The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1898-07-10
NAVY YARD CURIOSII1ES.
The Trophies That Adorn tho Little Park
Near the COMMANDMENTS once.

The Trophies That Adorn tho Little Park
Near the COMMANDMENTS ONCE.
The civilians who have come from all parts OF
the country In the past three months TO visit
their relatives and friends on the ships TINT
have been at the navy yard to be fitted and
made ready for active service In Cuban
waters and for other duty In connection with
the war with Spain have given much interest
to the little triangular park near the COM
mandant's headquarters. and they have taken
photographs OF the old relics there or made
sketches of them and copied the inscriptions
upon them.
Among these old relics are two ~19-pounder
smooth-bore guns about six feet long, and two
3~2-pounders eight feet long: they are Of cast
iron, and that which attracts the especial atten-
ton OF visitors is the representation Of the
British crown on the muzzle. with the words
George III, Rex underneath. and an ar
row on the top running parellel with the bore.
while on the breech is painted the mere fact
that they are the guns of the Macedonian.
These guns are relics of the War of 1912 and
may be regarded as a courtesy paid by the brave
Capt. Decatur to the British Government in re-
turn for insult after insult offered by it TO the
American flag and its insistence that American
vessels should he searched and American sea-
men be imprisoned. The Macedonian, after her
capture by Decatur. was raEed and nsed LOT
many years as a training ship at the Naval
Academy.
Until recently the guns, hqye done service as
ornaments on the Naval Hospital grounds.
being set on the upper and lower terraces as
posts. When the, terraces were removed the
lated rust and dirt, and were then mounted and
PLACED IN the Gt ttria5nngplar PARK. ,.,ro.o Nooo
DOMAIN was sighted, about 900 miles from the
Ststeg' b lsipn ths by Sb Dseat prssn ship &E,b the T wItSid
and an hour and Il half after the engagement
began, the Macedonian's commander struck
over q hundred shots in her hull; her mizzen-
mast had gone by the board, her fore and main
y 5SPdfRS hung nh IN the Rsen sli hmSs a y Sf f her c S9s @ @ere
killed: 81. including or first and second leu
teRRants, were severely or m%ortally wounded.
".~Peacemaker,"' used by the Federals in the
civil war. while Immediately in front OF her
| made of n dozen plates Of half-inch iron. show
ing what a shot from the CUR, was capable Of
which at one time were a part OF the battery OF
Old 1ronsides." the Constitution. :,
cannon Ht that tive We're q taken axe t from sen aee Of ff The b S%fil
ade runners in the civil war. In the middle Of
the inel2sure and 7 near the base Of the triangle
to the memory Of the American scqmen who
forts in the Canton River. China. in the boats OF
the Unitcd States warships Levant, San J~acinto.
the British forces, and followed q four days
fight resulting in the surrender OF the Chinese
forts to the American fleet under Commander
A. F. Foote, the officer who has the credit Of
securing the abolition Of the whiskey ration in
1859. On the shaft is this inscriptions:
To those who fell at the Capture OF the Bar
rier Forts. in the Canton River, China. Novem-
erected by their Shipmates."
On the three other sides are inscribed the
names of the vessels engaged and the names Of
the men who lost their lives.
Across the path and alongside of the entrance
TO the commandments building is a monster
piece, Of wrought steel. V-shaped, weighing
about four tons, which once adorned the bows
Of the Old frigate Mississippi, the flagship Of
1852. Early in the civil war she ground
ed at Port Hudson in the attack on
fire and abandoned, The Confederates, made
ceeded. She was then converted into a Confed-
crate ram, and a few months afterward she was
captured by the Federal forces and burned at
New Orleans. The ram is All that is left Of her.
bore cannon balls and shells. and the rows OF
anchors that have passed into "innocuous
desuetude," afford much interest to infreQuent
visitors to the New York Navy Yard.