The morning times. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1895-1897, 1896-09-20
New War Ship Will Have Silver Service of 33S
Pieces, Costing Over $4,000.
ADMIRAL RESPONSIBLE FOR EVERY SPOON
When the Ship Goes in Commission Next Month
He Will Be Charged with Each Piece


| When the cruiser Brooklyn gOe; in com
mission next month it will have aboard
| the finest housekeeping service ever owned
Dy an ocean war>lip. Not only is this the
| .argcst service ever presented TO a cruiser,
hut. since the making OF the last silver
outfits, Improvements have been made that
easily set the BroOklyn's service ahead or
all others.
The silver service OF the Brooklyn CON
,isrs of 33s pieces. The cost VIII he 81 :
300 The money was subscribed by the
people OF brooklyn for the warStiip which
viii bear their name. The original sum
was 5000 But wien the service was
viewed in a half finished state il was
found that certain pieces Were lacking.
There Were no tail silver cake dishes nor
.Ong silver ones for fruit, nor CaLdeIahra.
And worse than all TIE silver punch bowl
A. lacking. a dcsidcratUm when tie table
to be set for the health Of the foreign
guest. as cruisers table is hound to he.
EXTENSIVE SILVER SET.
More money was at once subscribed.
AIlt sum up 10 - .pt'. anu VI
This $3.50 WI, devoted To punch bowl.
u rs one OF the Iarge>tever made. Emperor
Wilhelm has larger one in his yacht club
but IT was made long ago and was from a
collection of silver pieces long intended for
his purpose
The cruiser BroOklyn'S service embraces
all the pieces which are purcha >cd in a line
china set. with a double quantity OF
plates. sauce dishes and spoons. The small
plItters are also numerous. Otherwise there
$ nothing TO distinguish it from a dinner
set. except that it l. solid silver and
dedicated to Il high use.
The service has been IN process since
Apnl |. Fifteen skilled worSnen have
put all their time upon ii daily Besides
this. there have been ten Chasers. five sill
versfniths. "a molder and caster and pol
isher. with scores OF men in moi. humble
capacities. The result. as II stands Il b,.a uti-
fully magnificent.
GIVING THE SERVICE.
On the day the cruiser goes = comini,-
sion the service will b. formally presented
by the people of Brooklyn. TIE prc>cnta-
ton is mana ged in this wise. \ Commit-
tee OF Brooklyn ct.zess. probably the one
NIitl u lll''
VIII write to the Secretary OF the Navy
asking him to appoint a representative for
them. He viii he q government Official
To him the Brooklyn committee says: Pre-
sent this silver service to thu Brooklyn in
our name ON the appointed afternoon.
with a sniff OF the banquet in the air, the
navy Official makes speech in the uaIne
of the Brooklynites and gives the silver
quet is brought on and served IN the silver
dishes and the punch bowl Is christened.
This punch bowl is worthy EXTENDED
mention. ON one side of II there are mcr-
maids, fishes and cupids, denoting tie ele
ments OF air and sea in which the cruiser
will live.
on the other side the nation. city. State
and municipality are shown. The eagle
represents the nation. \ coat-of-arnis
shows IT is from New York State and a
great silver seal represents the munich
pality. on the other side, for the punch
bowl is large, there is an engraving of the
old cruiser Brooklyn and one of the new.
The differences IN the two warshps is
brought out 10y the finish OF the work.
An American modern cruiser is such an
expensive affair that the small matter
IF 81 900 added plays little part in the
whole figure, when 81 900, 900 are easily
used up in building the ship and putting
t into commission. Still it mus; be recol-
lected that the Sll 900 silver service is
in the nature OF removable things There
are small spoons and tiny platterS These.
unless carefully guarded could he pur-
.oined, month by month, as souvenirs and
treasure. until little would remain Of