging their commanding officers

with repeated breaches of discipline and of the 15th. Article of

( 'J ' W>\*\ But the .ndnola Navy was aroused at length by the warning voice

of a young Lieutenant, whose manly virtues and professional attain-

-ments commanded the respect of the '-/hole service. We allude to

the gallant and accomplished Daniel H. Mackay2( f. ri. ?< Lieutenant

Llackay was lost in sloop-of-war Hornet in 1829.), not yet forgotten

by the veterans of our Navy, This officer in the "American Pjuar-

-terly Review" of 1828 pointed out the necessity of immediate re-

-forrn, and called attention to the revolution which steam ships and

Paixhan guns were about to inaugurate in naval warfare.

We had superb ships in those days - such as the north Carolina

This fine vessel carried on her crtiise a library of 4000 volumes -

a taste for reading and study was cultivated on board - her crew

numbered 920 men, and al-hough rated as a 74 she carried 92 guns.

Her officers heard a good deal of talk at Malta and Gibraltar of

war sure to come with the United States in consequence of the

President's proclamation just arrived out there.

Tie was followed by Lieutenant A.S.Mackenzie, who, in the

"North American Review" of April, 1830, eloquently exposed the

Chap. 6. - 7 - (p. 5 of rns.)

wants of the service, and contended that no organization thereof

could, be effective without a naval academy. This view' of the sub-

-ject was also sustained by Lieutenant L.M.Powell, in an unpublinh-

/f- -ed manuscript (1836), by Li eut enant L . 3'1 . Maury in the "Southern-£

Literary Messenger" (1840), and by a host of anonymous writers

betwe-en 1830 and 1845, in"Nile$' s Register" "Stewart 1 s Naval Magazine"

al"The Nation^ Gazette", "The Military and Naval Magazine" "The Army

and Navy Chronicle", and other publications of a less pretentious

i

v

i Laidont in Stoektou g i < T h t i ^ g a n v» q t. r> /» v -K nn . ,

£A*.

in command of the Erie as a Li eutenant, ̂ happened

to make a remark which a Midshipman commented upon in the L'

-ant s hearing in a manner conveying the impression that the lat-

-ter was taking advantage of his superior rank. In order to check

the tendency of yountf officers to speak disrespect. fully of their

seniors, he accepted a challenge from the irate youngster, and af-

-ter rnceiving the latter 1 s fire, discharged, his pistol in the air.' 17*^.Ju • ~

This had a good effect. Aft or- tho wa-r English naval of ficers^hec-

-tored ancl bullied offic-.rs of other nations and manifested par-

-ticxilar spite against Americans, Stockton felt called upon to

fight a duel at Naples with an English naval officer, whom he

wounded: also with an English Arrny officer at Gibraltar, whom he

wounded, and he accepted a challenge from all the officers of his

regiment, but the Commodore of tho American squadron prevented

further proceedings. Other duels followed lat.er, in one of which

Stockton again wounded his opponent, and by subsequent deeds of? /rivi.8 .- ', y&)

daring, enthused the whole population of Gibraltar, Finally the

Chap. 6. - 8 - (p. 5 & note of ms, )

Governor and Commodore arranged a treaty of peace, which was cele-?

-brated at a grand ball given by Governor Don, at which English and

American officers met in perfect harmony. Stockton fought only

when it was necessary to vindicate the honor of his nation or his

own honor.

In 1838, while Executive officer of the 74 Ohio in the Mecli-

-terranean, gave much attention to naval architecture, gunnery and

the stoarn engine and on his return to the United States, was per-

-mitted to construct a steam ship of war - opposed by. old navalj „ \xsAj &mK***j.tMf£,

tj^ **officers. OemmantfQx.i- jphe Princeton in 1842 and finished in 1844 -

the first man-of-war steamer in our service. Her speed, model,

sailing qualities and powerful armament made her a great success,

0U tract ed great attention abroad, and served as a model for many0

foreign naval architects. She was armed with two long 222-pound ;

wrought-iron guns of Stockton 1 s design (the first in our service)

and &*, 42 pound carronnades. For the first time tho art of gun-

-nery for sea service was reduced to something like mathematical

certainty by the experiments made with these heavy guns. Their

shot pierced a mass of timber 57 inches thick at a distance of 560

I yards from the gun. The improvements in the art of war adopted on

board the Princeton made her the most powerful war vessel of her

time. Soon followed the terrible disaster of the explosion of one

i of the "Peacemaker's" guns, causing the death of the Secretary of

, State, the Secretary of the Navy and other distinguished visitors

on board. (February 28,1844.)

\ The Princeton had a library of 350 volumes.

Memorial of 54 Midshipmen in the Mediterranean squadron to his

fc;e .

Hotes Chap.6. - 9 - (p.5 of ms.)

Excellency President Monroe, in 1816, asking Tor better protection

than was afforded by the existing "Rules and Regulations" for the

better government of i<he Navy of the United States "against the

tyranny and cruelty of commanding officers afloat "in striking our

persons v/ith the fists, sv/ord or any other weapon" Complaint that

the American officers on the Mediterranean station have not only

been cursed, insulted and spurned, but traduced, and actually

struck by certain commanders, and for ^vhich no adequate penalty,

redress or correction has been adjudged by Commodore Chauncey, nor

by legally organized Courts Martial (Note: A Court Martial wa.s4

^ held on the frigate Constellation in Bay of Naples, August 26, 1816

to try charge against Captain John Orde Cr eight on of the U, 3, Ship

Washington, of striking Midshipman John Marston jr. on the quarter

deck of the \Yashington in the harbor of Gibraltar, The Court

decided that the charge was not proved, and Captain creight on was,

of course, acquitted. After this the above memorial was sent,)

loNArticle of ""War - 15 ArTTt-s^e of the Act for the/betterx \. . - '

~\. i ^\ , ' \ / ' 'overnment or^lri^ Navy orHJig7 United Site's, approved-Aj/ril 23 I860

Article 15 - No person in the Navy shall quarrel v/ith any

other person in the Navy, or use provoking or reproachful words,

gestures, or rne nances, on pain of such punishment as Court Martial

shall adjudge,

Vol.2, Statutes at Large, page 47. Commodore Oliver fT, Per-

-ry was also tried for striking Captain Heath of the Marine Corps,

and a duel was fought in .consequence, and another memorial to Con-

-gress was sent by a large number of lieutenants, surgeons, pursers

and marine officers of the squadron of similar tenor to that of tho

Notes Chap.6. - 10 - (p.5 of ms. )

Midshipmen; dated Port Mahon January 17, 1817,

XX Lieutenant Daniel Mackay - First Lieutenant of the Hornet whon

she was lost in the Gulf of Mexico, in September 1829 - was a very

remarkable man and officer. A poor friendless boy worked his way

into the merchant service from the hawse hole to the dignity of

Mate. Entered the Navy in his 20th. year. When war with England

was declared he jumped with joy. Distinguished himself in the bat-

-tle of Lake Champlain, Obtained a Midshipman's warrant in conso-

-quence, and by his practical skill as a soaman rose in the esti-

-mation of his brother officers. But the weary drag of twelve

years in the grade of Midshipman, owing to the perpetual slowness

of promotion after the war almost compelled him to follow the ex-

-ample of other meritorious yoizng officers. At last he became an.

Acting Lieutenant and Lieutenant, and passed number two in his clac

nt the examination for promotion. Afterwards when serving in tho

Mediterranean squadron he visited Paris, attended the scientific

lectures of Gay Lussac, Thenard, and Dupin. His insatiable thirst

for knowledge and his great ability enabled him to exhaust every

subject connected with his profession far beyond the the record of

any other officers of his day, In fact he was a model young of-

-ficer in character, and deportment, most accomplished as a seaman,

an officer a Lieutenant and a gentleman. He was well versed in

the literature of the day and spoke French, Italian and Spanish

fluently.

It was in this year (1829) during the operations of Commodore

David Porter against the West India pirates, that his son, the fi*»»'-

Adiniral, Porter, t&o- fce«d--Q-£ --our Navy, entered the service as

Chap. 6, - 11 - (p. 5 of ms.)

a Midshipman at the age of 11 years, serving in his father's ship.

Vvr.jL.' Midshipmen's dirks were used in our Navy until about 1835.

Wise in his ...... described them as "Little glittering ta\)sting

forks of dirks dangling at their sides" and they were doubtless

used to t ^ost bread or spuds in an emergency.

Midshipmen fought duels (1830-6) upon the slightest provoca­

tion, at Port Mahon, Agrigentum, Naples, Smyrna, Gibraltar or

wherever their ships happened to be. Oftentimes a Lieutenant was

sent ashore with marines to arrest the whole party concerned,

Many quarrels took place at the mess tables, and in one instance a

reefer who deemed himself offended threw two dirks on the table

demanding that trie offender should take his choice of them arid

fight it out then and there. At another tine a Lieutenant wound3d

in a duel at Mahon was brought to the ship's boat at the landing

place just as two belligerent reefers and their seconds arrived

trie re from their ship on their way to fight a duel with pistols in

the suburbs. If a careless Midshipman ventured to sit down at the

mess table in his shirt sleeves it was regarded as an insult and ho

had to fight a member of the mess drawn by lot. At times "Courts

of honor" so-called were held by older officers to settle differ-

-ences between their juniors. The fighting spirit was up through-

-out the service and having no foreign enemy to contend with, of-

-ficers fought each other. A gallant Lieutenant commanding an 8-

gun schooner, when an English armed schooner suspecting him to be

a slaver fired a g\m across his bows in the Bahama Channel, ranged

Lip alongside the Englishman, cursed him vigorously and challenged

him to a duel in iravana whither he made sail at once, and waited

impatiently for a week in vain for the arrival of the Englishman.

Chap,G,Notes . - 12 - (p,5 of ms.)

These officers young or old wore men not to be trifled with afloat

or ashore. At some of the Mediterranean ports there are still

preserved memories of duels fought by Yankee Midshipmen.

Among naval officers until after the Mexican War,' the code

duello prevailed so that "it would have been deorned an act of Pot-

-troonery to refuse a challenge, unless the challenger by some

gross misconduct had clearly forfeited his Aight to be recognized

as a man of honor",(James S.Biddle, commenting on Burr's duel with

Hamilton and the practice in general.)

Duel between Commodores Docatur and Barron in 1820, near

Y/ashington, resulting in the death of Decatur arose frori profes-

-sional jealousy - gave a terrible shock to the Country,

Duellists in the old Navy. Captain Isaac Bell, who comrnand-

-ed a division of Farragut's fleet in the memorable advance to Nev/

Orleans, was one of those who fought several foreign officers du-

-ring his early career. He was noted for killing or winging his

man with pistols, and was reputed to be the best swordsman in

America.

An American Midshipman on his first cruise in the Mediterra-

-nean, treated a party of titled foreigners who visited his ship

in the free and easy way he was accustomed to treat his messmates,

and he was challenged to five duels the next day. It took all tho

diplomacy of the American squadron to get him out of that scrape.

( S o Adrai r a 1 Ra r 1 Engl i ah s ay s , )

1828 . Sir Jonah Barrington. Judge of High Court of Admiral-

-ty in Ireland wrote "Personal sketches of his own times", in

which duelling is mentioned. Speaks of the bloody code of ho/nor, or

Notes Chap.O. - 13 - (p. 5 of ras. )

"the thirty-six commandments" as they were then irreverently call-

i| -eel by the convention of duelists who framed them.

"A false sense of honor drove men of sense and virtue to the

commission of this modification of murder". Some say duel is a

remnant of that right of private war which was abolished by the

institution of Society" - supposed to be a "necessary evil" Many

persons then thought (1328) that if duelling were abolished there

would be an end of all legitimate gentility or manly spirit,

^ Some fought duels as a means of seeking the bubble, reputation* j

at the pistol's mouth.

The duel regarded as the bulwark between a gentleman and the \

ruffian - an ordeal that must be undergone by every one who would

keep his honor, or his courage unblemished.^jfcrfcz&Ljfat. -Yty&z*

^ Nowadays (1885) /xcourage has become of a moral and civic, rath-

-er than merely of a physical type.

There is some distinction to be noted in the selection of

weapons - the pistol is brutal and "since the fatal bullet may be

sped with the same deadly aim against the lightest offender in a

mere punctilio and the most culpable assassin of your fane or hap- |

-piness - whereas the sword demands skill, presence of mind, acute-

-ness of eye l^and gives room for courtesy and humanity in the en-

| -counter itself^ which each may possess in an equal degree in this

1 v.Court of honor -^this wager of battle the stakes are not airways

equal".

By a fortunate hit, the Pi re-Plater gains a reputation which no

other act of his life perhaps has given him the least claim to".

It is at least a doubtful proof of courage.

Motes Chap,6. - 14 - (p.5 of ms.)

Some attribute the decrease of duelling in our age to a gro;v-

-ing indifference about the courtesies o? life, or to the sxippossd

effect of the duel itself in bringing us all to a level of polite-

-$ess which offers fewer occasions for its exercise. But it is

rather a growing sense of consideration for others and knowledge

of ourselves arising from education and Christianity.

Clipping from New York Sun, July 1885. Curious features of

actual life. Challenging thirteen Midshipmen,

U "We were all boys together then", said Admiral ---, "bxit Judson

was the voungest of the lot and ought to have received more consid-

XJ,v\' -eration. He was only thirteen years old when he was made a mid-

/ -shipman and sent among us, lie had been a mere boy before the

mast and had been promoted to be an officer. That's what made

the trouble. The navy was very aristocratic - five times as aris-

-tocratic as it is now. Boys xvero appointed because their fathers

were rich or distinguished or influential in some way, and it was

rumored around that young Judson 1 s folks weren't anybody, and that

he had been appointed a midshipman for coolness and judgement in

saving life when his gig was run over by a Fulton ferryboat, and ho

only a common sailor. Of course this showed that he was brave,

but we assumed, that he was plebeian, and we would'nt have it, and

when he was assigned to the Levant we revolted against the imrud-

-er. Three or four stood by the boy, including Passed Midshipman,

'-3~l >r Murray, but thirteen of us cut him dead and gave no-

-ti«e that we would not mess with him, We were not a little as-

i -tonished the next day when he sent us. thirteen challenges to fight

him Under the rules of the duelling code. There was no such thing

Notes Chap.G, - 15 - (p.o of , us.)

n,s a declination known among gentlemen, hut several of the officers

v,rhom he had challenged reconsidered the grounds of their refusal to

mess with him and withdrew their objections. By t^e time we had

reached Florida (it was in 1838) only seven of us stood out for

what we called 'discipline' - tha o is, the right of rich men's sons

to monopolize the navy, I can sen now that it wasn't very chiv-

-alric cause to fight for. I went with the party down the coast

below Pensacola to see the first of the seven duels. Murray was

Judson's second. The challenged party insisted that his own duol-'V

-ling pistols should be used by both. Murray demurred, but fin-.V .\ , -ally acquiesced if Judson could have one shot to try the weapon.

This was conceded, and Murray, pointing to a magnolia leaf that

hung down from a branch a dozen paces off, said: 'Judson, cut off

the stern of that leaf!" Re immediately raised the pistol and obey-

-ed the order accurately - the leaf came fluttering to the ground.

'That pistol is all right*, said Murray, It almost caused a pa-

-nic. The seconds conferred, got the principals together, matter's

were compromised, and Judson 1 s antagonist acknowledged his social

and gustatory equality.

"But when we thought about it next day it looked to us like a

surrender. We made a tacit agreement to fight, and as a matter of

fact the six other duels came o'.'f that fall - three in Pensacola,

one near New Orleans, and one or two in Havana. Judson wasn't

scratched, except by a pick in the cheek with a sword, but herj&jjt

wounded four out of the six. Yes", said the aged officer,

"I v/as one of the four: but never mind about that, it settled the\

\ question about his being good enough to eat with. He resigned

Notes Ghap.6. - 16 - (p.5 of MS.)

from the navy forty years ago, I should think. He lives in Stam-

-ford, Delaware county, New York, and. those who have seen him late-

-ly think he will live forever".

Clipping from Washington Star, December 19, 1883, Duelling

in the Navy of long ago.

Public opinion at the present time so emphatically condemns

duelling that the present generation can scarcely imagine what a

great chan.ge has taken place, particularly in the r.avy, within tho

last thirty-five or forty years regarding the subject. It is true

that even at the time it was practiced everywhere there were some

v;- few oV persons of influence always opposed to the custom, but they

j were only a small minority. It is not worth while now to argue

the question whether or not duelling was right or wrong; the pur-

-pose of this article only aims at relating some of th-? meetings

between parties who went to the field. In 1844, when on the Af-

-rican station, under command of Commodore Perry, the flagship

Macedonian, Captain Isaac Mayo, was visiting the island of Grand

Canary, where two of the midshipmen fought; they used'the old fush-

-ioned ships' pistols, carrying a bullet nearly as large as a mus-

-ket ball. Owing to unavaidable difficulties the friend of one

of the gentlemen could not get leave that day to leave the ship,

so it was agreed that one second should act for both. At the word

both fired, and both were wounded; one was striick just over the

right eye - the ball glanced, running found the skull under the

scalp, and lodged over the left eye; the other was hit in the side

on one of the small ribs, and tho ball brought up against the back-

-bone. Strange to say, neither fell., for at the distance - ten

Notes Chap. 6. - 17 - (p.5 of ms.)

paces - with such heavy bullets, one would think an ox would be

obliged to fall. The person shot in the head insisted upon

fire, but his opponent declared positively that nothing xzould in

-duce him to fire at a man blinded by blood, which was streaming

from the wound. The one second also declared that he had enough

of it; and, also, that as both were wounded, he thought that both

ought to be satisfied. That was the first intimation that the

party demanding another shot had that his opponent was shot, so ho

readily consented to let the affair go no further at that time, re-

-serving the privilege of another meeting when both were in fight-

^-ing trim. With that understanding **wrt party returned to the

ship. One of the gentlemen, the one wounded in the side, not

having a very nice coat, borrowed one of a messmate, and the first

thing lie said to his friend when getting on board ship: "Your coat

is all right, nut I am not". He had taken the precaution to pull

the coat off, fearing it might be injured. Of course all the rnid-

-shipinen knew the fight was to come o'''f, and were anxiously excited

for each was of such character as to caxise the belief that they

were in earnest, but were greatly pleased that it ended as it did,

both being deservedly popular. The two never met again, as one of

them was ondered to one oP the ships of the squadron, the other

retained on board the Macedonian. Had they ever met the fight

would have been renewed without a doubt. In 1846 or '47, when the

United States fleet was blockading the fort of Vera Cruz, the gen-

-tleman who was shot in the side was drowned while rowing guard to

the northward of the castle; a violent "norther" sprung up, suddon-

-ly as usual, and the sea swamped the boat. The morning after

Notes Chap.6. - 18 - (p.5 of ms.)

this sad loss his enemy joined the .squadron, having been sent by

the Navy department under these orders, and the first news he heard

was that his opponent was dead! Some years after that the remain­

ing one was lost, presumably drowned, as the ship to which he be­

longed has never been heard of since she left her last port.

Singular that both met the same fate, is it not?

The duel caused great excitement at Palmas (Grand Canary), for

such doings had never been heard of in that entirely original town.

If one of the officer's of the f rig ite was on the street nearly

every person meeting him would stop short, place himself in posi­

tion and fire off an imaginary pistol! Even the ladies were

never tired talking of it, and seemed not to know why, if one hat-

-ed the other so, he did not stab him in the dark, or hire some one

to kill him? They could naver comprehend the Americans and their

ways. The ship was crowded for days by the best people of the

place, asking a thousand questions and visiting the wounded fellows

One of the girls, a very beautiful and accomplished person, asked

for and was given the ball that struck one of the two that fought!

A ~ft^pk»4rr --wlgo bal i PVPH ..irL_±Jhfl np^ p.. The commodore and eap-

-tain were living on shore at the tine of the duel; so, of course,

the executive officer sent a report of the occurrence as soon as

the parties returned to the ship. Now, Commodore Perry was bit-

-terly opposed to the code, but Captain Mayo strongly approved of

it, as far as his duty permitted; he gave every encouragement to

such doings. When, therefore, the report reached them, the Commo-

-dore gave Captain Mayo orders never to allow either of the fight-

-ers to leave the ship while on the station; but Captain Mayo said

Notes Chap. 6. - 19 - (p. 5 of ms.)

he liked "young blood", (whatever that means,) and ordered his<L

stewar\ to go off to the ship with a tub of ice and several bot-

-tles of wine for the use of the wounded, and to tell them to let

him know at any time if he could do anything for themI Commodore

Perry said he was astonished at Captain Mayo's conduct, greatly

encouraging duelling, but Mayo did not mind that, and was evidently

proud of his spirited voting officer.

Prom Boston Transcript. Edward Z.O.Judson ("Ned Buntline")

died at Stamford, Hew York, July 19 '86 - age 64. Son of a Phila-A :-delphia lawyer, ran away to sea, enlisting in the Navy. A year

$ later, when thirteen years old, President Van Bur en. sent him a war-

-ranfc as Midshipman for meritorious conduct in rescuring a crew of

a boat run down by a Fulton ferryboat on East River, Young Judson

was assigned to the Levant. Other Midshipmen refused to mess with

him because he had been a common sailor before the mast, and while

on his way to the Gulf Squadron, he challenged thirteen of thorn to

fight &c. Prom that time his reputation as one of the best shots

in the United States was established. He published his first

story "The Captain's Pig" in the Knickerbocker Magazine in 1838

under the pseudonym of Ned Buntline, when in his 15th. year.

Midshipman Judson - in 1836 - period of duelling.

Ned Buntline has got more bullet holes in him than any other living

American. His name was Edward Judson, and he entered the Navy as

a Midship^ in 1836, when dtielling was a common occurrence in the

; Navy. He fought seven duels when he was only thirteen years of

'; age with officers who had affronted him, one of whom is now an Ad-

, -mir;il in our Navy, At 11 he ran away to sea as a cabin boy, and

sailed around the horn &c.

Notes Chap. 6. - 20 - (p. 5 of ms.)

Depot of Charts and Instruments and the first Observatory.

Previous to 1830, American naval officers rarely stepped

beyond the routine of professional duty, and none ventured into the

field of authorship beyond the writing of official reports. But

/7 between 1830 and 1840 a few young Lieutenants and Passed Midshipmen-

(f.n. Some young officers attended a brief course of lectures at

Partridge's military school at Norwich, Vermont. Others attended

lectures at Harvard and Yale Universities, or placed themselves in

the hands of private tutors, and a few obtained leave of absence

for a year to conplete their education in Kurope,), full of the

spirit of naval reform used their pens vigorously in the nautical

and other magazines of the day, and doubtless stimulated many of

the progressive naval measures of that decade. The first of the so

in the order of time, was the establishment of the Depot of Charts

and Instruments,2 (f.n.^ The Depot of Charts and Instruments was

the germ of the National Observatory founded by Act of Congress, at

\f t ^ 0/washington, in 1842, As early as 1813, Mr. William Lambert of

Virginia introduced a bill in Congress for the erection of an ob-

-servatory at Y/ashington, and its final establishment was due main-

-ly to naval officers.) Lieutenant L, 1,4, Golds borough, on his ro-

-turn from the Mediterranean in 1830, called the attention of the

Navy Department to the defects of the implements of navigation,

such as charts, chronometers, sextants, quadrants, &c. furnished to

men-of-war by the process of requisitions upon navy agents, and

urged the arrangements to be made for the care of such instruments

and for the correct rating of all chronometers belonging to the

Navy, The suggestion was adopted by the Navy Commissioners, and

Chap.6. - 21 - (p.6 of ms.)

in a short time a depot on a small scale was under way in Washing-

-ton with Goldsborough in charge of it. At first, chronometers

were rated by sextant and circle observations, but subsequently by

a 30-inch transit instrument, made by Mr, R. Patten of New York,

and mounted, within a small circular building, upon a brick pier

having a b;tse about twenty feet below the surface. To Lieutenant

GoIdsborough, therefore, is due the erection of the first fixed

astronomical instrument for the use of the Navy of the United

States. fie was succeeded in the charge of the depot in 1833 by

Lieutenant Charles Wilkes, who, by permission of the navy Commis-

-sioners, removed the depot to Capitol Hill, at a point about 1000

feet N 5°- W. from the dome of the Capitol at Washington, where it

remained until july 1842. Hero Lieutenant V/ilkes erected at his

own expense an observatory 16 feet square, and mounted therein one

of the 5-feet transits made by Troughton for the Coast Survey in

1815, which was loaned by Mr. Hassler for the purpose. The prin­

cipal use made oj' the transit was the determination of time, and

no regular observations were made there until the departure of the

Exploring Expedition under V/ilkes in 1838. In this year (1838)

Captain James M.Gilliss organized the first working observatory in

the United States, and his volume of observations for the five

years following is still a standard xvork. In 1842, he prepared

plans for the erection of a Naval Observatory, In 1849, he start-

-ed on an expedition to Chili for the dote/tninati on of the solar

parallax. In 1858, he went to Peru to observe total eclipse of

the sun, and to Washington territory in 1860 for the same purpose.

On the flight of Maury, Captain (Jilliss was appointed to succeed

Chap.6 - 22 - (p.6 of ms.)

him in command of the Washington observatory.

rNotes page 6 of ms. "First action towards astronomical re-

-seaech in America, hears date March 1810, when it wn.s proposed in

Congress by Mr. William Lambert of Virginia, that a first meridian

should be established for the United States, the meridian of the

Capitol at Washington being selected.

In 1813 Mr. Lambert brought in a bill proposing the erection

of an observatory, but it was only on March 5,1821, that authority

v.-as given to establish a meridian at Washington. In 1825 Presi-

-dent Adams recommended an observatory. In 1845 the observatory

v;as begun. Bad o-P- notss^

Other interesting events followed in quick succession, such as

the invention of a formidable prow-ship for harbor and coast de-

-fense by Captain James Barron in 1854; the addition to our Navy

of the first steam vessel of war - the Pulton1 (f.n: 1 In April 1859

the "Fulton" was commissioned for special service by order of Soc-

- rotary Paulding, under the command of Captin M.O, perry, as a prac-

-tice and experimental ship, with a large number of officers, Cap-

-tain Perry was instructed to conduct a course of practice in the

use:; of the Paixhan gun, and the various kinds of explosive shot -

also to experiment in reference to the practical operation, of the

Steam engine.}, the creation of the grade of Professor of Mathema­

tics, the revision of the Naval Regulations of 1818, the founding

of the Naval Lyceum at the Brooklyn Navy Yard, in 1855; the publi­

cation of a "Treatise on Naviration"^ (f.n,^ This, we believe,

was the first professional work by an American naval officer sub­

sequent to the publication of Commander Truxtun 1 s "Treatise on

Chap.G. - 23 - (p. 6,7 of ms.

Latitude and Longitude" in 1794. it was written by the author

during a cruise in the sloop-of-war Vincennes (1833-36) and pub­

lished by Key and Riddle, of Philadelphia in 1836. It passed

through five editions and was adopted for some time as a text-book

in our service.), by Passed Midshipman M.F.Maury in 1836; the arri-

-val of the Steam-packet "Great Western 1 ' 3 (f.n. s Old Admiral Coffin

it is said, tried to dissuade a friend from taking passage in the

Great Western hy assuring him that "in, heavy storms no steamer can

scud", and the old hero probably stuck to the point. But Dr.

Lardner, who had announced in 1836 the impossibility of crossing

the ocean by steam, actually made the voyage to New York, in 1839,

in one of the dreaded stearn coffins, and of course, revised his

logic on this point.) in the harbor of New York, the sailing of thettetrtyL^^fo-y {J)k^

South Sea Exploring Expedition under Lieutenant Wilkes, and the or­

ganization of the Naval Apprentice System by the Navy Department

in 1837; the publication of Cooper's Naval History and the estab­

lishment of the Naval School at Philadelphia in 1839. All these

movements, together with the active operations of the Coast Survey

carried on by naval officers, affording striking evidences of the

progressive spirit of that period.

TEe' establishment of the Naval Lyceum in 1836 is worthy of

more than a passing notice. Its objects as stated in the ,A(aval

Jlkagazirie v/ere "to elevate and adorn the character of our Navy, by

placing within the grasp of its officers the means of acquiring

professional and general information, with greater facility than

had previously been possessed; to stimulate the members of the pro­

fession, by creating a common interest in the result, to ne~. ener-

Chap.6. - ?A - ' (p. r/,8 of ms. )

-gy in the study and zealous pursuit or knowledge, as the grand

source of moral power; and to bind yet more closely the ties which

unite them, by erecting a National Society, in promoting the pros-

-psrity of which, all might find employment for their faculties of

thought and action, and from which, as a common centre of effort,

might racli ate in broad and distinct lines, the issues of their

various tastes, pursuits and discoveries; and thus, by a general

and pervading., sympathy, to augment the harmony and excite the

esprit de corps of the service.

In order to secure unity of action in the accomplishment of

these high purposes, the Society solicited and obtained, in 1835,

a charter of incorporation from the legislature of the State of

New York, and, in the following year, established the "United

States Naval Magazine" as its organ, ̂ (f.n. •*• The "Naval Magazine"

v/as conducted by Chaplain C.S,Stevrart under a supervision of a Com-

-rnittee of the Society.) Thus fortified, the "Lyceum" commenced

its career of usefulness. It soon attracted public attention at

home and abroad, receiving from scientific associations and indi-

-viduals collection of nautical and other publications, of shells

and minerals, models of ships, weapons of war, valuable paintings,

and curiosities from every clirne. Its constitution and by-laws

v;ere. framed with the view of making it the depository of all infor-

-mation relating to naval science and literature, and thus it be-

-came both an agreeable and improving resort for naval officers.

As an evidence of its popularity, we may state that the list of

members for 1855, contains the names of one Commodore, eight Cap-

-tains, eleven Masters Commandant, seventy-three Lieutenants, ten

Chap. 6. - 25 - (p.8 of ms.)

Marine officers, nineteen surgeons, fifteen Pursers, two Chaplains,

eighteen Passed Midship; sen, one sailing Master, one Professor of

Mathematics, and one Naval Store Keeper.

But the "Lyceum" suffered a great loss, when, in November

1837, the publication of the "Naval Magazine" was discontinued.

It was believed that a journal devoted exclusively to the inter-

-ests of the Navy would receive an ample pecuniary support from

its personnel, and enlist man, professional pens in its service;

but these expectations were not realized. The enthusiasm that

welcomed its first appearance expired in the second year of its

existence-'- (f.n. * The Naval Lyceum survived its organ but lost itsftt&u.^** i-f fee* ;«x

original character as an educational medium. It £ «- as*-merely a

museum of nautical curiosities,), and the few ambitious officers

v;ho contributed >,o its columns received no encouragement from their

brethren. The conviction of the old school that authorship was

not a. fitting occupation for sea officers still prevailed in every

grade of the service. It was perfectly proper for the newspaper

critic, the magazine editor, the journalist of high or low degree

to write about naval affairs but the men who "go down to sea in

ships" must not soil their fingers with the ink of authorship.

This sentiment prevails to some extent to this day, although a long

list of authors^ (f.n.^ S e e Appendix for list of American naval

authors.) belonging to the Line of our Navy attests the co-exist-

-ence of a healthier opinion. And here we may be permitted to

express the regret of many that some vigorous means are not taken

to resuscitate the Naval Lyceum on its original basis and in its

original location. Some such institution is needed in or near the

Chap. 6. - 26 - (p. 9 of ms. )

great commercial metropolis of the nation, where naval officers of

all grades arid classes, and intelligent civilians with naval pre-

-dilections may me^t to discuss the nav'al affairs of the world, to

examine the evidence of progress in naval science and art, and to

promote tho welfare and efficiency of our own navy in peace and in

war. The man who will bring about this grand result, will bo en-

-titled to the gratitude of the Navy and of the Country.

It now remains to sketch briefly the various plans brought

forward during this period of reform by the advocates of a naval

school. The majority of these writers contented themselves with a

general advocacy of its necessity, but some possessed a knowledge

of the subject which enabled them to present it in a more satisfac­

tory form, an;! it will be seen that their plans embraced many fea­

tures of the present system. We allude to Lieutenants Mackenzie,

Powell and Maury, and Chaplain George Jones.

Mackenzie's plan-*- (f.n, ̂ Referring to this period an observant

magazine writer says - "In literature and art of all kinds the na-

-tion was still only a. pupil. None of the great histories that

/ adorned our literaturefat a later period were then written. There

v;as but little inspiration for any man, much less for a naval offi-

-cer to write. Our school books were faulty and imitative - it

was the day of small literateurs who were castigated by the compi­

lers of ephemeral Annuals and magazines. The "Naval Monument"

and the "Naval Temple " were the chief historical records of our

Navy before Cooper wrote",) (1830) was based upon the only admissa-

-ble idea of an efficient navy - that "it should not merely be

brave, but skilled in all the arts and resources that decide the

*~r ••

I ^

Chap. 6. - 27 - (p. 9, 10 of ms. )

fate of battles; versed not only in what theory may suggest, but

acquainted with all the expedients that have ever been resorted to

t in extremety of peril by the naval heroes of ancient and modern

times". To accomplish this result, he advocated tho establishment

of a school in some healthy isolated situation, with the .;ea in

sight, and with constant opportunities of witnessing t"ie manoeuvres

of arriving and departing ships. "Making the age of admission

twelve years, and the term of service in the school four years, tho

Midshipmen would be sixteen at the period of graduation, and would

serve some better purpose on ship-board than that of Jbl ay things for

the Qlcley officers. Mathematics would, of course, form the ground

v;ork of their education; but we would not urge its pursuit beyond

the point necessary to render intelligible the various problems of

nautical astronomy. Upon this would afterwards be raised the su­

perstructure of physical astronomy, navigation, surveying, naval

architecture, and the theory of working ships. In connection with

these more solid studies, a knowledge of history, of the laws of

nations, of drawing, and of the rules o p composition should be

acquired. The French and Spanish languages should be thoroughly

taught by natives, and, the more advanced classes should be able

to understand lectxires in both languages. The chief of our exer-

-cises, however, would be found in the manoeuvres of a small ship,

not moored in the mountains, as at Angouleme, nor planted upon dry

land, or rather on the tops of treos, as at Amsterdam, but a real,

moving, live, little ship that could lift her anchor and sail away

at will". Tie deemed it important that an observatory, and a hy-

-drographical depot should be established as adjuncts to the Acad-

Chap.6. - 28 - ' (p.10,11 of rns. )

-erny. r^"ie Professors were to constitute a ^oard of Longitude; the

students were to be clothed and rationed at the public expense, and

to be made Lacedemonians in spirit and bodily endurance, and the

school was to be the centre of nautical science in this hemisphere.

In contradiction of the opinion of Commodore Stewart quoted

in the beginning of this chapter, and expressing the sentiments of

a majority of the older officers of his day, that a sea goirjg ship

is the best school for Midshipmen, we have the opinion of the Lisu-

-tenants of 1830, expressed by Lieutonant Mackenzie, as followsl-

"According to the existing system, the only education of Midshipmen

beyond the mere rea.ling and writing they have learned of the schooi

madam, is picked up on board, so that if they acquire anything in

addition to the mere practice of the profession, it is owing in the

first place, to their own zeal and desire of improvement, and, as

they grow older, and draw nigh the term of their probation, to tho

terrors of an approaching examination. Some may say that the

practice of the profession is enough, and instance sundry fighters,

who have known no more, to prove it. But our most meritorious of-

-ficers, of every rank, are not of this opinion; and accordingly

we find them acquainting themselves with the laws of nations, rnas-

-tering the language of those countries which they most frequently

visit, and cultivating a taste for the sciences, and the study of

that nation which presents herself to them in so many various and

imposing forms. But all these acquisitions are made in the face

of every disadvantage. Study is prosecuted without system; the

best works are either unknown or are procured with difficulty, and

the habit of fixed attention, the nost valuable o p all habits, can-

Chap. 6. - 29 - (p. 11 of rns. )

-not well be formed except in youth, when mind and character are

alike flexible. This youth is now spent on ship-board, and its

best days, usually consecrated to education, are idly wasted, or at

best employed in acquiring that practical knowledge, which would be

of infinitely easier attainment were a foundation laid, and the

mind matured by years and study. Often those generoiis impulses,

which, if directed aright, might lead to i,he most brilliant results

left to themselves, run riot until mind and character are perverted

and the hopes of affection and patriotism drowned in debauchery.

We see but one meurmre adapted to remove the evil and attain the

good - a preparatory school - a measure, which, though longed for

by the navy, desired by the nation to which it is so justly dear,

and again and again urged upon Congress by executive recommendation

yet from the intricacies of parliamentary proceedings, the clash-

-ings of party interests, or some other sufficient cause, is still

unhappily a desideratum".

( Jiote on page 11 of ms. In commenting upon various naval reforms,

Lieutenant Mackenzie makes allusion to the new bomb-cannon, then

introduced in Prance by Paixhan, and to a grave discussion in a

French periodical of that day of the pardticability of defending

ships from shells and shot of every kind "by means of bands of iron

nailed upon the whole exterior surface" which would virtually make

them "so many cuirassiers". The iron-clad system of' our day is

thus foreshadowed, but n-val officers had little faith in the pro­

posal. Mackenzie also defended tho use of shell guns against the-

charge of inhumanity, by showing that naval war has become less

fatal to life as the means of destruction have become more effec-

Chap.6. - 30 - (p. 11 of ms.)

-tive, "The slain at Salamis were more than those of Lepanto, and

this last battle counted alone many tines the added victims of the

Nile, of Trafalgar and Navarnio". He also suggested that ships

of war might be made to tumble out above the water line, so as to

~ive their sides the angle that would deflect a cannon ball.)

Of coiirse the absurd naval uniforn of his day could not escapes

the condemnation of such a keen observer as Lieutenant Mackenzie.

Regarding uniform as an efficacious means of promoting discipline

in all military bodies, he thus held up to ridicule the naval uni-

-form of the United States Navy of 1850. "Our officers have now

a dress so expensive and gaudy, and in. such bad taste, t'-'at they

are ashamed to wear it; and an undress that is no dross at all.

Both being lawful to be worn, some chose the one, arid some the

other, according to individual fancy; whilst others compromise mat-

-ters by adopting a mean between both. Thus, a laced hat may somo

times be seen in connection with a rooling-collared coat, no^wise

different from those worn by our citizens, except in a profusion

of buttons. In fact, the undress naval uniform is one exclusively

of buttons; and nothing is more common than to see a coat, which

has already done its owner good service in his peaceful character

of citizen, during the intervals of his cruises, by tho aid of a

few pounds of brass, transformed suddenly, upon the arrival of an

order from Washington, into as pugnacious a Campaigner as ever pa-

-raded a quarter-deck. The fashion of such an old servant, its

velvet collar, or f^n-tailed, shirt, can no more than its faithful

service save it from conscription," At the heels of these vari-

-ously bedizened gentlemen, dangled paltry swords of every possi-

Chap.6. - 31 - (p.11,12 of ms,)

-ble pattern, which, owing to ignorance of the! r use, were rather

a danger than a protection, and. in bad weather, at sea and on shnro

wore worn di i.'ferent styles of plaid cloaks, upper benjamins 1 (f,n.

I A benjamin corresponded to our modern cape.), pea-jackets and

Monkeys.

Lieutenant Mackenzie was not, wo think, so happy in proposing

as a substitute for all this, one distinctive uniform of green

cloth - the coat to be lined with bxiff or scarlet, and to be froo

from cuffs, pocket flaps and other excrescences, and a 'rib of buff

or scarlet to be carried down the outside seam of the pantaloon.

To these he added half boots, a plain cocked hat, and a stout sword

fit for use, and of uniform pattern, "The green color preferred by

Mackenzie might seem to indicate Hibernian proclivities, but he . as

Scotch "on twa sides" and was disinterested enough to recommend

this color simply because it was not worn by the navy of any other

nation. Although embodying the important requisites of simplicity

and uniformity, the surest ion o.r a green color did not find favor

It did violence to the traditions and predilections o ? the Navy,

which like the Army, had held sacred the blue color adopted in the

flag and in the uniform of the revolutionary era. Moreover, this

color, although of royal origin and worn at that time by the Koyal

Guards of France, Austria and Spain, yet it was understood to sym-

-bolize to the American the qualities of "vigilance, perseverance

and justice" for which the heroes of the Revolution were clistin-

-guished. Later,blue became more especially the color of our

navy, and lias ever since been regarded as its most appropriate

symbol, never to be changed.

Chap. 6. - 32 - (p. 12 of ms. )

The plan advocated by Lieutenant Levin M.Powell, grew out of a

meeting of officers of the favorite frigate "Constitution", the

particulars of which are as follows :-

AT A MEETING of the Co;nmi ssioned. and Warrant Officers of tho

U.S. Ship Constitution, held on board, for the purpose of concerting

measures to effect the establishment of a Naval Academy; at which

,/ Lieutenant JOHN B. MONTGOMERY was called to the Chair, and HENRY

ETTING, Esq. , appoint ed Secretary; the following preamble and reso­

lutions were unanimously agreed to.

v ttl WHEREAS: Having ever felt the most ardent desire to prosecute

successfully the profession to which vre are devoted, to advance the

interests of the Navy, and to perpetuate the commercial prosperity

of our common country, consigned in part to our safe keeping; and

taught by the experience of the past, that neither industry not

talent can spare the advantages offered by early education; ear­

nestly desirous of the means of securing it, and deploring the

inadequacy of the exist in;'; system, to accomplish either the object

of the government, or to meet our heartfelt wishes for professional

instruction; and believing as we do, that a respectful representa­

tion of the anxious hopes, which the entire Navy have ventured to

indulge for so many years, and to the comsumation of which they

look with trie deepest interest, will receive the consideration to

which so excellent an object is entitled, and find from liberal

authorities, that indulgence wh'ich is ever acceded to generous as-

-pi rat ions and laudable exertions: We have therefore resolved -

1, That we deem education to be of peculiar importance td

the Sea Officer: and that amid the progressive improvements in the

Chap. 6. - 33 - (p. 13 of ms. )

arts and sciences, which distinguish the present age, the Military

Marine would, bo most conspicuous, if guided in its advance by the

lights of education.

II. RESOLVED, That we look to the establishment of a Naval

School, as the only means of imparting to the Officers of the Navy,

that elementary instruction and scientific knowledge, which at the

present day has become almost indispensable to t':e Military Seaman.

III. RESOLVED, That, from circurnstances arising in part from

professional causes, the Ships' Schoolmasters can rarely, if ever,

impart such elementary or scientific knowledge, or advance the edu-

-cation of the Navy Officer; and that were the officer absolutely

abolished, (of so lii.tle utility is it) that no evil would arise

therefDom,

IV. RESOLVED, That, believing t.he expense incurred by the

government, in providing ships' Schoolmasters, and Professors of

, Mathematics, for the benefit of t !i e Junior Officers of the Navy,

(and from which little or no advantage is derived,) would, liberally

sustain a Scientific Institxition, we should see with pleasure said

funds directed to the establishment and support of a Naval School.

V. RESOLVED, That copies of these proceedings be furnished

to the Secretary of the Navy, with a request, that he will lend his

countenance and support to our undertaking,

VI. RESOLVED, That we will, severally and collectively, use

our most strenuous exertions to effect an object, so dear to us;

and which promises to confer so much dignity upon the Navy; so much

honor on our beloved country,

VII. RESOLVED, That a committee of ten be appointed, to take

Chap.6. - 34 - (p.13 of ns.)

charge of the subject, and conduct it to its final disposition.

VIII. RESOLVED, Tliat the Secretary of the Navy be requested to

lay a copy of the foregoing resolutions before the President of tho

United States; and that a copy of them be sent r,o the chairman of

the Committee on Naval Affairs in the Senate and in the House of

Representatives.

IX, RESOLVED, That copies of these proceedings be sent to

each Naval Station, Squadron, and U.S.Ship in commission, with the

view to invoke the co-operation of the Officers belonging thereto.

X. RESOLVED, That a copy of these proceedings be furnished

to the Honorable Edward Livingston, now on board the Constitution.

XI. RESOLVED, That a copy be also sent to the 6omrnander of

this Ship, inviting his aid in furtherance of the object of this

meeting.

XII. RESOLVED, That the committee of ten shall consist of tho

following gentlemen! x

Lieutenant LEVIN M.POWELL,

Surgeon THOMAS I.BOYD,

Passed Midshipmen WILLIAM RADFORD,

» » CHARLKS STF/WMAN

11 » WILLIAM T. MUSE,

Midshipmen R. L.- TILGHMAN,

" GEORGE W. RANDOLPH,

» FRANCIS S. HAGGERTY,

" FRANCIS ?. HOBAN,

» JAMES B. LEWIS.

XIII. RESOLVED, That the foregoing committee be directed to as-

Ch ap, 6, (p. 15 of rns. )

-certain the probable animal expense of the Naval School, after its

establishment, and communicate the same to the Honorable the Sec-

-retary of the Navy.

XIV. RESOLVED, That the committee be directed to furnish each

member with a printed copy of this day's proceedings, and report to

them severally their final proceedings on the subject.

XV. RESOLVED, That- five hundred copies of the foregoing pre-

-amble and resolutions be printed,

XVI. RESOLVED, That the Purser of this Ship be requested to

defray the expenses incurred by the committee in the foregoing ob­

ject, the s'=une to be divided, pro rat a, among the Officers of the

Ship.

XVII. RESOLVED, That these proceedings be signed by the chair-

-man and secretary of the meeting, and by the members thereof re­

spectively.

On board U.S.Frigate Constitution, at Sea, June 20th. 1835,

(signed,)

(Li eut.) JOHN B. MONTGOMERY, Chai man.

HENRY ETTING, Secretary.

P. ELLERY, Lieutenant.

ISAAC BRINCKERHOFF, Assistant Surgeon.

EDWARD G. RUTLEDGE, Lieutenant.

G. P. PEARSON, Lieutenant.

JAMES FERGUSON, Master.

THOS. THEO, SLOAN, Lieutenant Marines.

LEVIN MYNN POWKLL, Lieutenant.

.THOMAS I. BOYD, Surgeon

Chap. 8. - 30 - (p. 13 of ins.)

JAMES EVERETT, Chaplain.

HENRY ETTING, Purser.

JOS. L. G. HAIIDY, Lieutenant II. S.Marine Corps,

MONTGOMERY LEY/IS, Passed Midshipman.

J. W. REVERE, " "

CHARLIES CRILLON BARTON, Passed Midshipman.

JAMES B. LEWIS, Midshipman.

R. LLOYD TILGHMAN "

JOHN W. MAFFITT, w

GEO'. T. SINCLAIR, "

GEO. W. RANDOLPH, »

JOHN F. MERCER, Passed Midshipman.

>'RANCIS S. IIAGGERTY, Midshipman.

B. F. SHATTIJCK, "

E.E. ROGERS, "

STEPHEN D. TRENCIIARD, «

A. HURLEY JEMKINS, «

W. T. MUSE, Passed Midshipman.

JAMES P. DIWCAN, Passed Midshipman.

FREDERICK OAKES, Jr. "

W. C. NKJIIOLSON, Lieutenant.

F. A. NEVILLE, '

JNO. M. BERRIEN, Passed Midshipman.

CHARLES STEEDMAN, » "

JAS. L. HENDERSON, " »

FRANCIS P. IIOBAN, Midshipman.

JAIvlES \V. COOKE, Passed Midshipman.

WILLIAf/i RADFORD M •

Chap,6. - 37 - (p.13 of ms.)

WM. RONCKENDORFF, Midshipman.

ROBERT WOODWORTH, Assistant Surgeon.

The above preamble and resolutions were concurred in by the

following officers of the sloop-of-war "Vandalia":-

T, T. WEBR, Mast er Commandant, FRANCIS ALEXANDER, Mi dshipman.

E.T.DOUGHTY, Lieutenant. S.C.ROWEN, Acting Master.

T.N.BROWN, Midshipman. M.C.WATKINS, Midshipman.

THOS. W. GUMMING, Midshipman. W.M.WALKER, Passed Midshipman.

E.A.DRAKE, Midshipman. WILLIAM SMITH, Lieutenant.

V/ILLIAM PLUMSTEAD, Surgeon. C.A.HAS3LER, Assistant Surgeon.

R.N.STEMBEL, Midshipman. JAMES BROOKS, PUrser, 1

FAYETTE MEYNARD, Midshipman. E. MUSSON, Midshipman. -. -s

(f.n.-\0f the fifty-five officers above mentioned, nine are still

in the service^ in the" ftrJ.des of V-ijje-Admiral, Rear-Admiral, Ccimmo—\ I ?JWuL,-$r>* 47t^^(m^f/i^^'^'^^- r''( '/

-dore and Captain.) ^^ \ " '

The Committee of Ten, after some consultation, deputed Lieu-

- tenant Pov/ell to make an estimate of the probable cost of erecting

and supporting a naval school on shore, and to embody their views

as well as his own upon the whole subject in a report to be laid'

before theSecretary of the Navy and Congress. By the courtesy of

the author of this report, now a Rear-Admiral in the Navy, we are

enabled to reproduce it here from the original manuscript, accora-

-panied by a letter to John Y. Mason, of Virginia, then serving his

State in the lower house of Congress, and known to be friendly to^N

the measure, (Print this report in small type.

Chap. 6. -'63 - (p.13,14 of ms. )

Estimates of cost for the establishment and maintenance of a

Naval Academy,

Should the naval school be located on the waters of the

Chesapeake which on many accounts would be a very judicious selec-

-tion of position, the expense would not vary greatly from the fol-

-1 owing estimate - if the plan sketched, were in any aclgreo adherod

to.

2. Suitable buildings for tho reception and accommodation of

two hunflred midshipmen, for dwellings, - for Superindendent - in-

-structor in naval Tactics - and the professors - together with

Lecture and mess-rooms - .should be erected.

3. The Academic Staff to consist of a Superintendent, Insturc-

-tor in Naval Tactics, Professor of Mathematics, Professor of Na-

-tural Philosophy, Professor of Modern languages - and teacher in

Drawing and perspective,

4. Estimate of the cost of the necessary buildings to wit:-

Quarters for the Corps of Midshipmen. .............. .$35. 000

Houses for Super' at, &c.,six at $6000 each. ......... 36.000

For building to contain mess- & Lectxire rooms,

apartments for Library, apparatus &c, ............... 18,000

Out buildings, grounds contingencies £c. ............ 12.000

Total $101.000

5. Annual expense of school £ pay of officers of the iiisti-

- tut ion,

Superintendent (naval officer) pay proper, ................

Instructor in Naval Tactics - do, ..............

Professor of Mathematics. ............ 2. 000

Chap.G. - 39 - (p. 14 of rns, )

Professor of Natural Philosophy............ 2.000

" " Modern Languages.............. 2.000t

Teacher in Drawing & perspective........... 1.800

Professor of Hydrographical Engineering...,. 2,000

$9.800

Assistant Teachers - viz, mathematics two - natural

Philosophy two - Modern Languages one, Engineering

one; in all six - each - $1200 ......... $7.200

Expense per An: of Naval School....... $17.000

In addition thereto say $10.000 -for schoolship,,, 10.000

and wo have for entire an, cost of institution...., 27.000

6. We have now twenty or rnoro ships at sea all of which have

or soon will have, under the late law relating thereto, a profes-

-sor of Mathematics - several are permanently fixed on shore - and

we either actually support or soon shall, upwards of five and

twenty at some $1300 each (they are paid $1.200 per ann: and a ra-

-tion equal to $100 more) say annual expense of twenty-five Pro-

-fessors of Mathematics ......... $32.500

We now pay thirty-two thousand dollars for a little mathema-

-tical instruction. It is proposed to educate the youth of the

Navy - in the mathematics - natural Philosophy (touching their pro­

fession) modern languages - engineering (embracing naval construe-

-tions) Drawing - Naval Tactics - the management of Sea artillery,

and discipline, at a less cost than the existing outlay.

7. The annual expense of the naval School might even exceed

the estimate, but the object at least would be accomplished which

it is not at present at great inconvenience to the Navy, and con-

Chap.6. ' - 40 - (p.14,15 of rns.)

-siderable expense to the country.

8, A School ship, say one of our first built sloops of war -

the Erie or Ontario for example, should be fitted for the purpose

and turned over to the School for the instruction of the Corps:

lightly rigged and sparred and mounted with guns of various calibre

and kinds. The midshipmen would be her crew - would fit and dis-

-mantle her watched quartered and stationed as is customary at sea-

be taught to hand - to reef, to steer, to work a ship in a seamanlike

manner, and the difficult and important service of the great guns -

eight or ten months of the year - say from the month of October to

July they would be engaged in their school duties - from July to

October instead of encamping as at West Point, they would be on

board their school ship under their instructors in Nautical affairs

at sea - that is - in the waters of the Chesapeake or other bays.

The instructors in Naval Tactics during this period will

teach them the performance of the several duties of the seaman -

the Artillerist and the officer. They will be taught the practice

of nautical Astronomy, how to take accurate observations of the

heavenly bodies on the unsteady sea - and to work the reckoning of

the ship: to take soundings - practical surveying, and to project

their surveys on charts or maps. They will learn to row and sail

a boat in security; and by means of the barges attached to the

school ship for the purpose - the orders and manoeuvres of fleet

sail ing.

At the expiration of the term of practice, say in October, the

ship would return to the school, where a section in turn would be

employed daily in handling the spars and sails and great guns, un-

Chap.6. - 41 - (p. 15,16 of ms.)

-der the inspection and instruction of their teachers in Tactics,

9. The Corps of Midshipmen would also form a battalion and be

drilled in the use of small arms and taught the elements of infan-

-try Tactics. They will thus be the police and military guard of

the Ship and School,

10. The 3d. and 4th, resolution of the accompanying paper in-

-terid to convey information which none but those actually conoernod

could possess. All the Midshipmen and most of the Lieutenants in

the Navy can speak experimentally to this point, and I have yet to

hear of a difference of opinion on the subject. The Government

with parental solicitude and at considerable expense, provide for

the education of the midshipmen, and parents willingly give up

their children in their earliest youth, under the belief that their

minds are not neglected. We have hastened in the paper here prc-

-sented, to tell the facts and unfold the cause. In the language

of the 3d. resolution we express a belief common to us all "that

from circumstances arising in part from professional causes the

ship's schoolmasters can rarely if ever impart such elementary or

scientific knowledge or advance the education o P the navy Officer -

and that were the office absolutely abolished no evil could result

therefrom,"

We have not thoughtlessly said this - we have known it per­

sonally, have ever lamented it, and now confess it with regret.

The professional causes here referred to, I will briefly ex-

-plain - A ship cannot be made a school room: every inch of her is

occupied for military and nautical purposes, and no place on board

can be appropriated to this, and without encroaching upon others

Chap. 6. - 42 - (p. 16,17 of ms. )

or other things which must not be dispensed with in a man of war t

Their apartment is dark and contracted, and barely large enough to

contain their persons and equipments when one third of them are on

deck. Their sea watches, of which they keep in all weathers

eight hours in the twenty-four; the police regulations and boat

duty, which subjects them to frequent interruptions; Divisional

duties at the great guns when not on watch, exposure and fatigue -

the motion of the ship, the wet and deluged decks, almost entirely

forbid studious attention to books, and utterly preclude a system-

-atic pursuit of science - no system can be followed: hourly intor-

-ruption makes it labour lost to the Student and his teacher^ The

last indeed soon disheartened, abandons, the effort in dispair -QJf**~Mth~'

the resolutions of youth are not proof-%» the difficulties which

obstruct his path to knowledge: in vain the Commander strive;-,, ho

too, soon yields quietly to the necessity of the case. The habits

too of literary men are not well adapted to the sea - they sicken

and much time is passed unfitted for their occupation. Most of

them have to learn much of thoir business after they get on board -

and some have been entirely disqualified. Under the most favora-

-ble circumstances a very little mathematics is learned by the Mid-

-shipmen whilst they are on board - they t_e_ach none.

These are some of the circumstances referred, to - .which has

over Made impracticable, the education of midshipmen on board ship,

independently of the fact that we employ a numerous body of men

whose number must be increased, to teach a single subject, when a

fifth of their member would teach as many different sciences to the

whole Corps of midshipmen.

Chap. 6. - 43 - (p.17,18 of rns.)

10. The 4th, resolution points to the mode by which the public

money now expended on education in the Navy - may be made available

to the thorough instruction of the youth of our future navy, nor,

will they be deemed irreverent to their Seniors in so doing - prornpt-

-ed by the sole motive to become abler defenders of their country's

honor.

Of all people in the world the sea officer most reqiiires the

lights of knowledge to guide him in his wanderings. He is taken

v/hilst a child from his home and school and enters on his profes-

-sion without even the rudiments of education to enable him to

educate himself. Without a principle permanently fixed upon his

mind to control his words or his conduct, he is exposed to a suc­

cession of temptations which older men may not encounter with im-

-punity; and, if he is not the early victim, a shattered frame and

premature decay are the fruit of his ignorance and errors t Should

he arrive at the responsible station of command, thousands of miles

removed beyond the counsel and control of his government, thrown

upon his own resources, in daily official intercourse with a strange

people, the peace arid honor of his country at times committed to

his care - he only feels his power, to tremble at its exercise.

He is the standard in foreign lands of the value of his countrymen;

the representative of his country - the guardian of his interests,

and he should not be at fault. If perchance, he is equal to tho

duties of his high statiort he is indebted to those rare qualities

which make way to eminence in defiance of obstructions, and which,

under more favorable auspices would have shown with fourfold lus-

-tre. It is now almost indispensable that the rising youth of the

Chap. 6. - 44 - (p. 18,19 of ms. )

navy should be educated, liberally: it is no longer a problem

whether knowledge will strengthen a navy and through it the coun-

-try which confers it. All other nations are invoking its aid to

acquire and confirm their power on the ocean. We can no longer

wonder that French soldiers are nearly equal to British seamen on

their own element - it is because of instruction, knowledge,

science. The French are now adding practical nautical instruction

to the science which they cultivate, and the English now teach tho

sciences to their young seamen. It behooves-us then to be upon

the alert,, for knowledge is por:er even on the ocean.

11. It imiist not be supposed that a theoretical education to

the exclusion of practical instruction, is the object here in vir.v,

not so; a few words in explanation may not be amiss. The mathe-

-matics which would be taught thoroughly, will be the key GO give

the Student access to the sciences. Engineering will make naval

constructions a science instead of a mere mechanic art as it now

is -: the carpenter now builds ships as the mason used to erect

fortifications, and with about the same success. A knowledge of

the French Spanish or German, opens the bonks of modern science and

literature. The various departments of natural Philosophy, teach

the uses and proper combination of the forces on which and by which

he moves - the pencil will demonstrate his Tacts - or enable him to

do so, and for the I'irst time since we have had a Navy Seamanship

and Naval Tactics will be Taught.

12. It is evident that time will be required to enable the

student to pass successfully through this course of study - though

of narrow bounds in comparison with the course in vogue at all the

Chap. 6. - 45 - (p. 20,21 of

literary institutions of the country: but not more than a midship-

-man can spare, and not a day nore than he now squanders in his

pleasures or in idleness. It will not withdraw him a day from the

usual amount of sea service. The division of his probationary

service which is now between eight and ten years could be so man-

-aged as to employ the midshipmen actively both at sea and on

shore. Thus the day of his appointment he should be sent to the

Naval School there to continue for the first year - at the expira­

tion of which he would be sent to sea. At the school he would

be placed immediately under a salutary trio 1 paternal restraint,

the latter of which may not well be practiced on board ship, pre-

-paratory to the stern discipline which could then prevail in the

Navy: he would imperceptibly be drilled and instructed in his fu-

-ture duties - and whilst young and flexible, taught the discipline

and siibordination so necessary in the sea service - brought into

the habits of prompt and cheerfxil obedience so difficult to be irn-

-pressed or acquired in more advanced life. The Midshipmen

would. get in this their first year the elementary mathematics

adapted to their years, and applicable to navigation. The redi-

-ments of the French and Spanish or French and German and instruc­

tion in their own - the first lessons in drawing - and .learn the

care of themselves aloft and the operation of a man of ?;ar - on

board the School Ship and her Boats,

13, The labours of the school ship and her boats will be the

gymnasium for the healthful development of their persons - at the

same time they are taught the practical performance of their future

duties.

Chap. 6. - 46 - (p. 21,?,?, of ms. )

14. On trie return of a ship from a cruise the midshipmen w

be ordered to the school - and after examination classed according

to their proficiency in the second or third year classes. For tho

period of one year after this, they will not be sent to sea - and

during this their second year of tuition - the instruction shall

be the mathematics principally - and such other studies as may be

selected by the faculty. Should not the midshipmen who complete

the second year all be required for sea service - such of them as

remain will prosecute the studies of the third year; the higher

branches of the mathematics Engineering - natural Philosophy and

Naval Tactics &c.

An examination after the third year at the school provided a

cruise at sea of three years have been faithfully performed, will

give the pass for promotion - and the completion of the Fourth

year shall indicate a higher grade of merit and give precedence

when commi ssi oned,

15. The studies of the Fourth year will be the completion of

the mathematics, Engineering - Natural Philosophy, Languages and

Drawing; Naval Tactics and the art of Naval Warfare.

Thus a Midshipman educated as above will go into the world as

a means of advancing it to the extent of his abilities, and must

be an active bold and efficient officer. ne will have been train

-ed to habits of obedience and subordination, and in one uniformed

mode of discipline which only, can make a military establishment

eminently efficient. This too by the judicious employment of time

now spent on shore in comparative idleness!

16. The steam engine will soon become a potent agent in naval

Chap. 6. - 47 - (p. 22, 23 of ms.)

warfare. The officers in the navy are ignorant of mechanics and

mechanical constructions. They would be ignorant no longer when

the first Midshipman passes through the studies of the naval school

Steam, and the engines driven by it, will no longer be a mystery

to than,

17. After the first years instruction at the naval school, a

midshipman will join his ship for sea a better seaman and far bet-

-ter officer than he now returns from his first three years cruise!

(Signed)

L, M. Powell,

Lieutenant, U. S, N.

U.S.Ship Vandalia,

Tampa p,ay. March 10th. 1836.

Hon. John Y. Mason,

Secretary of the Navy,

My dear Sir:-

I address myself to you upon a subject which the accom-

-panying papers will sufficiently explain - under the hope that

upon consideration you will not decline to espouse a cause which

excellent in itself will redound greatly to the '-.onor of any pub-

-lic man who shall be instrumental to the accomplishment of its

object.

Up to this day with a single exception the administration of

the navy has been intrusted to men better able to manage elections

than maritime affairs - so that great confusion uncertainty and

feebleness have characterized its operations.

We have a small navy and it therefore shoxild be free from the

Chap. 6 - 48 - (p. 25,24 of rns. )

manifold abuses and the weakness -'/hich unavoidably croups into a

grea-r, and unwieldly military establisliment - but from want of pro-

-per system - is more unmanageable and less available than the

great navies of France and Great Britain, Its civil administra-

-tion is so loose that j am satisfied the annual outlay would dou-

-ble the effective force under proper supervision and distribution

of authority. We have the greatest abundance of the finest mate-

-riel and yet our ships are clumsy and rude hulks in comparison

with our mercantile marine. We have the finest seamen in the

v,rorld and yet our guns are manned by strangers - we have been thir-

-ty years in completing some six or eight dock yards with a prodi-

-gal expenditure of money and they have recently ceased to be bare

enclosures. There is something wrong i'n all this and the wrong

wants righting - but there is also wanting the man willing and able

to effect it.

The first step to this - will be to nake t?ie navy itself the

instrument of its own reform - and this step can only be taken with

the rising generation. We cannot bend the gnarled oak. Let us

teach the youth of the Navy then - instruct them in the power of

Discipline of unanimity, subordination - teach them the just rela­

tions of things by means- of science - the mathematics and Physical

Philosophy - teach them Seamanship and the -^onders of strategy and

Tactics - for as yet we know little of these accurately - there is

no instruction. This is the first step, and when once taken, the

rest must follow. The officers of the Navy cannot do this of

themselves - they can only express their earnest, anxious wishes -

others must act for them, and I have thus endeavored to engage you

Chap.6. - 49 - (p.24,25 of ms.)

in the cause, zeal intelligence and perseverance in a case like

this would most surely win success.

The Navy is a virgin field for the patriotic politician to

walk over - everything is chaos in it - and that man who shall

call it into order would not be unknown to fame.

The subject now in hand the rnnro particularly recommends it-

-self to you - as our own State would undoubtedly be selected as

the location of the institution - the waters of the Chesapeake must

be the place. You will perceive in the outline of the plan sketch

-ed out that the only serious objection ever ur;-ed against the lo-

-cation of the Naval School in the Chesapeake viz. the autumnal

-fevers - has been entirely obviated by the School Ship to which the

Corps would repair for sea practice, at the expiration of the

school term for the year, they would cruise abroad in the great

bay and benefit by the change.

In reference to the selection of a place in the waters of tho

bay, I believe that T shall be able to reply satisfactorily to any

inquiries you may be pleased to make,-^ (f, n, ̂ A situation on the

Virginia shore of Chesapeake nay was preferred by Lieutenant Pow-

-ell.)

The preamble and resolutions accompanying this are signed by

many officers, mostly junior and most directly interested - and in

the entire Navy there is no difference of opinion upon the subject

as there expressed. Should there be f it will be confined to the

aged officers, men of influence and merit, but from the force of

habit incapable of changing even evil ways for good, and who look

upon all changes with impatience*

Chap.6. - 50 - (p.25,26 of ma.)

Though not one of the Naval Committee, tlie subject would fall

under your control and patronage, should you consent to undertake

its management.

The accompanying paper contains a sketch of the plan and es-

-timates of the expense which I am sure would cover all the ex-

-penses of the institution.

- One word in conclusion - as to the scheme of Secretary of the

Navy (Dickerson) - which proposes to educate midshipmen at West

Point. It has been received with great distaste by the junior

officers of the Navy - the Army profits now greatly by the popular-

-ity of the Navy - and such is the skill with which the first man-

-age their financial affairs that in a short time the expense of

the institution would fall mainly upon the Navy appropriations -

whilst they would enjoy the benefit and the Navy bear all the

odium. It is only another plan for bolstering up the Military

i Academy.

I am Sir with the highest consideration

Your obedt. Servt,

(Signed) L. M. Powell.

These documents show plainly the deep interest felt by the

young officers in the subject of Naval education, and the ability

of Lieutenant Powell to present it in a forcible light. The re-

-port is also remarkable for its anticipation of many features of

the plan adopted at Annapolis in 1845. An appeal so urgent pro­

ceeding from "Old Ironsides"- the pride of the Navy - and support-

-ed by so large a body of intelligent officers could not fail to

be well received by the Naval Committee of the Senate, of which

Chap. 6. - 51 - (p. 26, 27 of rns. )

ex-Secretary Southard was a member, but it has been stated, else-

- where that the existing prejudice against government schools, and

a dread of accumulating expense prevented any action upon the Com-

-mittee's report.

This defeat, however, of their first organized effort did not

silence the professional advocates of naval education. In a SG-

-ries of papers published in the "Sputhern Literary magazine"

(1840-42) under the title of "Scraps from the Lucky Bag", Lieuten-

-ant M.?.Maury discussed the whole subject of naval organization ,

and dwelt with special emphasis upon the favorite topic of a naval

school. He preferred for economical reasons,^(f.n.2 It was esti-

-rnated by Lieutenant Maury that it cost the government not less

than :|18,000 to of jjain one Lieutenant for its naval service under

the old system. For many years, about one half of those examined

v,rere promoted, and in 1840 the proportion was smaller.) and be-

-cause he knew it was xiseless to ask for a proper establishment on

shore, a floating school, and suggested that one of the 74's then

lying idle in ordinary should he used for the purpose. "On board

of that ship", says Lieutenant Maury, "the duties of the school

should be paramount to all others; that is, she should be, first,

a school ship, and then the man-of-war. Every officer on board -

purser, chaplain, master, surgeon, lieutenant and commander -

every one should have a chair assigned him, and take part in the

duties and management of the school. The Captain should be tac-

-tician, and, ex officio, the president. Him I would hold re­

sponsible for the condition of the school-ship, and the proper

management of the school, as he is now, for the discipline and ef-

Ghap.G. - 52 - (p. 27, 38 of mo. )

-ficiency of a man-of-war. The chaplain should instruct in lan­

guages; the purser, in gymnastics (small sword and single stick

exercises); the Master, in drawing and naval architecture; the

surgeon in chemistry and natural history, and the lieutenants, in

mathematics, astronomy, navigation, natural philosophy, gunnery,

pyrotechny &c."

(Note on page 27 of ns. It is an interesting fact that several

petitions upon the same subject were addressed to Congress at dif­

ferent periods from this historic frigate.)

One of the advantages claimed by Lieutenant vtaury for the

floating system of naval education was, that the pupils would havo

continually before them a practical illustration of the efficiency

and strength, which a well regulated system of discipline imparts

to a man-of-war. "A four years' apprenticeship in such a vessel,

combined with an annual summer cruise, would not only qualify them

for the ordinary roxvtine of naval duties, but also sufficiently

indoctrinate them in mathematics and in the principles of the

other leading branches of science, to enable them to pursue in

after life, their favorite departments of science,...... The sport

of the winds, and the plaything of the ocean, there is no science,

nor learning, nor wisdom, that is profitless to the naval officer".

In another of his "Scraps from the Lucky Bag", Lieutenant

Maury, alluding to a bill then before Congress for the establish-

-ment of a naval school on shore, says, "Like most others, we have

a preference as to the location of the institution, but individual

preferences and sectional prejudices should no longer be suffered

to stand in its way, as they have done. In the East or in the

Chap.6. - 53 - (p.28,29 of ms.)

West, ashore or afloat, on an island in th^ sea or on a peake of

the Rocky Mountains - be its location •-•'here it may - we advocate

its immediate establishment.,,,,., Should it, however, be placed

on the sea.board, we would surest that the "Depot of Nautical In-

-strurnents and Charts" be connected with it, and that the appropri-

-ation of $50,000 now asked, for by the Secretary for building a

depot, should he made with this view. The expense of two sepa-

-rate establishments would be thus avoided, and the midshipmen*

v:ould have all the facilities of making astronomical observations,

and of rating chronometers for the practical purposes of naviga­

tion". 1 (f.n. 1 In the "Memphis Appeal" between 1842 and 1850,

Lieutenant Maury frequently gave to the public his views upon the

subject of education not only for Midshipmen but also for naval

engineers. fie also wrote upon our Coast defenses, Navy Yards and

other matters of professional interest.)

It now remains to place on record the efforts made in this

connection by Chaplain George Jones, of our Navy, who was unques­

tionably the ablest and most earnest laborer in this field. As

early as 1826, while usefully employed as a schoolmaster on board

t/ie frigate "Constitution.", in the Mediterranean, we find him just-

-ly ridiculing the practice of making Bowditch's Navigator the sole

object of an officer's study, and lamenting the blindness of Con-

-gress in not establishing a Naval school. "Among the young of-

-ficers" says he, "t'ie cry for a naval school is universal, and

they feel keenly the preference shown our Army in the favorite i:i-

-stitiition at West Point, I have seen them, during three succos^

-sive winters, turn eagerly/to the subject in the Secretary's re-

Chap. 6. - 54 - (p. 29, 30 of rns. )

-ports, and in the debates in Congress, and I have watched their

merited bursts of indignation at the petty schemes agitated in that

body." 1 (f.n. 1 Sketches of Naval Life, vol.JJd.)

Finding, on his return from a second cruise in the Mediterra­

nean, in 1836, the "Naval Lyceum" in the -full tide of success,

with an official organ inviting contributions from all sources, he

seized the occasion to make an appeal in behalf of a naval school.2

(f.n.'J Naval Magazine, vol.2d.) His experience as a teacher on

board the "Brandywine", "Constitution", "United States" and "Dels-

-ware" qualified him for the task and enabled him to speak aiithori-

-tatively as to the value of the very defective system of education

then in operation in our Navy, This he pronounced an utter fail-

-ure, adding that "the naval apprentices on board the receiving

ships studied higher branches of mathematics than the Midshipmen.

He then sketched an outline of such an institution as he thought

desirable, 3 (f.n.^ On this occasion, Chaplain Jones suggested Gov-

-ernor 1 s Island, in the harbor of New York, as a suitable location

for the school, but subsequently expressed a preference for the

Naval Asylum at Philadelphia.) showing, by estimates, that it

would result in a yearly saving of §10.000 to the government.

In 1839, at the request of Secretary Paulding, he drew up a report

on the subject, which was highly commended. He then opened a cor-

-reapondence with Captains Smith, Parker and Gregory, Lieutenants

Harwood, Davis and other prominebt officers, whi-eh put him in pos­

session of the views of ths Navy upon the subject^ (f.n.1 Commo-

-dore' s Kiddle and Stewart approver! of this plan, the former fully,

the latter with, some qualifications.) , and enabled him to present

Chap.6. - 55 - (p.30,31 of ms.)

his original plan in a more comprehensive and satisfactory form.

The leading features of this revised plan are as follows:-

r \ 1, An expansion of the school at the NavalAsylura, so as to

comprise professorships of Mathematics, Gunnery, Seamanship, Natu-

-ral Philosophy, Belles Lettres, Languages and Drawing - to be .

filled by line officers, Professors of Mathematics, arid a few civi-

-lians, if necessary - Belles Lettros r.o be taught by a Chaplain

in the Navy.

2. A practice-ship, to be permanently attached to the school

for exercise in Gunnery and Seamanship, The ship to be officered

and manned , on these occasions, by the personal of the school.

3. The course of instruction to be divided into two periods

of one year before, and two years after, a three years' cruise at

sea - thus making the period of apprenticeship about six years,

4. A Lyceum for the exhibition of models of the various class-

-es of ships in our service, of guns ; md gun-carriages, and of

marine engines, to be furnished by Naval Constructors and builders

of machinery,

5. A Library, chiefly of a scientific character, to be fur-

-nished by subscription in .the Navy, and increased by donations

from all sources, ,

6. Nautical and astronomical instruments, to be furnished by

the Navy Department from the National observatory at Washington.

The chief value of this plan was its endorsement by many naval

officers. It also recommended itself on the score of economy.

It was not proposed to bring the subject before Congress in any

manner, as the Secretary admittedly had the power to concentrate

Chap.6. - 56 - (p.31,32 of ms.)

both Professors and Midshipmen at the Asylum, and thus quietly sot

the machinery of a school in motion, with the aid of the annual

appropriation granted by Congress for educational purposes. Wh-en^

the school had been in successful operation for a few years, it

was intended to submit it to Congress as an accomplished fact, and

to ask for an appropriation in order to place it upon a permanent

and more substantial basis. If Congress refused, the school

would still exist, although with limited means of accomplishing the

design of its founder. 1 (f.n, 1 It will be seen later that this is

what Secretary Bancroft accomplished in 1845 at Annapolis.)

Just as this programma of action was determined upon, Chaplain

Jones was ordered to sea service, but he had a friend in the Navy

Department in the person of Commodore Lewis War ring ton, then prosi-

-dent of the Board of Navy Commissioners, who volunteered to lay

the plan before the Secretary and urge its adoption. On the re-

-turn of the Chaplain in 1842, he hastened to Washington, visiting

on his way the school at the Naval Asylum, where he consulted Pro-

-fessor Chauvenet, and made known his project to the midshipmen

assembled there for instruction, all of whom expressed the most

ardent wishes for its success. Upon his arrival in Washington,

he-had frequent interviews with Secretary Upshur, and sought to

persuade him that the plan could be carried out without any refer-

-ence to Congress. This course was also recommended by the Hon.

H. A. Wise, Chairman of the jjaval Committee of the House, and other

members of that body; but on this point the Secretary was irnrttova-

-ble. His long service on th? bench had made him so cautious,

that he could not be induced to move a step \vithout the direct

Chap. 6. - 57 - (p32,33 of ms.)

sanction of law.

Thus was lost an opportunity of giving to the Navy a school

adequate to its wants. The Department was unwilling to take the

responsibility, and now it only remained to cast the project once

more into the arena of Congress. Secretary Upshur's bill for fivo

schools, at different points along the seaboard, alluded to else-

-where, was already before this body; but he was willing that

Chaplain Jones 1 plan for one school should be submitted to Con-

-gress. There was no antagonism between those gentlemen, as both

were aiming at the same object. Chaplain. Jones, at the request of

the Secretary, visited Fort Norfolk, in the harbor of the same

name, to investigate its fitness as a site for one of the five

schools, and Secretary Upshur introduced the Chaplain to Senator

Bayard, Chairman of the Naval Committee of the Senate, to whom both

projects were submitted. Senator Bayard then introduced Mr. Jones

to such members of both Houses as were known to be hostile to tho

measure in any form, hoping that his earnest language and thorough

knowledge of the subject would make some converts. Here Chaplain

Jones had a decided advantage over the Secretary, who complained

that lie had not one friend in Congress. He could not even obtain

from the Senate the confirmation of a Chaplain 1 s appointment which

he had given to the rector of his own parish, -Mf.n. ̂ Chaplain Jones

by his own personal efforts at Washington secured the confirmation

of this'appointment by.the Senate.) This hostility was not di-

-rected against the man, who in his private capacity was highly

esteemed, but against his extravagant plans of reform. He asked

for five schools, and Congress feared to establish even one, lest

Chap. 6. - 58 - (p. 33,34 of ms. )

it should be subsequently extended into a continuous and costly

chain of such institutions along our seaboard.

This fact rendered Chaplain Jones's task both, delicate and

difficult; but it was worth a trial. With his carefully prepared

plan and estimates in hand, he sought in person, the opponents of

the measure, and enc'Aintenecl no very decided ro si stance until he

. met Senator Benton of Missouri. This veteran legislator flew to

arms at once, denouncing in his enerrgetic way the humble school

at the Naval Asylum, and branding all such institutions as hot-beds

of aristocracy. This was the rallying cry of the large and in-

-er^asing minority of the House of Representatives who voted annu­

ally against the appropriations for the support of the Military

Academy, and it was evident ta Chaplain Jones that even the friends

of his project in Congress were loth to found another school, to

v/hich a similar objection would he made, and which, despite of

economical estimates, would, in a.few years, require a large outlay

for its maintenance,

Desparing, therefore, of any favorable change in the sentiment

of Congress, he deppsite-.l his plan in the tomb of the Senate Naval

Committee, and went to sea in the frigate "Brandywine", On his

return to the United States, in 1845, he found the long wished for

Naval School in .Pull operation at Annapolis, arid ho received a

graceful recognition of his own services, in the shape of an offi-

-cial document ordering him to report for duty to its Superinten-

-dent.

Another advocate of the good cause, then becoming popular evon

outside the Naval service, was J. Roach, a retired officer of the

Chap,6. - 59 - (p. 34,35 of ins.)

Army, who passed into civil life after the war with England,

Having served on the Canadian frontier with naval officers between

whom and their brethren of tiie Army many close friendships had

been cemented, he conceived that it would be of great benefit to

both services to establish one great national school for the educa-

-tylon of both Military and Naval Cadets or in admit the latter to//the West Point school giving them all alike three years' instruc­

tion as national cadets, after which they would select the arm

of the service they preferred. He urged the expediency of a na­

tional Academy for the education of Cadets of both services in the

following interesting letter:-

Philadelphia, June 8,1841.

"Hon.Geo.E,Badger

Secretary of the Navy-

Sir -

. From the opinion expressed in the

report of the Secretary of the Navy to Congress "that some change

was required in the organization of the Navy", I venture to suggest

an impression made on my mind when an officer in the Army, and

trust I may not be censured for intruding unsolicited advice on

your valuable time and superior judgment, but that you will chari-

-tably pass it to the credit of patriotism, and the desire at all

times to contribute every talent to the general good of our common.

Country.

Our extensive lake and sea coast show at once that a war with

any maritime nation must be carried on by a by a junction of the

Army and Navy, and hi story informs us that most combined expedi-

Chap.6. - 60 - • (p. 35,3 6 of MS.)

-tions have failed from the jealousies which have existed between

the sailor and the soldier and their several commanders.»-* This feeling may have been produced and encouraged in those

countries where despotism or anarchy may be sustained only be keep-

~ing one arm of service to watch or counterbalance the other.

But not so, I trust, in this happy region where every blessing is

conferred on iis, and where every soldier and sailor has a direct

interest and influence in all our institutions.

*My mind was drawn to this subject from experience in the war

with Great Britian in 1812 when, of necessity the Army and Navy

Officers on the Canadian frontier served daily together. Their

jealousy, however, soon subsided, and strong friendships were form-

-ed. NOT; if this good reeling could so soon be produced, I think

that much greater personal and national benefits could be produced

by the establishment of a national seminary which I would respect-

-fully suggest for the education of cadets for the Army and Navy,

to be established at some central naval depot, or even an extension

of the College at West Point, with little or no expense.

Be pleased, Sir, to look at the course of instruction at V/est

oint, and I think you will agree with me that nearly all the three

irst years of instruction would apply equally to Army and Naval

Cadets, and then how frequently do parents mistake the genius or

capacity of their sons by placing them in the service so young that

they are unfit to make choice of the profession most suited toIV

them.ri

Now, Sir, I would propose to give them all three years in-

- struct ion as national Cadets. Then let them select the arm of

Chap. 6. - 61 - (p. 36,' of ms. )

service they prefer and place then under instruction for the higher

branches suited to each. Thus would you, Sir, insure to all our

of fi ears a scientific edxication, and all bei:\g acquainted with the

duties of both arms of the service they would be better able to act

in concert. And, further, what may lie denned of no less impor-

-tance, the attachments thus formed in youth under the sane roof

would tend to the greater efficiency of combined operations, and

considering our- very extended territoty, I can readily conceive

that this mode of instruction must also tend to strengthen our

Union.

If it be objected, as has been said of West Point Academy,

that some would leave the service, never could money be better ex-

-pcnded than by sending such educated Oadets into civil life in

every part of the Country, They would soon become militia offi-

-cers, judges, senators, and with strong national feelings would

aid much in allaying our sectional jealousies, and become efficient

aids to our defense in war.*vV

It may be objected, too, that four years expended in education

would delay too long the experience in seamanship required to make

a good naval officer, I reply that I have known many officers

both in the Naval and Merchant service, who had spent some years

in a counting house in their youth, and I am certain they would bo

lees liable to the contaminating influence of the forecastle if

they were not sent to sea so young. Again, at the Academy, a

school of practice could readily be provided, and a laboratory

where the cadets could be instructed in the preparation of animuni-

-tion and all the Gunner's and Boatswain's stores - a knowledge

Chap.6. - 02 - (p.36,37 of ms.)

which could be acquired as a recreation from more severe studies.

These suggestions may appear crude arid unprofitable, but if

any of them should tend in the smallest decree to benefit the ser-

-vice, I shall be much gratified, as I experienced much inconve-

-nience when in the Array, from the want of early education.

Further, Sir, when the most exalted station in our government is

constitutionally within the reach of every citizen, is it not in-

-perative on all to aid in preparing our youth for the high duties

to which they may be called.

Very respectfully &c.

J. Roach.

In 1842, Commodore Charles Stewart, while expressing his views

on the subject of naval organization, took occasion to state em-

-phatically that "the government owes it to its own interests, hon-

-or and the cause of justice no longer to withold from Midshipmen

the means of acquiring a suitable knowledge of mathematics, a tho-

-rou«;h acquaintance with the laws of nations and the languages of

different countries; and in view of the introduction of steam, as a

mode of propelling vessels, it will be also highly important that

they should be made fully conversant with the principles of that

power'and the machinery through which it acts". * (f. n. 1 In May 1845

Lieutenant Charles Crillon Barton of the Navy, wrote Secretary Ban-

-croft recommending in the way of a midshipman's preparation for

promotion a course of instruction in the graphic part of an offi-

-cer's professionr viz. the representation of headlands, estuaries,

promontories, mountains, harbors &c. - which is well known to be

valuable even to the practical seaman and pilot. Barton was kill-

Chap, 6. - 63 - (p.37,38 of ms.)

-ed in a duel with Lieutenant Wood at Smyrna.) The gallant Com-

-modore also reiterated the opinion expressed by him in 1814, that

a cruising ship, provided with proper instructors, was the best

school for Midshipmen; but we have reason to believe that he out-

-lived his prejudices on this point, and that he regarded with

great favoi' the institution of which his pet frigate, the "Consti-

\/l 4, A J^ \l / A JV-tution", for several years formed an essential ^.a.Y^^J\Y^^b*T^"\Mw&ri-''-'

Last, but not least among the professional advocates of this

great cause, was Lieutenant J. II. Ward, who while discharging the

duties of Gunnery Instructor at the Naval School near Philadelphia,

v/as also giving to the rising generation of his brother of fitters

an example of what could be accomplished by one's own exertions

even in t?ie thorny field of naval science. jii his opening' lecture

he sketched forcibly the varied and growing demands of the service

pointing out the means whereby young officers could be fitly prc-

-pared to meet these demands. He also exhorted his hearers to

devote themselves early to the principles of science, and showed

conclusively that "the unaided judgment is not to be relied upon

either for administrative, duties on shore or in untried emergencies

afloat," His lectures on Gunnery were, in fact intended not only

to interest the junior officers in the scientific treatment of the

subject, but also to induce the Havy Department to give them the

means of studying that and other branches of naval science.

The light thus thrown upon the subject of naval education by a

few officers of acknowledged ability had more influence upon its

final settlement than all the debates in Congress. They made it a

rit$ topic of dicussion in the wardrooms and steerages of our

Chap.6. - 64 - (p.38,59 of ns.)

men-of-war; and won some converts to the cause even among the vo-

-teran Captains , who slowly, but surely, were yielding their pre-

-juclices to the arguments of their juniors as_ wjell^ §sto the logic

< ^"——"^ rr- "~- Vrv*A*-r\. \tr\^A**3, The progress in Naval affairs .between 1830 and 1840,

r already described, was eclipsed by that of the succeeding decade,n-

^ which witnessed the ptiblication of Totterfs Naval Text Book, Brady's> *% • •', Kedge Anchor, Ward's Ordnance l Gunnery, and Steam, Murphy and Jef-

2 y -fers's Nautical Routine and Dana's Seaman's Friend; the appearance4^v . of Perkins's Steam Gun, Ericsson's Archimedian Wheel, Hunter's sub-| <L

-merged propeller, Stockton's Engine and his gun, the "Peacemaker";

4 - ,,-; '^ the buildin^->; of iron vessels of war; the organizarion of the En-55? .-:' k -gineor Corps of the Navy; tlie sending of Lieutenants Jenkins and

-iv Bache to Europe to report upon its lighthouse syst.epis; the inaugur-<, >f. \^ ' .-ation of the Nautical Almanac; the founding of the National Insti-

-tute for the promotion of science; Mai^ry' s investigations of the

winds and currents of the ocean, and the dispatch of exploring and

> surveying expeditions to remote quarters of the world under the

command of Wilkes........... and other (get dates of other expedi-

» -tions bet\veen 1830 and 1840) young naval officers. All these

evidences of progress could not fail to operate favorably upon the

question of naval education. The potent voice of the press, too,

^ r was pleading in its behalf, and thus the Navy Department was assur-

-ed of hearty support, in and out of the profession, whenever it

should assume the responsibility of establishing a well organized

naval school on shore.

Hitherto only a passing allusion has been made to the" futrle

attempts at naval education made on board of crxiising ships, at the

Chap. 6. . - 65 - (p. 59 of ms. )

Navy Yards, and at the Naval Asylum. Although defective in plan

and almost barren of results, these so-called schools held a re­

cognized position in our naval organization dovm to 1845, and are

entitled to special notice at this stage in our narative.

Notes page 39 of. ms. Expedition of the " Vincer.nes" to the

Antarctic Continent in 1840.

Between 1840-50 much was done for the promotion of science

/ in America The National Institiite for the promotion of science

v/as .founded in 1842 in Washington, under the auspices of tho gov­

ernment .

Captain John Rodgers (1822) Marine railway for hauling up

shi p s.-V

\ Commodore Barron (1836) Steam Prow ship or Ram. \ i

Lieutenant V/. W. Hunter and Captain H. F. Stockton and Mr.tf 'Ericsson did much in naval architecture and steam navigation.

Hunter and his submerged horizontal propellers - Ericsson*s spiral

or Archimedian v;h«3l - Stockton 1 s efforts to develope the advanta­

ges of steamships fitted up in conformity to Ericsson 1 s method of

propulsion. (Iron ships also between 1840-50) Stockton 1 s engine,

Ericsson's propellers and Hunter's were the great topics of the

day (1842)

Stockton's large gun (225 pounds) called the "peacemaker",

burst in 1844 on board the Princeton. Stockton got permission to

build the Princeton in 1842, she was completed in 1844, ami was

spoken of as a terrible monster, she was armed with two 225-pound

wrought iron guns, made under Captain Stockton's supervision, and

twelve 42-pound carronades. In speed, model and efficiency she

Chap.6. - 66 - (p.39 of ms.)

\

was superior to any vessel of war then afloat.

Steam frigate "Missouri" - the pride of the Navy - burned in

Gibraltar harbor in 1844.

Lieutenant J. N. Ward's Treatise on Ordnance, Gunnery and

Steam (1845-6) " " " Steam for the Million - popular trea­

tise. " " " ivianuAl of Naval Tactics. Ward's Gun

Carriage.

Lieutenant B. J, Totten 1 s Naval Text Book, Naval Gun Exercise

and Marine Dictionary,(1841)

Sailing Master William Brady 1 s Kedge Anchor (1847)

Passed Midshipman McLeod Murphy and W. N. Jeffers "Nautical Rou-

/ -tine and Stowage, with short rules in Navigation" (1849)

Dana 1 s Seaman's Friend in 1841 - welcomed as a means of in-

-struction for the sailor.

Numerous expeditions were fitted out.

1842 - Organization of the Engineer Corps - Act of August

31, 1842.

" re-organization of NavV Department - into Bureaus.

" Colt's submarine battery,

" An iron steamer on Hunter's plan to be built.

" A powerful iron steam battery for harbor defense

(R. L, Stevens)

1847. Experiments with Brown's shot proof ship.

" Collins line of transatlantic steamers sxabsidized - to

have Passe-'i Midshipmen as watch officers - also line to

New Orleans and Havana,

1848 - Commissioning of Professors of Mathematics.

Chap. 6. - 67 - (p. 39 of ms.)

1848 - Astronomical Expedition to Ohili authorized.

1849 - Nautical Almanac to be prepared for publication by a

competent officer of the Navy.

" Secretary authorized, to detail 3 vessels of the Navy

in testing new routes and perfecting discoveries Made

by Lieutenant Maury - the course of his investigations

of winds and currents of ocean,

1853 - Kane's Arctic Expedition.

1856 - Hartstene's relief Kxpedition.

Japan Expedition - Darien Kxpedition - Paraguay Expedition

(1858-9)

Kane's Arctic Expedition 1853 - Hull's Arctic Expedition -

Rodgers' North Pacific Exploring and Surveying Expedition (1857)

Herndoii and Gibbons' Explorations of the Amazon,

See manuscript sheet "Extracts from Lav,r s of Navy -

We learn from a pamphlet lately published, that Ericsson

built tho first successful propeller, having all its machinery bc-

-low the water line, (the Francis B, Ogden) which was rejected by

the Lords of the Admiralty on the grouna that "it n'Oiild be impossi-

-ble to steer a vessel where the propelling power was 30 naar the

rudder". Mr. Ericsson came to this country bringing the machinery

of the Robert F, Stockton, and shortly after, built for the gov-

-ernment the screw steamer Princeton. Ericsso$ conceived the idoa

of the Monitor class of vessels in 1854, when he submitted his plan

for such ships to Napoleon.

See printed clipping - "A Naval Reminiscence." Ex-Governor

Prices' experiences when he was Paymaster in the Navy, The burn-

-ing of the U.S.Steam Frigate Missouri in 1843.

Chap.6. - 68 - (Notes.)

These letters of Chaplain Jones to me are interesting.

Brooklyn No. 34 Clinton St.

Feb. 5th. 1864.if

To Professor T, -&* Ford, U.S.N.

Dear Sir:-

I am glad to find that you have not relinquished

your design of publishing a history of the Naval Academy; your long

and close connection with that Institution having fully .qualified

you to produce a work of that kind.

As respects myself, I will try to furnish you with materials

such as you request:- merely outlines however, for I suppose you

do not \vish for more.

My father owned a farm nearly adjoining the borough limits of

York, Pennsylvania: and on it, I was born, July 30th, 1800. Was

in a store in York from 1814-17: in 1819 entered the freshman class

in Yale College: took the highest honor in my class in each year,

including the valedictory at graduating in 1825. Intended to go

to Germany, to finish my education; but the brother, with whom my

funds were, could not furnish me with further means unless by dis­

tressing himself, so I went to Washington, D. C., got up a school

there, arid taught for two years.

At the end of that time the Brandywine was fitting o\it in the

Potomac, with orders to carry Lafayette to Prance, and to proceed

thence to the Mediterranean.

One evening, a lady visiting at my boarding house, and with

whom I was in a quiet conversation at one side, told me of the in-

-teres ting accounts which her brother Lieutenant, now Captain Crabte

Chap. 6. - 69 - (Letters of Jones)

U. S. N., gave of his cruisings in various parts of the world.

Ey and by, I scarcely heard a word she said; for my thoughts were

all swallowed up by the Brandywine, and the opportunities she of-

-fered of seeing Greece &G.&C. The next morning, I was an appli-

-cant Cor an office on board.

Commodore Morris was to command the frigate as far as Prance,

In the Mediterranean she was to be under command of Captain D. T,

Patterson. My application was successful. The Commodore had no

secretary. I was to be teacher of Navigation to the Midshipmen

(school master was the title then) and also to do the duty, tempor­

arily, of Captain's clerk. - Thus my life was suddenly and unex­

pectedly turned into the Navy.

In the Mediterranean, as the Brandywine was needed at home,

Captain Patterson was transferred to the frigate Constitution - the

original old ship - and took me with him. Commodore John Rodgors

commanded the squadron. He sent me an invitation to his flag ship

the North Carolina, in the samo capacity to the Midshipmen: but I

preferred the Constitution and her Captain, and was allowed to ro-

-main with them.

Wo had a remarkably pleasant set of Midshipmen (28 in number)

in the vessel, and a Captain earnest for their improvement: he put

the school under excellent regulations, and the young men did bet-

-ter than I have ever seen Midshipmen do in any other ship. He

was eager to have his officers improve in every respect: visited

interesting ports, as much for their sakes as his own,' and was al-

-ways desirous of having them learn all they could, wherever we

went. They were all much attached to him. The cruise was one of

Chap. 6. - 70 - (Letters of .TOTIGG)

the pleasantest I have ever made. - I published an account of it -

(with the Captain's approbation previously obtained) after our re-

-turn "The Sketches of Naval Life".

Got home in 1828. I had received, while in the Brandywine,

in the Potomac, an offer of a tutorship in Yale College from the

authorities there: and now it was renewed, and accepted; and I was

a Tutor there for two years.

In 1830 was ordained Deacon in the ministry of the Episcopal

Church, and was invited to be Rector in the Church at Middle ton in

Connecticut. Went there: but ny health soon broke down, and I

left in the autumn of 1831.

Went to Indiana, and to open air work: and health was restoroi

While there, in the Spring of 1832, received a letter from Captain

Patters on, saying that he was to take command of the Mediterranean

squadron, and inviting me to go out with him in his flag-ship the

frigate "United States", He had previously, at rny request, ap-

-plied, at Washington, for a chaplaincy for me, and had the promise

of one as soon as there should be a vacancy. I came to New York,

and was attachea to the "United States", as acting Chaplain. Cap—

-tain John W. Nicholson was Captain of the ship. We sailed for

the Mediterranean via Lisbon, June 3rd, 1832,i

With my duties as Chaplain, I also taught the Midshipmen in

this ship, under regulations such as those in the Constitution in

the former cruise. In March 1834, the Delaware (74) having joined

the squadron, Commodore Patterson transferred his flag to her, and

I was also removed to that ship. Captain Nicholson was also

transferred to that vessel. Captain Nicholson requested me to

Chap. 6. - 71 - (Letters of Jones)

take charge here also of the Midshipmen in Mathematics; as this

would put it in his power to employ a teacher for them in French

and Spanish: and I did so, in connection with my duties as Chaplain

My commission as Chaplain, dated 20th. April of the previous year

(1833) reached me about this time.

The cruise of the Delaware terminated by our arrival at Nor-

-folk in February 7, 1856. During that summer I published a vol-

-ume containing so<'ie incidents in this cruise.<L

In September of that year, I was ordered to report for fyuty on

board the North Carolina, about to sail for the Pacific, Commodore

Ballard to have command of that station. I reported accordingly,

and then went to Washington, on the siibject. Commodore Patterson,

then commanding the Navy Yard there, went with me to the Department

and represented to them that I had lately come from a cnuise of

nearly 4- years' length, and that these orders to sea again appeared

to come quickly on the other cruise. They replied that Coi-imodore

Ballard had applied for me, and that they would not insist on my

going, if it was not agreeable. Commodore Patterson then requwst-

-ed orders for me to the Washington Yard; but a favorite of General

Jackson (one who had never performed sea duty and had the promise

of never being called upon for such duty) had been put there to

remain permanently, and the Department declined interfering, I

then applied for the Norfolk Navy Yard, and received orders to that

place, October 17, 1836,

Was on duty there till December 24th, 1840, when I was order-

-ecl to proceed in the sloop of war Levant to Penscola, and report

for duty in the Macedonian, Commodore Wilkinson,

Chap, 6, - 72 - (Letters of Jones)

On duty in the Macedonian till the summer of 1841, when I was

detached in consequence of ill health.

December 2nd. 1841, was ordered to report for duty in the fri-

-gate Columbia Captain Parker, fitting out at Boston for the home

squadron. We had a very pleasant time in this ship. In conse-

-quence of some temperance efforts made at the beginning of the

cruise, about two thirds of tho men, and nearly half of the offi-

-ce^s signed the temperance pledge: and there was a remarkable de-

-groe of harmony and kind feeling in the ship. We were going on a

very boisterous cruise off the coast; and I wrote to the Secretary

of the Navy, offering, to procure, at my own expense, coffee and

sugar, for night drink for the deck watches, if he vould furnish

conveniences for having it prepared. Had a kind letter in reply

and the means were furnished: and every night at twelve and four

o'cloek, hot coffee, as much as they could drink, was furnished to

our temperance men, - the others also being never refused a share.

We were 40 days on St. George's banks, rolling and pitching all the

while, in weather so cold and stormy that one night they wore two

hours furling one of the sails: but I have always heard both men

and officers say, in our subsequent meetings, that this was the

pleasantest cruise they had over known. We were grieved to find

on returning into port at New York, that we nust separate; for tho

Columbia was needed for service in the Brazil station. Captain

Parker was transferred to the frigate Constitution, and I was sent

with him to that ship. We had bxit a short time in this vessel, as

on our going to sea, she was found'to be so leaky in her decks,

that we soon had to return again. This short cnuise was also off

Chap.6. - 73 - (Letters of Jones)

our coast, the vessel being on the home squadron.

We went into Norfolk: and there Captain Parker was directed to

hoist a broad pennant in the frigate Brandywine, and proceed to the

East Indies as Commodore of that station. I had orders also to

join the Brandywine: and it was, while this ship was getting ready

for sea; that is, in the winter of 1842-43, th.'t I made my chief

efforts for getting up a Naval School. I had before Made exer-

-tions of this kind, having been satisfied, after long experience

and observation, that teaching on board ship seldom resulted in

much good. The grade of Professor of Mathematics had been estab­

lished, some years previous to this, and many gentlemen of compo-

-tent ability had been employed; but the circumstances on board

were all adverse to study, and unless the Captain of a ship might

be such a person as Captain Patterson, winning the Midshipmen to

study by the interest he took in than, and using al so a persistent

authority on the subject, little could be expected in return for

the generous outlay by government, in providing the large number

of Professors, which it then had afloat.

I had previous to this winter, written to leading officers in

the service, interested in such matters, asking them for written,

opinions about the system then in use, and for plans for any better

one: and had their answers, some of them at considerable length.

I remember among these, one from Commodore, now rear-Admiral Smith,

of great value: but all showed the deep interest of officers in the

subject. With these I had made one or two visits to Washington;

and as Judge Upshur, then Secretary of the Navy, had now, in his

last report, reiterated an urgent appeal to Congress for such a

Chap. 6. - 74 - (Letters of Jonorj)

school or schools, I spent the winter at the Capital trying to

further the plans. The Secretary introduced me to Colonel Bayard,

Chairman of the Senate Naval Committee; and the Colonel asked me

to see those persons who would probably oppose such a bill, to k

whom he introduced me for this purpose, Colonel Bent on, Mr, Alien

of Ohio &c. &c. I had interviews with them, at their rooms; and

I remember especially that with Colonel Benton, who was opposed to

all such schools, especially to West Point, as aristocratic institu­

tions &c. I had found it necessary to have a properly digested

plan to lay before these gentlemen, and had formed one combining

the leading features of those recommended by the various officers

with whom I had correspondence. There was also a paper accompany­

ing it, in v/hich I showed that the expenses of a Naval School•»

carefully conducted, would be annually §28,200 less than the system

then in use requiring so many professors on ships in commission.

This paper seems to have been taken into account afterwards; inas­

much as that was the sum voted annually for the Uaval School for

a couple of years after it was actually established. I haVe no

copies of these papers or of the letters of officers previously

received; I left all with the Senate Naval Committee, Judge Up-

-shur himself wished to have five schools, one at Sackett's Harbor,

as also at Boston, New York, Philadelphia and Norfolk; and directed

me to inquire about the health'fulness of Port Norfolk with refer-

-ence to this subject. Members of Congress distrusted his plans

in general, for the Navy, though they had great esteem for him as

an individual and a gentleman, A bill for a Naval School was pro-

-sented at this session, but was soon shoved aside by more pressing

things,

Chap.G. - 75 - (Letters of Jones)

The Brandywine left for China in July 1843. We had a Profes- dl

-sor^Mathematics on board; but he became sick when a few weeks out,

and I was requested to take his place. He did not recover, and

came home at the end of a year: and I. did the duty of that office

in addition to my own, through all the cruise, except the 2 or 3

weeks at the beginning.

We got back to the United States in September 1845, and I had

one month* s leave of absence forwarded to me, with orders to re-

-port, at the expiration of that time, for duty at the Naval Acad-j ' S ' wjt-) \.c/'

-emy, then about to be n*>L^ia-rl e*aA, j.jy, Bancroft had taken the

course some members of Congress had tried to get Judge Ilpshur to

take; had used the power already in his hand, without application

to Congress, and the Naval School was forthwith established.

I was there, as Professor in the Jinglish Department, sometimes

assisting in mathematics, till 1850, when, according to the usual

navy routine, I was detached. The Professors all united in a let-

-ter to Commodore Shubrick then at Washington, asking him to apply

at the Department, and have me kept at the school. They could not

write to the Department itself, as that would not be military, but

took this indirect method to effect their end. It was all done

without rny knowledge; arid without my having any suspicion of it,

but they afterward shewed me the letter which they had written.

I had formed my plans, however, differently; and had asked the De-

-partnent for furlough for a year, which was granted. This was

in June 1850, In October of that year, the school was remodeled

and a chaplaincy for it established, distinct from any professor-

-ship: and in February 1851 I asked for that situation, and was

ChaP' 6 ' - 76 - (Letters of Jones)

accordingly ordered as Chaplain to what was now t se Naval Academy.

I had previously, while Professor, got up the Lyceum a large

part of it being my o :vn contribution from collections made in va-

-rious cruises: and the Secretary of the Wavy, had authorized me

also to travel in one of the vacations, and make collections !"or it

especially in coals, the expense not to exceed one hundred dollars:

which I did, I was also acting Librarian for several years.

Commodore Perry in 1852 was fitting out the Japan Expedition,

and applied to the Department to attach me to his squadron on the

ground, as he wrote to me, that he thought I "could be useful to

him". The orders came accoj-dingly, and I left the Academy for the

Japan cruise. He put considerable extra duty on me, for which,

however, I was always willing, and sometimes offered myself. He

was fond of working men, and we got along together very well.

After the cnuise I was ordered to remain with him in New York

to assist in bringing out his Report of the Expedition. The pub-

-lic has the result.

I had got to be much interested in observations on the Zodi-

-acal Light; and wishing to have further ones in some spot, where,

in addition to its being equatorial, a clear atmosphere might be

found, I obtained leave of absence from the Department; for a year

after my part of the Japan Expedition report was finished: and

proceeded to Quito, in Ecuador, where, or in its neighborhood, I

spent 7 months, with most satisfactory results; the observations

fully confirming the idea that the Zodiacal Light is from a. nebu-

-lous ring round the earth; indeed making it, as far as I can seo,

a matter of demonstration.

Chap. 6, - 77 - (Letters of J^nen)

I reached home in the spring of 1857, and in October of that

year, through the influence of Commodore Perry, was returned to my

former place as Chaplain of the Naval Academy.

On 1st. of January, 1861, my term there, according to the

usual routine, having expired, I was detached.l'

In April of that year, Commodore, nonr rear-Admiral Stringham

having been ordered to command the Atlantic squadron, informed mo,

in Brooklyn, that he had just been conversing with the Department

about me; and that they had authorized him to say that I could have

either sea or shore duty, as I might prefer, I replied that I

wished to be where I would be most useful in the war; and as a ship

seemed the best place for that, I should prefer sea duty. He ap-

-plied for me accordingly and I was ordered to his ship the Minne-

-sota. In that vessel we captured, not Ion,"; after, at Hatteras,

Commodore Barren, who had been a Midshipman in the first ship (the

Brandywine) in which I had sailed.

The lav/ retiring from sea duty all officers 62 years of age

or who have been forty-five years on the register, took hold of meHi*

in July 1862 on board the Minnesota: and accordingly I had to be

detached from that ship,\s ou

Since that time I have been on .JJeave of ^Absence, but have done

voluntary duty, as Chaplain and nxirse, in the Army hospitals at

Washington and at Gettysburg, having previously, while in the Min-

-nesota, had large experience of that kind in the Army as well as

Navy hospitals at Fortress Monroe, and at Norfolk,

It is not often that I deal so much in egotisms, but this

Chap. 6. - 78 - (Letters of Jones)

could not be avoided in a paper of this kind. Of course you will

understand this as only furnishing materiels for yourself. My

life in the Navy has been an active one, and a life also of very

great variety. I have generally been a worker where I could be:

and have had my reward generally in kind treatment in return, both

from the Navy Department and from officers in general, and also

from sailors.

I am now old, and retire quietly, leaving to more active ones

the busy scenes; but I have many pleasant thoughts connected with

all parts of the "'orld, with which to solace myself through the

rest of ray days.

Still I think I should like to voyage a little more: only a

little: one or two places - indeed I am afraid I must say a good

many - that I should like to so^ again,

Such is a sailor 1 s retiring quietly and being contented for

the remainder of his days!

You have this my history down to the present time: and sup-

posing that you now have enough of me, I will only subscribe my-

s elf

Your fd. & Sert.

(Signed) Geo, Jones.

No. 34 Clinton St.

Brooklyn - Peb 19,'64.

My dear\Sir:-/^X -^-^ "**

Your letter, in consequence of being directed to New

Chap. 6. - 79 - (Letters of Jonoo)

York, clsid not reach me until to-day.

I wil.V reply strratim to your questions as far as I can.

1. I have no distinct recollection of the exact sura stated in

my plan, as thai, which could, he saved by a regular school; but ro-

-member that when the appropriations of $28,200 yearly (an odd sum)

were made, it struck me that, this was fixed upon, because in accor-

-dance with the amount given in that plan. I have not any Navy

Register of that date, and cannot tell now what number of Profes-

-sors Mathematics there were then in the Navy or their pay; but I

suppose there is one of that d-^te in the\ Naval Academy library.\

If you will multiply the number of Professors by their sea pay -f-\

a ration (allowing for say one quarter of them on shore with shore

pay): add to this at the rate of pay and ration of a servant to

each two professors, and you will have about the cost to government

of the system then in use. There were, I think, on my list of\ \ \

costs some other items, but no\ amounting to much. Then per con-

-tra, take the pay, say of 4 ! (f.n. 1 Perh$a.s I allowed only throe;

for our plans, in the first instance, were all on a moderate scale.

The Chaplain was to act also as Professor arid I think the Surgeon

also.) Professors and of a commander and surgeon and a chaplain,

and deduct this from the other, and you will have pretty nearly the

calculation which I made at the time. I have kept no record of\

these things and write only as my memory, fiired up variously since

with other things, will supply.

2. I di not act antogonistically to Secretary Upshur, although

our plans were different. He stated to me what his were, and di-\

-rectecl me, in one of my visits to Norfolk, to inquire about Port

Chap. 6. - 80 - (Letters of Jones)

Norfolk, in reference to them. This I did. In conversations/'()^ \f v vj/ with Colonel Bayard, and. when he asked me to see opponents and ar-

. y

\ H r' ~P^ e then out of their opposition, I saw the necessity of having a A'N/

plan all drawn out, with the necessary details, and with a statement

of expensaw &c. and, taking the ideas of various officers in their

correspondence with me, and combining them with the results of rny

own observations, I made out the plan of one school, with the of-

-ficers to be attac?ied to it, as noticed above. This plan I laid

before Colonel Benton and the others, using the saving of expense

to the Government as one of the arguments for a school, I suppose

I did not mention Secretary Upshur'n plan of 5 schools to them; for

they were all distrustful of him. His purposes for the navy were

on a generous scale; indeed so large, as shewn in his last report,

that members of Congress took alarm. When I argued for one school

that it would be on a very moderate scale they replied "Yes, but

it will be only the entering wedge by Judge Upshur for something on

an extravagant scale". I answered "You can easily check him, if

he attempts it in this matter": but they said "No, we can't: he

will lead us on and on, and we cannot tell where it will stop".

As to the Secretary and myself, we did not work antagonist!-

-cally, but both trying _t_o_ get soiiething started. The Judge com-

-plained to me one cl^y, that ho had not a friend in Congress, He

said that this was the second session in which he had been trying

to get a commission which he ?iad given to a Chaplain (his fomer

rector) confirmed; but in vain, I got his permission, went to the

Capitol, did a little lobbying and the confirmation was made.

Judge Upshur was very friendly to no, and we did not work in oppo-

Chap.6. - 81 - (Letters of Jones)

-sition, although in different ways,

I think Mr. Wise (Grov. W, of Virginia) was then Chairman of

the Naval Committee in the House. I remarked to him, one day,

that Judge Upshur had the power to start a school with the mate-

-rials already on hand, and did not need any action from Congress,

"That", he replied "is just what vie have been trying to get him to

do, all along: but he has been so man,-- years on the bench, that ho

won't move a step, unless he has lav; to shew for it".

3. I do not kriow anything more about my plan than that, after

using it as above I Iffft it, I believe, with the letters from Navy

Officers, in the hands ofVbhe Senate Naval Committee; and went off,

soon after, on my first East India cruise.

4. I have no recollection of Commodore Warrington with refer-

-ence to school plans. He hack for years, been a kind and warm

friend to me, and I was on terms \f intimacy with him and his farn-

-ily. Doubtless I consulted him on -these matters, and I am pretty

certain that my plan had his approval, , As to. the phrase "Our

plan", probably it was used, becaiise I considered it the plan of\

many navy officers, (himself included) arisingXfron correspondence

and conversations.

I am sorry that I cannot be more exact in my\replies to your

j,bi \

Letter of Chaplain George Jones to Commodore Warrin^ton,

Boston February 3rd. 1842.

Dear Sir:-

When I was about leaving Washington, at my last

Chap, 6. - 82 - (Letters of Jones)

visit in December, you were good enough to offer to take in hand

the furtherance of our project for a Naval College. You wished

me, when the Honorable the Secretary of the Navy could be more at

leisure, to give you, in detail the plan which we had drawn up and

which you offered to submit to him.

I enclose it herewith and also several letters which I have

received from officers of different grades in the service, on the

subject, which you can also lay before the Secretary if you think

it best. My own paper is brief as I know the Secretary has not

time for lengthy conversations; and minute details, if we can get

the College started, will then corne up and arrange themselves.

The great object now is to _gejt it started. The time seems to be

extremely favorable. Lyceums and lectures have spread the spirit

of knowledge all over our country: new principles in Naval tactics

are coming up requiring scientific acquirements which our officers

have, at present, no means of obtaining; the Secretary of the Wavy

is popular and intelligent and active; and such an institution

would put a noble climax to the efforts which he is making for the

good of the navy. No Secretary could wish a more splendid rnonu-

-ment to his memory than such an institution. The plan too, as

you will perceive is a money-saving one.

I give the subject into your hands, dear sir, confident that

you will treat it with the attention that it deserves. Of the

letters accompanying this, that of Captain James Smith is the full-

-est, and is well worthy of attention: that of Captain Parker is

strong; that of Captain Gregory is full on the inefficiency of the

present system: most of the letters are from Lieutenants who have

Chap.G. - 83 - (Letters of

been lately first Lieutenants of ships or have otherwise had par­

ticular opportunities of observing education as it is now conduct-

-ed. I would particularly recommend those of Lieutenants Harwood

and Davis, both of whom you probably know are very intelligent men.

I ought to add that Commodores Biddle and Stewart have both given

me permission to say that we have had conversation on this subject

and that they approve the plan here offered, Commodore Biddle -fully

and Commodore Stewart with some qualifications. The Midshipmen

at Philadelphia received it, I am told, with acclamations; and it

is my firm belief that nothing in the whole range of things would

be hailed with such universal joy in the Navy as the institution of

a college even on an humble plan like this.

I have the honor to be

Very respectfully and truly

Your ob' . sert.

(Signed) Geo. .Tones. Chap. U.S.N.

To Commodore

L. Warring ton,

President of Navy Yard

Washington City. JL . / ?, • "*»»KJ y

ancT-thank ytrtt-forMt

{ 1842. Jones on Naval College.)

Reasons for a Nayaj^ College.

1. The almost entire inefficiency of the present system of

instruction, although accompanied with great expense. Nor is it

seen that this system can, by any possibility, be made effectual.

°hap. 6. - 84 - (Letters of Jones)

These midshipmen can seldom be in more than three watches and there

is a strong and well founded prejudice among officers against more

than three. Of these watches one must be on deck: the other two

can be in the school room; but of these, one has had the deck from

midnight to 4 o'clock and the other from 4 to 8: watchers are con-

-sequently dull and as badly prepared as possible for the close

attention required by mathematical studies. There are also con-

-stant interruptions from boat-duty, calls to attend the exercising

of guns, and a great many other miscellaneous duties perpetually

distracting the attention. To this must be added the confused,

noises of a ship and in sloops of v/ar the want of a school room,

the steerage being usually the only place allowable in vessels of

this class.

In the accompanying documents the testimony of officers of

high standing in the Navy and of different grades, on this subject

is very ample. I have had six years experience in teaching on

shipboard and a still longer time for observation, and do not hesi­

tate to say, that in return for the vast expense which education

costs scarcely anything at all is done or can be done for effec-

-tual improvement,

2, The increasing need of instruction. Naval -aJIbates- are

overy year learning more of science, particularly gunnery and of

that portion connected with steam machinery, A naval war would

now be far different from any one that has ever yet, been witnessed

and would require intellectual acquirements of a higher grade than

heretofore. In case of war our steam-vessels would be almost on-

-tirely in the control of the corps of steam-engineers unless bet-

Chap. 6. - 85 - (Letters of Jones)

-ter means of education are afforded for higher officers. Educa­

tion in the whole country is progressing: in the Navy it is at a

stand, or indeed scarcely exists at all, except in name. On board

one of our receiving ships which I visited lately, I found the

Naval Apprentices studying higher branches in mathematics than any

then studied in the Midshipmen's school in that ship,

Reasons for a. Naval College.

It is not proposed to apply to Congress for appropriations,

or to bring the subject at all before that body, where sectional

feeling would probably entirely defeat the object: but for the

Honorable the Secretary of the Navy to use the power which he now

possesses of appointing Professors and thus for the Navy quietly

to get a college for itself. As this would be a saving of expense

(as will presently be shewn) it is not thought that there can be

any objection by the nation to such a course.

Such a college would require

1. A building for recitations &c. - Such an one we have al-

-ready in the Naval Asylum at Philadelphia which is extremely well

adapted to the purpose and where there is ample room.

2. Models of all the ships in the Navy: also models to be

taken apart and put together; models of guns and gun carriages &c.

and particularly of steam machinery. Also a library of about

1000 vols. The models can be procured at our Navy Yards and

would cost nothing: the books can be procured by subscription

among the officers if funds cannot be otherwise procured.

3. Professors - say 1 Professor of mathematics (officer) 2 Do.

civilians. 2 do Languages (civilians): 1 do Natural Philosophy

Chap. 6, - 86 - (Letters of Jones)

particularly of suearn (civilian) 1 do Gunnery (Officer) 1 do Sea-

-manship (officer) 1 do Drawing (officer) 1 do Belles Lettres

(Chaplain). Of these ten Professors only five are civilians and

v/ould be an extra expense and for most of them officers may soon

be substituted. It is not proposed to start with all of these,

but to reach this point as soon as possible.

Course of Study.

It is proposed to have appointments given out at some stated

period yearly, and to have the lads so appointed, sent immediately

to the Naval College, to form a class by themselves. At the end

of a year they are to undergo a severe examination, and all who

cannot pass this ordeal, or who have shewn obliquities of temper

or physical weakness during the year, to be sent quietly home, -

their connection with the Navy having ceased. It is thought that

such a sifting system woxild be a very important and useful part of

the plan. Those who pass this examination successfully, are to

be sent to sea as soon as possible and at the end of two years are

to be returned to the College for two additional years of study,

blended for recreation with theoretical seamanship in a vessel kept

anchored near the College. At the end of this period, the final

examination for "Past j,»idshipmen" to take place.

Expenses of such _a College.

The present system of instruction on board ship costs, it in

believed about $25000 annually. It is proposed to abolish all

this system and siich a college as is here sketched would cost

about $10,000, this ".-oulfl be a saving of $lvLOOO yearly to the gov­

ernment.

Chap. 6. - 87 - (Letters of Jones)

I

At the end of 3 or 4 years tho college, if it succeeded well,

may be brought before Congress and appropriations asked for, in

order to place it on a wider and more substantial basis. If Con-

-gress will grant them, well: if not, we shall still have a Naval

College.

Chap. 6. - 88 - (Letters of Jones)

A Servant of Humanity.afomago'was paid; at the Sorbonno last

night to Williom Fontaine Maury, the piof f «

ueer of meteorology. The occasion was !gathering in the Richelieu Amphitheatre of "Les Amis dc 1'Universite," a society presided over by M. Casimir-Pericr, for­ merly President of the f rench Republic

Before an audience of over fire hundred distinguished scholars and scientists, Dr A. Berget, in a lecture on "The Circula tion of tho Air," reviewed the labors of Lieutenant tilatiry and tho services ren-

1 dered to navigators by his pilot chares. Dr. Bergot said that the economy realized by the use of tlio Maury charts may be es­ timated at three hundred million francs annually, not to speak of the saving of human life. It might bo said, ho added, that Lieutenant Maury had ".shrunk tho ocean," for ho made it possible for sailing vessels to cross the Atlantic and the Pa­ cific in half the time required previous to the adoption of his ideas. Tho speaker concluded with the suggestion that a monument .should bo raised by inter­ national subscription to tho scientist ho had so warmly and justly eulogized.

^£/V^ ^————^