Training Ships
By Captain Stephen B. Luce, USN
An Article written by Captain Stephen B. Luce, USN, in 1879 as published in the United Service Magazine.
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NAVAL HISTORICAL FOUNDATION
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C/O NAVY DEPARTMENT
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WASHINGTON 25, D.C.
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A Message from the President
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In keeping with the Foundation's policy of publishing items of historical interest from time to time as funds permit, we have selected this article on "Training Ships", as an article which we hope might be of interest to its members.
While the material advances toward atomic propulsion, electronic controls and scientific "gadgets" in our ships has made the problem of training personnel to man, maintain and fight them more intense and difficult, it is not a new one. Training personnel, especially in peacetime, has always had the careful attention of those in command.
The article, written by Commodore Stephen B. Luce, then a Captain, first appeared in the monthly magazine United Service in July, 1879. The requirements to train a man-of wars-man in today's Navy are certainly diffierent than in the old Navy. Even in those days, however, the necessity for such training was recognized.
The officers of the Foundation hope you will enjoy this article.
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Sincerely, |
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/s/ |
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JOHN F. SHAFROTH
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| Vice-Admiral, U.S. Navy(RET) |
| President |
UNITED STATES TRAINING-SHIPS
Ici on parle Anglais.--This notice, so frequently seen in the
shop-windows of Paris, was not very long ago placarded in the starboard gangway
of one of the ships of our Mediterranean squadron: "English spoken here!" The
few American sailors who belonged to that ship had good reason to give such a
notice a conspicuous place, for in walking along her decks one might hear
French, German, Spanish, Italian, the mongrel Mahonese, the native Irish, and
occasionally Chinese, all spoken with equal fluency by some one or more of the
ship's company.
The jest had at least the merit of a good point, and that point was a severe
commentary on the character of the crews we have been for years employing to
maintain the honor and integrity of the American flag on the ocean. A careful
count of all the sailors of the Mediterranean squadron, made about the time of
the above notice, showed that thirty-five countries were represented by them,
and that considerably less than one-half were American born.
These facts being pressed upon the attention of the United States government,
steps were taken to enlist boys with a view to training them up for the navy, so
that we might have our petty officers and leading seamen, at least, native-born.
There were other considerations which doubtless had their full weight in
inducing the government to adopt this measure.
The many and altogether novel devices of modern naval warfare require for
their manipulation a higher order of seamen than in former times. To load and
fire the old 18-pounder, or at most a 24-pounder, mounted on a four-truck wooden
carriage, was the highest achievement as a gunner that the sailor of 1812 was
required to reach. He was not so foolish as to depend on a lock-string merely;
he had besides a trustworthy match, which he used according to the following
formula: "Handle your match and lock-string! Cock your lock! Blow your match!
Watch the weather-roll! Stand by--fire!" And if he hit anywhere about the
broadside of a lofty frigate, or cut away any of her spars or rigging, he was
lucky indeed! He was withal a good topman; for, did his own masts or rigging
suffer, he left his gun for the nonce, repaired damages, and resumed his
fighting with increased ardor.
Of the modern man-of-war's-man a far more extensive range of duties is
required. Machinery now forms such an important element in nearly all implements
of naval warfare, that the sailor of to-day must be something of a mechanic. The
revolving turret of the monitor; the method of working the 15-inch gun; the
heavy breechloading rifle-guns; the Gatling boat-guns and magazine-guns, all
require carefully-trained men for their proper handling. With these and similar
"arms of precision," it is expected that the vulnerable parts of an enemy's ship
will be speedily reached and the battle proportionately shortened.
Modern man-of-war's-men, moreover, are expected to be tolerably fair
infantry-men. Armed with breech-loading rifles, they should be able to land,
form under cover of their ship, and march to meet an enemy according to the
rules laid down in infantry tactics. To pass through the "School of the
Soldier," thence, through the company drill, to the "School of the Battalion,"
requires much patient drilling and frequent opportunities for landing; for,
after a certain familiarity with the simpler movements has been attained, such
drilling cannot be continued on the deck of a ship.
Nor is this all. The torpedo has become a recognized weapon of warfare, and
as our officers are carefully instructed in the use of that terrible agent, it
is manifest that the sailors, or at least a certain proportion of them, should
also be instructed in their handling; for the officers will often require the
aid of intelligent labor in the operations of torpedo warfare. For this reason,
and for the reasons that the bottoms of our ships require to be occasionally
examined, the propeller cleared of ropes or other obstructions, etc., it becomes
necessary that all our large ships, or at least every flag-ship of a squadron,
should have one or more expert divers. Hence a corps of divers for the navy has
become a necessity of the times, and these divers, besides being trained as
seamen, should be trained also for submarine warfare.
Congress had already passed a law, that "boys between the ages of sixteen and
eighteen years might be enlisted to serve in the navy until twenty-one years of
age," etc.1 So that, under sanction of law, the Navy Department
issued a circular (April 8, 1875) stating that a limited number of boys would be
enlisted with a view to training them for the naval service. Eighteen--the
higher legal limit of age--was thought to be too old, save in exceptional cases
where the applicant had already been to sea or exhibited a special aptitude for
the service; hence the limits of age fixed upon by the Department are sixteen and seventeen years. To secure admission each boy is
required, by the circular,
to be able to read and write. He must also be of robust frame, intelligent,
of perfectly sound and healthy constitution, free from any physical defects or
malformation, and not subject to fits. The applicant for admission must be
developed in proportion to his age; that is to say, a boy of sixteen should
stand five feet and one inch in his bare feet, and measure thirty inches around
his chest. The regulations are quite stringent in regard to boys having the
consent of their parents or guardians, the latter being obliged to sign a paper,
under oath, that they are the parents or legally appointed guardians, and that
they give their consent to the enlistment of their son or ward to serve during
minority. Boys enlisted under the provisions of this circular are entered as
"second-class boys,"2 and paid at the rate of ten dollars and a half per
month, and one ration,--a ration being the daily allowance of food. They are
furnished with an outfit of clothing, the cost of which is charged to their
accounts. The academic part of their instruction is confined to the elements of
an English education, but great stress is laid upon all the technical branches,
such as seamanship, gunnery, etc. Object-teaching is included in the methods of
instruction, and physical training occupies a more prominent place than in any
other system of education, probably, in the country. The brain culture furnished
by the Naval Academy is here supplemented by trained muscle. Under a wise system
the two schools should together form the most thorough personnel in the
maritime world.
The circular once issued, the Department lost no time in inaugurating a
training system on board one of our largest and finest frigates, and such
regulations were framed as would best carry out the objects of the system.
The department of seamanship embraces practical seamanship, such as knotting
and splicing, reefing, loosing, furling, making, shortening, bending and
unbending sails; steering; heaving the lead, etc.; sailmaking, signaling by the
army code, as well as the naval and international codes; the handling of boats,
swimming, the use of the diving apparatus, etc.
The gunnery department embraces the theory and practice of gunnery, exercise
of the howitzer ashore and afloat, the Gatling gun, infantry drill, pistol,
broadsword exercise, boxing, etc., and eventually the practical use of
torpedoes.
The department of studies includes reading, writing, spelling, arithmetic
(through decimal fractions), grammar, geography, naval history and the history
of the United States, moral and religious instruction, and singing.
In the department of machinery, which embraces instruction in the coaling and
working of fires, the construction and operation of boilers,
steam and water-gauges, etc., a special class is formed of boys having
aptitude for that calling. In a complement of three hundred and fifty this class
has been limited to eighteen. A certain amount of instruction in other
departments is also afforded them.
A volunteer class in practical navigation has been formed on board one of the
ships designated for training purposes, with the view of teaching the elements
of that science to the future boatswains and gunners of our service, who may, in
some possible contingency, be detailed as officers to carry prizes to an
American or neutral port. When it was found that out of a crew of three hundred
only ten boys availed themselves of this privilege, those who hold conservative
views on this system will no longer fear that the majority of the apprentices
are being educated above their sphere.
Called at early daylight,--at 5.30 during winter and 4.30 during summer,--the
boys are required to turn out promptly, lash up their hammocks neatly, carry
them on deck, and stow them in the hammock-nettings. Twelve minutes is the time
generally allowed for this. Staying the stomach with a ship's biscuit and a pot
of coffee, they are then required to scrub the decks or their spare hammock or
clothing, as the ship's routine of work may call for, and put the decks to
rights. At seven bells,--half-past seven,--having previously washed their faces,
hands, and feet, they are drawn up in line and carefully inspected by a petty
officer, known as the master-at-arms, assisted by one or more ship's corporals.
The hair of the boys is required to be closely cropped. At the morning
inspection, if the weather is mild, each boy must have his collar thrown back,
his sleeves rolled up to the elbows, and the pantaloons to the knee. These
inspections ought to be, and generally are, very searching; and as every boy is
required to take a bath at least once a week, summer and winter, habits of
personal cleanliness are instilled at the very outset of their career.
At eight o'clock, on the breakfast call being sounded, the boys "fall in" on
the main deck by mess crews, are mustered by their respective captains, and,
when the usual reports are made, the order is given, "Parade--rest!" At this
command the boys uncover and stand at a "rest," while the chaplain offers a
short prayer. It is a noticeable and very gratifying fact that, at the end of
the invocation, the majority of the boys join in audibly repeating the Lord's
Prayer. At the close of this brief service the order "Attention!" is given,
followed by "March to breakfast!" when each captain faces his own crew and
marches it to its proper mess-table. The same routine, save the prayer, is
observed at dinner formation; and at supper an appropriate evening prayer is
offered. It is at these mess formations that all general orders, details for
duty, etc., are published.
Forty-five minutes are allowed for breakfast, when the hands are "turned to,"
and at nine o'clock the drum beats to "quarters." At this
signal the entire ship's company "fall in" at their proper stations at the
guns. The gun's crews are mustered, and, at a call on the bugle, form for
inspection; then the boys, their clothing and arms, and the guns and implements,
are carefully inspected by the officers commanding the several divisions. The
inspection over, and the divisions reported, the drum sounds the "retreat,"
when, if there is to be no exercise, the crews leave their guns and prepare for
the next step in the daily routine.
The work is so arranged as to give to each department its fair share of
instruction and lend variety to the whole.
It has been found by experience that the best results are obtained by
dividing the year into two parts: first, for the winter routine, when the ship
is moored at some naval station where there are facilities for work in the
rigging and sail lofts, and for drilling on shore and under cover. The boys can
then be instructed in company movements and the "School of the Battalion." It is
found, also, that in the light and airy rooms such as are available at almost
every navy-yard, the instruction in broadsword and boxing can be carried on much
better than on the decks of the ship. The occasional change from the ship to
places on shore is often very grateful to boys naturally restive under the
confinement of ship-life. Experience shows, too, that it is better to accustom
young lads to this radical change of life gradually. Hence it has been found
very desirable to give at least one hour each day to the playground, whenever
the weather and other circumstances permit, and encourage the boys to engage in
pastimes and field-sports generally. Even if they only "skylark" and make a
noise, it is better that they should be turned adrift on the playground
frequently, as the open-air exercise has been found to be an important factor in
the maintenance of discipline.
The long evenings of winter are generally devoted to amusement and popular
lectures, and philanthropic gentlemen are often invited to address the boys. Two
evenings in the week are given to singing. Under the leadership of a thoroughly
practical instructor in vocal music, the apprentices soon acquire a readiness
and precision in singing which, while it affords entertainment to their
shipmates, is a source of endless amusement to themselves. Sacred melodies,
naval and sea songs, and songs sentimental, humorous, and patriotic, all find a
place in their repertoire.
If the exercises in singing afforded an innocent recreation simply, the
practice might well be encouraged; but they do more. They exert a refining and
elevating influence over even the roughest natures, and it has been observed
that, after boys have been for some time in the singing-class, they drop
altogether the coarse songs picked up in the lower resorts of city life, and
adopt those better suited to ears polite.
Saturday evening is given up to dancing. A few musicians are allowed for this
purpose, and it is interesting to observe how readily
these young sailors acquire a certain grace and abandon in treading
the measures of the "mazy dance."
On the afternoons of Wednesdays and the forenoons of Saturdays the boys are
required to muster at their guns, each with his bag of clothing. The bags are
then opened, and the wearing apparel arranged on the deck for inspection. The
divisional officers carefully examine every article of clothing, and see that it
is in good repair, clean, and properly marked with the owner's name. On these
occasions one gun's crew is sent to the ship's tailor, who instructs each member
in the manner of measuring, cutting out, and making clothes. Besides this, there
are two experienced seamen stationed at each gun, whose duty it is to instruct
the boys in making, mending, and keeping in order every article of clothing worn
by them. The seamen teach the boys of their squads also to wash their clothing,
to "stop" them on the clothes-lines, to scrub their hammocks, and, in general,
to take care of their persons and belongings. They embrace every occasion to
instruct them in all the minor details of a seaman's duties. Once a month, at
least, the bedding is aired and inspected. Each mattress is provided with two
covers, one of which is scrubbed at the same time as the hammock.
On Sunday the boys are dressed in their mustering clothes,--their best,--and,
after being carefully inspected by the officers at 9.30 A.M., they are marched
to church on the "half-deck." From this attendance no boy is excused, except at
the written request of his parents or guardian. In the afternoon there is a
Bible-class led by the chaplain, assisted, perhaps, by a schoolmaster, and in
the evening a "service of song," which consists of reading selections from the
Bible, with brief explanations, singing hymns, in which the "Gospel Songs" form
a large share, and prayer. In naval training-schools, as in every school in the
land, there are found good, bad, and indifferent boys; but we venture to affirm
that there are few secular schools where more time and care are given to moral
culture.
Every boy takes his turn as cook of his mess. To teach him to prepare in the
most palatable manner, and with the least waste, such food as the government
ration provides, an experienced cook is detailed. A mess consists of seventeen
boys (a gun's crew). Out of this number three rations may be commuted. The money
value of a ration is thirty cents a day. If three rations are stopped, one is
given to the cook of the mess as his perquisite, and the other two may be
applied for the purchase of fresh potatoes, canned milk, raisins for "plum duff"
or pudding, etc.
The government ration is regulated by act of Congress, and, though furnishing
plain food, is yet abundant and wholesome. Every enlisted person in the navy is
allowed per day 14 ounces of biscuit (hard-tack), 1 pound of salt beef (or 1
pound of pork, or 3/4 of a pound of preserved meat), 4 ounces of sugar, and 2
ounces of coffee. In addition to this,
on Sunday, 1/2 a pound of rice, 2 ounces of butter, and 2 ounces of dried
potatoes; Monday, 1/2 a pint of beans; Tuesday, 1/2 a pound of flour, 2 ounces
dried fruit ; Wednesday, 4 ounces of pickles, 1/2 a pint of beans; Thursday, 2
ounces of butter, 2 ounces dried potatoes, 1/2 pint molasses; Friday, 1/2 a
pound of flour, 2 ounces dried fruit; Saturday, 4 ounces of pickles, 1/2 a pint
of beans, and 1/2 a pint of vinegar. This is the regular issue at sea. In port
it is varied by the issue, two or three times per week, of fresh beef,
vegetables, and fresh bread (soft tommy). With a little care in the preparation
of the food, and a judicious expenditure of the money drawn for commuted rations
($18 per month), the boys of the training-ships manage to fare pretty well. [The
Department has recently recommended to Congress the following addition to the
ration of naval apprentices: 4 ounces of oatmeal and 4 ounces of hominy on
alternate days, and half a gill of molasses.]
Once a month there is a full-dress muster, at which the Articles of War are
read, general orders published, etc. On these occasions the crew are required to
be dressed in their mustering suits, and the officers in their full-dress
uniform.
The winter routine, which lasts about six months, has been devoted to careful
instruction in the rigging-loft, in the details of the great-gun drill,
small-arms, "marline spike" seamanship, and the duties of topmen, as far as the
latter can be taught by models, the free use of which is encouraged. But the
winter routine is now over, and the leading boys are detailed as a crew for the
tender, an old-fashioned sailing-ship. This they rig, prepare for sea, and, when
ready, bid adieu to their comfortable winter retreat and seek their proper
element, the broad ocean. Shoving out boldly from the coast, the practice-ship
soon gets into the troubled waters of the Gulf Stream, and not a few of the
young tars become sea-sick. This soon passes off, when they get their "sea-legs
aboard," and, what is equally important, their sea-stomachs. They are now ready
to emulate the example of the reckless Mr. Fid of the song, and
Now is the time for practical work, and to test the thoroughness of the instruction of the past winter. Clearing ship for action; general quarters, as preparing for actual battle; calling the crew to their guns in the dead of night, as if suddenly surprised by an enemy; night alarms of fires; sudden alarms of a "man overboard,"--all find their place in the sea routine.
The most valuable practice, however, is in firing at a target with the great
guns, the ship being under canvas. Boys though they be, they find no difficulty
in handling the IX-inch gun (the working gun of the service). The gun itself
weighs in round numbers 9000 pounds, the
cartridge 13 pounds, the loaded shell 73 pounds, and the iron carriage 1200
pounds, making for the loaded gun a total (not counting the sight and
side-tackle blocks) of 10,286 pounds; this total weight divided among sixteen
boys, the crew of a IX-inch gun (not including the powder-boy), makes 643 pounds
per boy. Constant drill produces concert of action, which, with the élan
of youthful spirits, enables them to work these guns with remarkable
rapidity.
For example, at a competitive drill at sea (the guns being properly secured
for heavy weather), on the drum beating to general quarters, a IX-inch gun was
cast loose, run in, loaded, run out, and fired,--the shell exploding,--all in one minute and thirty-seven seconds! In a competitive exercise to test
the accuracy, combined with rapidity, of fire, a IX-inch gun was fired four
times at a regulation target. The time of first fire being marked, the gun was
loaded and fired three more times, and time called at the fourth fire,--in one minute and forty-eight seconds! The first shot struck and completely
demolished the target (between 800 and 1000 yards distant), the remaining three
shots being fired without much regard to accuracy. The time from the first to
the fourth shot was, as stated, one minute and forty-eight seconds, giving thirty-six seconds as the time for loading and firing a IX-inch gun. On
the third day of this series of exercises, the guns being secured for sea, the
crews, without previous warning, were called to quarters a little after
midnight, when a IX-inch gun, handled by enlisted boys, was cast loose, run in,
loaded, run out, and fired (the shell exploding) in two minutes and eight
seconds from the first tap of the drum! This would be called smart work
anywhere. The superabundance of life and spirits with which the great majority
of these boys are blessed needs only judicious direction in order to attain the
highest results. The exercises aloft are conducted with the same spirit as the
gunnery drills. Pulling in their boats, while it tends to great muscular
development, is really a recreation. The ordinary routine of the ship is
occasionally varied by boat expeditions, landing parties, etc. hauling the seine
is a source of great amusement.
When two or more of these practice-ships join company, the value of the
exercises is wonderfully increased. A generous rivalry springs up among the
several crews. Each ship, knowing that she is constantly watched and criticised
by her consorts, is forever on the alert to keep everything "ship-shape and
Bristol fashion." This spirit diffuses itself throughout the entire ship's
company, from the captain to the youngest boy on board.
It may be remarked, in passing, that the above system of both winter and
summer routine, with their appropriate instruction, has been found, in the
experience of foreign navies as well as our own, to be the most judicious and
practical combination for thorough and successful training.
It will be seen that American youths thus trained for the naval service are
not only taught all the duties incident to man-of-war life, and attain a high
degree of physical culture, but their moral nature is brought out and developed.
The fact that a boy who, while on shore, was addicted to swearing will not swear
in the presence of an officer is a pregnant truth. It demonstrates the
possibilities of self-restraint. Since it is possible for the most hardened boy
to exercise that amount of self-restraint, it is certainly possible to cultivate
that virtue in the average boy. This is the great aim of discipline; and just so
far as we succeed in that cultivation do we succeed in improving the moral
nature of the boys, and preparing them to be better men. This is the true method
of elevating the moral tone of our seamen.
Besides exacting prompt and cheerful obedience of orders, the school
regulations require the boys to abstain from profane or obscene language, and
from the use of tobacco. This necessitates a complete subordination of their
will to the will of those legally placed over them; and, secondly, such rigid
self-government as will not expose them to the penalties which inevitably follow
the infraction of the rules. Willful boys, and such as have been habitually
neglected by their parents, are naturally very restive under a system so
radically different from that which they were indulged in at home. But, finding
that the rules are inflexible, and that they must either yield or go under, the
great majority of the boys prefer the former. If the boy refrains from the
violation of the regulations, he can, by judicious treatment, be brought to
refrain in secret,--in fine, to refrain altogether; and when we have done this
we have arrived at a point in his education which is as important and worthy as
any of the branches of learning laid down in the curriculum of our public
schools. The boy feels now that he has gained a certain mastery over himself and
his appetites: his training has given him a strength of will which enables him
to offer a certain amount of resistance to temptation in any form. He cannot now
be betrayed by his more reckless shipmates into mutinous conduct. In times of
danger he is self-contained, and he finds an inward strength to withstand the
vicious allurements of social life. This is Education; this is the leading out, the developing, of the God-given qualities in man, as the
word itself implies.
Boys who are hopelessly bad, and set themselves persistently against the
discipline of the ship, are summarily dismissed.
We do not say that all this is actually accomplished in the training-ship.
Two years being the utmost limit of time in that school, little more than a
beginning can be made. Hence the necessity of the cruising-ship, to which he is
transferred, keeping up and carrying on the system commenced in the
training-ship. Hence, too, the necessity of taking these boys at an early age.
If we took boys at twelve years
of age we would find them comparatively free from the vices commonly
contracted on shore; more impressionable, more readily imbued with the spirit of
the service, and far more likely to remain in the navy after becoming of age,
which is, after all, the great desideratum. But the increased expense consequent
upon the longer course of training is thought to be an insuperable objection to
that early age. Experience shows that fifteen is a better average age; therefore
the limits of the age of admission should be fixed at fourteen and sixteen, as
giving the best results.
It has been suggested that the discipline and daily routine of a man-of-war
ought to be dispensed with on board the training-ship, as it interferes too much
with school hours. "You cannot," it has been sententiously remarked, "keep up a
man-of-war and a school-ship at the same time." There is just enough vraisemblance in the statement to carry conviction to the mind of the
superficial observer; and, had the training system some other object in view
than its own obvious and legitimate end, it would be altogether true. If the
government desired, for example, to add to our public-school system a nautical
branch where youths could, besides acquiring a good English education, learn
from books the duties of a seaman, we might dispense entirely with the ship's
routine of duties. It would be better in that case to have the ship divested of
her masts and boats, and housed over, like the old "Vermont"; or, better
still, to put the apprentice boys in barracks on shore, so that they would not
have their studies interfered with by ship's work of any description. They would
then enjoy well-ventilated recitation-rooms, and have desks to sit at, and,
better than all, ample blackboards wherewith, by the aid of diagrams, they could
the better make their recitations. This entire change of base would be the
natural and inevitable result of any attempt to eliminate from the
training-school the duties common to every ship of war; but such a system would
not make sailors.
The captain of a ship fitting out for a foreign station will, on receiving a
draft of boys from the training-school, expect them to fall into their places at
once, and aid in the work of fitting out. One boy out of every twelve or sixteen
must commence at once as cook of a mess; he should therefore be familiar with
the duties. Not even a knowledge of conic sections would compensate his
messmates for bad meals. The divisional officer will expect the boys assigned to
his guns to be perfectly familiar not only with the details of the drill, but
with the method of keeping the guns and their implements in the very best order.
The executive officer will expect them to be fair topmen, and, according to
their experience, much that that term implies; to know how to keep their boats
in order, and generally to perform, intelligently and promptly, the great
majority of the various duties of the ship. If these reasonable expectations are
not fulfilled, the training-ship has
failed in its mission. Now, a knowledge of these duties can be acquired only by keeping up, on board the training-ship, the regular routine of a man-or-war in active service; and not only this, but the apprentice , should be broken in, at the very outset, to a conscientious performance of his duties and to a thorough state of discipline. The exercises and drills of the training-ship should be the standard of excellence throughout the service,--the ship itself a model of good order and efficiency. If it be a question then between ship's routine and recitations, we unhesitatingly say, "Let the latter be dispensed with!" The school-ship, to succeed, must be a school of practice. But experience has shown that a judicious blending of ship's duties and studies is possible, so that neither need be thrown out. It is well known that on board of a well-disciplined ship exercises are carried on, and everything is kept in beautiful order, while the crew have plenty of spare time on their hands. It is this "spare time" that, on board the school-ship, is devoted to studies.
S. B. LUCE,
Captain U.S. Navy.
Footnotes:
1. Since the above was written, Congress passed an act authorizing
the enlistment of 750 boys over and above the complement of the navy, making a
total of 8250, and limiting the age of admission to fifteen years.
2. It is contemplated under the new order to enlist minors
hereafter as "third-class boys," at nine dollars and fifty cents per month.
A Naval Historical Foundation Publication
2 January, 1964
Source: Originally published in United Service Magazine, 1879.
Acknowledgement: The Naval Historical Center gratefully acknowledges the Naval Historical Foundation for their support and encouragement in posting this online edition.
