Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1904-03-03
Will Shortly Be Put on the
Retired List.
ADVENTUROUS CAREER
AS A BOY WAS A SAILOR BEFORE
THE MAST.
Wrecked in Indian Ocean-Creditable
Record in Civil War - Work at
Head of Bureau Of Ordnance.


Rear Admiral Charles O'Neil. United
States navy, the present chief of the bureau
OF ordnance. will be transferred March 10
from the active to the retired list. He will
then reach the statutory age of retirement
In the navy.
His present position he has held since
June l. 1897. He succeeded Capt. w t.
Sampson. who had held the position for
somewhat more than four years.
Rose From the Ranks.
Admiral ONeil never graduated from any
technical school. but at the age when most
youths are getting such training. if they get
IL at all. he was Il slilor before the mast
His experiences were then full of what boys
fondly call adventure. He is the only man
who entered the n'vil service as volun-
teei during the civil war who has ever be-
come admiral by regular proino>o
Admiral O'Neil was born in Manchester
England. March Is, 1912, and came to this
country with his parents in 1917, when but
five years OF age. His father. John ONeil
was stock and note broker. who maj ried
Miss Francis, a sister of the late James
B. Francis OF Lowell, Mass. Admiral
O'Neils early youth YVES spent in Roxbury
Mass, where he attended the Washington
and Dearborn CIR Innar schools, and finally
the Roxbury High School
81 At the age of. seventeen he went to sea
before the mast, shilling from Boston in
1879 in the Newburyport ship oliver Put
nam. on Il voyage to Liverpool and Cal
Cutta, and returned to Boston.
Wrecked in Indian Ocean.
q. After a short stay at home while the ship
was refitt!ng, he again sailed in her for New
Orleans, Liverpool and Calcutta, but the
vessel never reached her final destination,
as on the voyage to Calcutta she foundered
at sea in the Indian ocean, about half way
between the Cape of Good Hope and the
v1sland of Mauritius
The crew took to boats and was saved.
&. The third boat in which young O'Neil had
embarked. was picked up, and it's crew was
landed at the French Island of Bourbon
Reunion, about sixty miles from Nautilus
From this point the men were sent to Maui
ritus.
In the early part of 1861 the ship John
Haven of Portsmouth, N H., put into
Mauritius in distress, and after making
some repairs. sailed for New York taking
young O'Neil, to whom the captain had
offered passage.
The Civil War Comes.
The John Haven arrived at New York
not long after the breaking out of the civil
war. and young O'Neil lost no time in en-
tering the navy. The early summer of 1861
found him an acting masters mate on
board the shipof-war Cumberland, and on
board that vessel he participated in both
attacks on Forts HatteraS and Clark at
Hatteras inlet and afterward took part
In the memorable engagement with the con-
federate iron-clad Merrimac off Newport
News, March 8, 1862, where the Cumber-
land was sunk, going down with colors fly-
ing, with the loss of about 120 men,
For his part in this engagement young
O'Neil received commendatory letter
from the Navy Department comforting upon
him the rank of acting master This was
May 1. 1862. when he had just passed his
twentieth birthday.
On the Gunboat Troja
His next service was a two years cruise
on board the steam gunboat Troja. He
sailed from Boston on August ID, 1864 on
short cruise in the steam sloop Dacotah
In search of the confederate steamer Talla-
hassee. which was destroying fishing ves-
sells the Banks
A few months later O'Nel was on the
steamer Rhode Island navigator, and
while attached to that vessel he took part
In both attacks on Fort Fisher, and on
May 81, 1865, at the age of twenty-three
he was promoted to the grade of acting
volunteer lieutenant.
Recommended for Lieutenant.
In the spring of 1867 examinations were
held to fill a certain number of positions
in the regular navy which had been au-
thorized by Congress. A great number of
candidates presented themselves; from
among them but five persons were recon-
nended for the highest position provided
for, that of lieutenant, and one of the five
proved to be Acting Volunteer Lieutenant
O'Neil, who on May L. 1868, thus became a
lieutenant in the regular navy.
December Is, 1863 ONeil was commits
stoned a lieutenant commander.
As an Ordnance Officer.
From May, 1879. to June. 1882, O'Neil was
on ordnance duty at the Boston navy yard
His next service was as executive officer
of the flag ship Richmond on the Asatic
station from August, 1882, to September,
1854
To Superintend Gun Manufacture.
On July % 1884, he was promoted to the
grade of commander and was detailed for
duty as inspector of ordnance at Cold
Spring. N. Y. to superintend the manu-
facture of steel guns for the first vessels
of the new navy. He was afterward ordered
to duty as superintendent of the naval gun
factory in this city, where he served from
March. 1880. to September. 1892. At that
thine the gun factory was in its infancy
possessing scant facilities for preparing
work: but during Commander O'Neil's term
OF duty, rotable additions and improvements
were made In the methods of doing work
and he aided very greatly in it's enlarge
ment and development.
: Thanked by Navy Department.
From September. 1892. to March, 1896.
O'Neil commanded the Marblehead in the
West Indies and in the European waters
On the former. In 1894, he played a con-
spicuous part in the events which led to
the transfer of the Mosquito reservation
to Nicaragua. For his services on this
occasion he received the thanks of the
Navy Department, of the Nicaraguan gov
ernment and of the British government
for the care OF its subjects and of the for
eign residents of Bluefeds. which was the
scene of the principal troubles
In Foreign Waters.
While attached TO the Euronean souaaro.,