Uncle Sam's Flags

1895

The Vast Number Which a War Vessel Needs to Have Ready.

Before a man-of-war is completely equipped she must be supplied with a varied assortment of the flags of all nations. The flag lockers of a cruiser like the New York will contain more than 200 different ensigns.

All the flags for our navy are made in the equipment building at the Brooklyn navy yard. The floor of the flagroom is covered with lines representing the exact measurements of the various ensigns, and it is no easy matter to turn out a flag which will be exactly according to pattern, both as to design and measurement.

There are eight colors used in flags — red, white, blue, orange, yellow, green, brown, black and canary yellow.

The canary yellow is used instead of white in flags used for signaling. This is because it is found that, when signaling at a distance, a white flag or a device on a white ground blends with the horizon and becomes almost invisible.

The largest American flag made is called No. 1. It measures 34.86 feet in length and 13.12 feet in breadth and is very rarely used.

The size called No. 2, which is considerably smaller, is the one generally used by warships.

Cruisers carry the stars and stripes in seven different sizes, but only the Minneapolis and the Detroit fly the gigantic No. 1 size.

The most difficult flag to make is that of San Salvador. This flag requires all the colors, and Costa Rica runs it close, requiring all but brown.

Our own flag is by no means an easy one to make. The 44 stars in their blue field have to be accurately arranged and the stripes mathematically exact according to the official pattern.

The stars are made of muslin, folded 25 times and punched out by a steel punch, which cuts a dozen or more stars at each operation.

There are used in the navy yard 50,000 yards of bunting annually, which is all made in the United States. Before being made up into flags the bunting is put to a very severe test. From each lot a sample is taken and steeped in fresh water for 24 hours. After that it is thoroughly scrubbed with strong soap and then rinsed and dried. It is then exposed to the direct sunlight for 18 hours, and if it shows no fading in color it is accepted.

The industry gives employment to a great many men and women. — Boston Globe.

The Naming of the Dolphin

1895

An old story, but not a bad one, was told the other day by an officer of the navy who heard the argument repeated in it. While General Arthur was president, and during one of the summers of his administration, he was on board of the Dispatch at Newport, and Secretary of the Navy Chandler was pestering him to consent to naming the new dispatch boat, afterward the Dolphin, the Concord, after the first battle of the Revolution. General Arthur was disposed to quiz Chandler about his proposed name. He preferred the name Dolphin as being more suggestive of speed at sea. When Chandler argued the importance of keeping in mind the heroic resistance of the colonial militia and the brilliant opposition offered to Pitcairn's men, General Arthur asked him:

"What is it that you propose to call this ship?"

"The Concord," answered Chandler, giving the approved New Hampshire pronunciation.

"There," retorted Arthur, inviting the attention of Captain Reeder. "Do you hear that? Conquered. Do you think that a good name to give a ship-of-war? Then suppose you change the pronunciation and call it Concord, just as spelled. Does it not strike you, Chandler, that there is a degree of Concord in the presence of a vessel of war?"

The new ship was called the Dolphin, but the Concord appeared after General Arthur had ceased to have influence in naming the ships of the navy. — New York Times.

Civilian Navy Cruise Ended

1916

Training Trip Is Declared to Have Been Highly Successful.

WASHINGTON, D.C. — With announcement that the "John Paul Jones cruise," on which 2,500 civilians have been in training since Aug. 13, had been highly successful, orders were issued by the Navy Department terminating the training this week. The six reserve battleships comprising the training fleet landed the men at Boston, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Norfolk, Charleston and New York.

—The Saturday Blade, Chicago, Sept. 16, 1916, p. 3.

U. S. Armor Plate Plant to Be Built in Interior

1916

Navy Department Proposes to Locate It at Spot Invulnerable to Naval Attack.

WASHINGTON, D. C. — The Navy Department has announced that the $11,000,000 armor plate plant provided for in the naval appropriation bill will be located somewhere in the interior of the country.

This eliminates from consideration all the Atlantic coast cities which have been seeking the new plant. No location in any way vulnerable to naval attack will be considered.

Representatives of practically every important city east of the Mississippi River will be present at a hearing before Secretary Daniels this week, when the question of a site for his new plant will be considered. Members of the general board of the Navy will be present at the hearing.

—The Saturday Blade, Chicago, Sept. 16, 1916, p. 3.

Boston to Junk Heap.

1916

PORTLAND, Oregon — The United States cruiser Boston, of the famous White Squadron, and a participant in the battle of Manila Bay, is to be taken from Portland to the navy yard within a week and sold to the highest bidder for junk.


There's nothing like a heart-ache for reducing weight.

—The Saturday Blade, Chicago, Sept. 16, 1916, p. 11.

Boy Wonder at Tennis

1919

NEW YORK, N. Y. — Charles M. Wood, Jr., 14, of the Dewitt Clinton High School, playing in the semi-finals of the junior indoor national tennis championships here, easily won his match and displayed powerful service and speed at volleying. He is being hailed as a boy wonder.


Re-Elect Navy's Football Captain

ANNAPOLIS, Maryland — The members of the Naval Academy football team, who played against the Military Academy in the last game, have selected Edward C. Ewen, captain of the team during the season just passed, to lead them another year.

—The Saturday Blade, Chicago, Jan. 3, 1920, p. 10.

A Formidable Navy

1901

Morocco has the smallest navy in the world. It consists of just one vessel — the Hassani. Until recently the peculiar feature of this warship was that it had no guns, but the sultan, Abdul Asiz, has now purchased at Cadiz four of the lightest pieces of ordnance left to Spain by the United States at the close of the war and has had them mounted. He is thoroughly satisfied that in the event of war with any of the powers the "reorganized" navy would be able to sweep the seas. — Philadelphia Record.

Ship Rigger Braves Death

1905

His Vocation Is One of the Most Perilous There Is

Men who delve deep into the bowels of the earth and those who rear buildings to great heights in the skies represent the extreme in perilous endeavor. The men who work downward, according to statistics, face far greater danger than those who toil slowly skyward. Yet here is an altitudinous calling fraught with peril every minute, says the Detroit Free Press. It is the ship rigger's job, and, compared with steeple climbing, it is much the more onerous.

The men engaged in it are as well trained as circus athletes, though in the rigging of a ship the performers are carefully safeguarded. The ship rigger, however, does not know at what minute a rotten bit of timber or a worn rope may give way and precipitate him to death. With a wider use of steam vessels the decline of sailing ships is a natural result, so that now the rigger does not find as much work to do as in the palmy days of the fast clipper when American commerce whitened every sea.


Test Weldless Chain

There have been sent to the navy yard, Boston, for testing, several samples of a new kind of chain, in which the links are made of thin steel and molded without welding. It is believed that this weldless chain is stronger than the other chains now in use in the navy, and if the tests prove this it will probably be generally adopted for use by the bureau of equipment.

A Brave Man's Gentleness

1900

The Army and Navy Journal gives a touching incident, which shows how gentle a nature may exist beneath the sternness which at times reckons not the life of men while in the pursuit of victory.

The late Commander James W. Carlin was in command of the Vandalia at Apia, Samoa, during the terrible storm of March 16, 1889.

One evening, some years afterward, on retiring to his room while visiting his sister, he found a mouse that had fallen into a basin of water, and was struggling for his life.

"There was agony and defiance in that little fellow's eye," said the commander, speaking of it the next day. "As I gazed on that helpless little creature I thought of that terrible night on the Vandalia, and going to the open window, I gently emptied the contents of the basin. I didn't dry him with my towel, but I saved his life," the commander added. — Youth's Companion.

Paul Jones's Flag, and Dewey's

1899

One of the remarkable features of the reception given to Admiral Dewey at Washington was the display of the flag which John Paul Jones, the first of American naval heroes, is said to have carried on the ship Ranger, when he set sail from the Delaware River to make a name for the infant American navy. This flag is now preserved in the National Museum at Washington.

There is evidence that it was indeed the flag which John Paul Jones flew on the Bon Homme Richard in the famous fight with the Seraphs off Flamborough Head. In that combat the flag was shot away and fell into the sea, whereupon Lieut. James Bayard Stafford jumped overboard, recovered the flag, carried it back to the Richard, and nailed it to the masthead.

It is believed by many, on the supposed authority of John Paul Jones himself, that this was the first American flag, of the pattern now employed, that was ever flown. In a letter of Jones's, which is quoted in his biography by Hamilton, the following passage occurs:

"America has been the country of my fond election from the age of thirteen, when I first saw it. I had the honor to hoist with my own hands the flag of freedom the first time it was displayed on the Delaware, and I have attended it with veneration ever since on the ocean."

This, however, seems to refer only to the first flying of the flag on the Delaware River. This particular flag is of English bunting, two and one-half yards long and a yard wide. It contains twelve stars, arranged in four horizontal lines of three stars each on a field of blue. There are thirteen stripes, alternately red and white.

The flag was made in Philadelphia by the Misses Mary and Sarah Austin, who worked, it is said, under the instruction of General Washington. It was presented to Capt. John Paul Jones, and immediately flown by him. This must have been as late as 1777.

A part of honor was assigned to this venerable flag in the reception to Admiral Dewey and the members of the crew of the Olympia. The space between its unfurling on the Delaware, with its twelve stars, and the triumphant bearing of the Olympia's flag, with its forty-five stars, into Manila Bay, was not a long one, as the history of nations goes, but it was a proud and honorable one.

The later hero of the American navy is no less worthy of honor, surely, than the earliest one, and Paul Jones's flag not only honored the Olympia's in the Washington procession, but was honored by it. — Youth's Companion.

Horseless Vehicles May Be Used By the Army

1896

War Horses of Steel

Cavalrymen to Be Mounted on Motor Cycles, Artillery Hauled Without Mules

Horseless vehicles will probably be used in our army before very long. General Miles is now studying the question, and later the army may purchase or have built a horseless vehicle to be tested at one of the posts.

Before many generations, it is predicted, battles will be fought by navies, so to speak, patrolling the land as well as the sea, in ironclad vessels. True, the horseless vehicle, as we now know it, cannot be depended upon to climb fences, run over steep rocks or such obstacles, but it is contended that with these machines in use will come good roads.

The value of movable forts was greatly appreciated in ancient warfare, but modern rapid movements in battle made them useless; but with these forts propelled by steam their utility becomes at once apparent. An armored fortress moved by a power from within, and containing a picked body of sharpshooters, could work havoc on an enemy.

The army wagon has always played an important part in the protection of small bodies of men attacked from ambush on the march. Where there is animal power exposed, however, that propelling force is soon exterminated with a single bullet. The horse is much more easily hit than the man. War statistics, including all the world's battles fought between 1800 and 1865, show that for every 100 cavalry or artillery soldiers killed there were 120 horses. But a traveling fort could not be destroyed nearly so quickly as a warship, for the reason that there no water to rush into the former. A hundred holes can be shot clear through it, and yet it will go on unless the vital machinery be broken.

The adoption of the horseless vehicle, as is contemplated, for the simple army train, may lead to the adoption of these armored land vessels some day. At each of its forty-one military posts our army employs two or more wagons. There are two styles of army wagons prescribed by the Quartermaster-General. The larger, the six-mile wagon, is for transporting army supplies to and from railroad stations on the frontier posts. The other, known as the escort wagon, is pulled by two or four mules. It is used in the more thickly settled regions for the same purpose, as well as for official errands.

These wagons have been used in the army since the war, with but little alteration. Both would be important factors of the army train in the event of war with a foreign Power. They are slow, but sure, as are the Government mules which draw them. But the Government mule will not long be use in these advanced days, when all the armies of the world are striving to solve the problem of rapid transit.

The movement is fast on foot to mount our regular soldiers, as well as militiamen, on bicycles. When these are in use marches of a hundred miles or more will be made in the light of one day. Forced ones of double length will easily be made in twenty-four hours. The bicycle needs but a little oil and is always ready. It is, therefore, apparent to progressive military men that with the advent of the bicycle must come the advent of the horseless carriage in the army provision train.

Another important bearing of the compact road motor upon modern warfare will be the possibility of hauling field cannon without the aid of horses. The field piece is the clumsiest of all instruments of warfare to manage during a retreat. For this reason alone cannon are so often deserted in the field to fall into the hands of the enemy.

When good roads make the horseless conveyance popular we will have to propel our cannon at a rapid rate, on the march, to keep up with the rapid pace of the bicycle cavalry and infantry, and the provision wagons propelled by the storage battery, naphtha, gasoline, petroleum and other motors.

It is said that a New Jersey inventor has prepared plans for an acetyline automobile carriage, soon to be built and run in Washington this winter. This promises to be a very cheap motor, employing the new gas renowned for its low rate of cost.

Developments in the lightness, compactness and power of motors will also probably permit air-ships to be made and utilized in war.

A striking vista of a great military engagement a century hence now begins to appear to the mind's eye. Imagine that a great foreign host is falling in upon us. Myriads of floating fortresses are guarding our shores from far out to sea. Our seacoasts are scattered with impenetrable fortifications built at every point which might prove tempting and beneficial to an enemy.

Our armor covered cavalry fly about the country upon their two-wheeled war horses of steel, propelled by powerful light motors. Rapid monitors patrol the continent, now netted with glazed highways, and flocks of warrior birds, driven by compact engines, soar above the enemy's fleets or forces, dropping death upon them, as did the fabulous rocs, the giant birds told of in the "Arabian Nights." — New York Herald.

Kashgaria — You Can't Get There From Here

1907

There are few places in the world so difficult to get at as Kashgaria. Though it lies in Chinese territory, the journey from Peking occupies no less than six months. From India caravans take two months, having to cross meanwhile the three highest mountain ranges in the world by way of several passes measuring 18,000 feet above sea level.

Then from the tail end of the Russian railway system in central Asia one may reach Kashgaria in three weeks by several routes, all involving the transit of difficult and storm swept passes.

Kashgaria is said to cover an area of 350,000 square miles — a statement that has little interest until considered in relation to the proportion which is cultivated by man. It is startling to realize that human endeavor has been capable of rendering fertile little more than a hundredth part and that ninety-nine hundredths of it is irredeemable desert. — Blackwood's Magazine.


Books Bound In Lead

A bookbinder was putting a binding of lead on a book. When asked about it, he explained: "This is a naval code book for use on a battleship All such volumes are bound in lead, so that in the event of the ship's destruction the books will sink with it for they contain secrets of immense value, and every precaution must be taken to keep those secrets dark."

Ether Drinking in Russia — He Blew Up Their Wedding

1907

The Fatal Result of Festivities at a Trossno Wedding

The habit of ether drinking is extremely prevalent in some parts of Russia, as of east Prussia, and all the efforts of the authorities to combat the evil have hitherto been almost fruitless.

An idea of the extent to which the habit prevails may be gathered from reports given in the Russian newspapers of a recent accident which occurred at a place called Trossno.

A farmer celebrating his son's wedding, in the fullness of his hospitality, got in two pails of ether, says the Family Doctor. During the process of decanting the ether into bottles a violent explosion took place, by which six children were killed and one adult was dangerously injured and 14 others more or less seriously injured.


Teetotalers in the Navy

Speaking at the Kent Temperance congress at Tunbridge, Wells, England, recently, Rear Admiral Startin, declared that the finest shots in the British navy were teetotalers. This is further corroboration of the views Lord Charles Beresford has always maintained in this regard. It is a sign of the times that eminent naval officers are at the present day, almost without exception, strong advocates of temperance.

They're Smoking Cigarettes to Match the Gown

1920

Cigarets Same Color As Gown

Paris. — Cigarets rolled in paper dyed delicate shades of rose, blue, green or orange are declared by the Daily Mail to be the latest vogue for women. Women wishing to be really smart fill their cases with cigarets of a tint harmonizing with the color of their gowns.


Missing Navy Balloon Is Found

Rockaway, N. Y.—The missing navy balloon A-5598 landed 10 miles northwest of Moose Factory, Ontario, and the crew of three men is safe at a Hudson Bay trading post, according to a telegram received at the naval air station here. The balloon had been missing since December 13.


Manager Caught In Machinery

New Castle, Pa.— Robert Hengst, manager of the Universal Sand Company, was caught in machinery and his left arm was mangled. He was removed to the Shenango Valley Hospital, where an effort is being made to save the arm.

—Bedford Gazette, Bedford, Pennsylvania, January 9, 1920, page 4.

Escapes from Auto at River's Bottom

1920

Says He Owes His Life to Training on U.S. Submarine

DETROIT, Mich., March 25. -- Travis Field Beal of Detroit is now thanking the gods of the Navy for assigning him to navigation duty on a submarine during the war.

His experience as the pilot of the United States submarine K-8 saved Beal's life a night or two ago when the closed sedan in which he was driving along Woodward avenue crashed through a railing and into the Detroit River.

Though the sedan doors were closed tight and the river is thirty feet deep, Beals managed to free himself and rose to the surface.

"It wasn't hard for a sub pilot," he said, "though I did spend some precious seconds fumbling for the lifting lever."

--The Saturday Blade, Chicago, March 27, 1920, page 1.

Handcuffed to Bicycles, Two Jackies Cross Continent

Handcuffed to their bicycles, two jackies are pedaling across the continent from Venice, Calif., to New York. When the handcuffs were locked the keys were mailed to New York and the keyholes sealed; these must be intact upon arrival at the end of the journey, which will re- quire five months. The idea is to stimulate navy recruiting; and the boys will re-enter the service. They are handcuffed to eliminate all suspicion of getting a "lift" while en route, from autoists or on trains. They expect to sleep with their wheels and to have their company at meals.

--Popular Mechanics, August 1919