Evening star., 1898-10-15
FOR CAPTURING OR SINKING SHIPS
A Number of Officers Have Re-
ceved Tidy Fortunes.
D e W Ely AND SON

stood practically unchanged until July II
! 1862, when the civil war and the capture
| of confederate vessels necessitated a change
| to meet the situation at that time On
| June 30, 1864, the law was again amended,
| but has since remained unchanged 1t does
not differ materially today frcm the time it
| was first passed III 1899, nearly one hun
! dred years ago. The men who DESTROYED
| Spanish vessels at Manila and at Santiago
| will receive their bounty under these laws
which, it is keld by Auditor Morris of the
| treasury, cover both the subjects of prize
money and bounty. Prize money goes to
| the crews of vessels capturing merchant
vessels of TIE enemy or of any couotrv
violating neutrality laws. Bounty goes TO
| the officers and crews of vessels which
have captured or destroyed the vessels Of
war of the enemy. The amount paid in
bounty Is far in excess of that derived as
| prize money.
comparatively small amount of money
was paid by the United States as prize
money and bounty UP to the time Of the
civil war. bat a result of that conflict
millions of dollars went to fortunate Off
GERS and seamen of the United States In
some cases the amounts paid were small
fortunes. Sampsoa and his men VII be
thousands Of doll ATS better off when thev
are given their money for sinking Cervera 8
fleet off Santiago. Dewey and his men will
get small amounts inasmuch as the shjps
destroyed by them were not near so valu-
able as those sunk at Santiago, and be
cause the number of SDaniarGs on beard
the vessels at Manila was much smaller
than at santiago Dewey fought forts as
we'll as ships, hut his fight with the forts
brings no pay from Uncle Sam.
Money still Unciaimcd
The records of bounty payments I'D to
1919 are not complete In the office of the
auditor for the Navy Department, but since
that time complete record has been keot
Congress appropriated siVo.oo0 for the cap
lures made from the Algerians A large
amount of this was never collected BY
members OF the crews Of the vessels which
fought so gallantIy in that short skirTnIsn
Something Ike st5,e00 is still in the United
States treasury subject to proper claims
man recently went to the office of Audi
tor Morris thinking he had a claim for
prize money arising out cf the revolution
but he soon fOGnd that there was no law
to pay claims of this kind.
FROM the time the laws were first passed
until now 196,oJ1 claims have been adill-
dlcated by the courts and Treasury be
partmeHt. All of these have be en- paid eX-
cept 1871. The total amount paid out on
the claims settled was $l3, 145,5IS leaving
$3tl, iu3 stll in the treasury due men who
participated at some time or other in naval
conquests or victories. Nearly all of this
amount is due to men who participated in
the civil war Speaking on this subject
Auditor Morris says: The ratio of un-
claimed money to the whole amount of
prize money awarded is a fraction less
than g per cent. the number of claims
urcaiied for is Il little over - per cent of
the whole number awarded. The differ
ence in the ratio Of money and claims is
accounted for by the fact that large
amounts are always collected, while the
smaller amounts. or sailors shares, are
often not worth looking after"
Sailors Get Little.
Many of the uncaled for claims in the
treasury are as small as 10 cents, Hun
dreds range between 10 and % cents.
These were for sailors on vessels which
captured or destroyed vessels of the en-
emy. The awards to officers of these
same vessels ran into dollars and hundreds
OF dollars. The man behind the gun
as he is now often spoken of, received
In bounty from the United States % or 90
cents while the man commanding his yes
sci drew hun dreds of dollars as his share.
Auditor Morris comments upon this as a
reason for the abolition of the law, which
he says, Is unfair THE man behind the
gun at Santiago. for instance, will draw
only a few dollars for his splendid aim
and telling shots while the captain of his
vessel may get several thousand.
1t Is thought that most of the unclaimed
money in the treasury will never be paid.
The men to whom it is due are dead or
have forgotten that something was coming
to them If claim attorneys could get
possession of the names of the men to
whom the money is due they might lessen
the cash account IN the treasury, but they
are unable to Go this.
Auditor Morris view is that the law
was passed at a time when Uncle Sam
desired to encourage the men of a small
and weak navy. A theory advanced in
some quarters is that prize and bounty
law was enacted because the soldiers of a
victorious army We're allowed to plumber
ana loot after a victory, thus securing
money and valuables at the conclusion of
mr.
seamen, and they were put on somewhat
Of footing with the soldiers. The ad-
vance of civilization, Auditor Morris holds,
ought to do away with such ancient laws.
Large Sums Paid.
AS his share in the victories of the civil
war. Vice Admiral Farrasut was paid a
total of 140,sS5 The man who received
the next highest sum was Captain S. p.
Lee HIS share in various captures was
$l2o,264. Rear Admiral Porter received
$125,olO, while Rear Admiral Dupont was
pa1d s39,5oS. Among others who received
snug sums were the following: Lieutenant
W. B. Gushing, s57,5G4: Commander j. J.
Almy, ai,334; Commodore Bailey, $i1 .755;
Commander William Budd. $3s,31s; Com
modore w w. McKean s37, ,361; Acting
Master w L. Howorth, $35,361; Captain b.
F. Sands, s32 ass: Acting Assistant Pay
master f. H. Swan. $31, 1902; Rear Admiral
s. l.. Breeze, $21,971: Acting Ensign T. S
Gay, s2s 10: Third Assistant Engineer Will
liam Stotesburg, s23,925; Third Assistant
Engineer c. l.. Steever,t $23 925; Captain D.
McDougal S21 600
FROM this amount down, hundreds of
oincers received goodly sums. Rear Ad-
mirai s. II. Stringham received s1O,s06;
Lieutenant Commander Jouett, $ls412 and
Commodore Charles Wilkes, $751; $50.
Frequently ships captured from the con-
lederates were worth hundreds of thou
sands of dollars. The richest captures were
those containing cotton which went to a
nigh price before the close of the war The
James Adger captured confederate ships
valued at over 100000 The Kanawha
captured seventeen ships from April, 1862
to January. 1865. and the officers who com
manded her naturally reaped rich rewards
The kennebec was another fortunate Union
ship, capturing many confederate vessels
One of these, the Gray Jacket. was valued
by the courts at sl61 $40 In July. 1852 the
Magnolia captured the Memphis. valued at
$50, 45I. The Quaker City captured or