Evening star., 1908-01-10
ARMY FLEETS EXCEED NAVY
WAR DEPARTMENT HAS 565
VESSELS IN SERVICE.
Alice Leads List Of Ships Names.
Some Strange Titles on
the Roster.

Iu6 nOStSIs
| More than two-thrds of the vessels
owned by the United States government
are outside of the navy; or, expressing it
differently, there are twice as many gov
ernment vessels outside the navy as there
are in the navy. This gem of information
was found by diligent poring over the
squat quarto List of Merchant essels of
the United States" just published by
the bureau of navigation Of the Depart
| ment Of Commerce and Labor and bound
appropriately in canvas. SO that it will not
slide too readily on the oilcloth-coyered
tables of deer-sea shippers when the
water is humpy.
Paradoxical as 1t may seem, the army
has almost twice as many vessels as the
navy. The navy can boast of but 32S ves-
sells. all told, from the biggest battleship
down to the smallest torpedo boat, while
the army comes splasllng through the
waves with a regular armada Of 56o ves-
sels-a motley array, to be sure, but
nevertheless vessels such as nay properly
appear in list of ships.
Makeup Of Army's Navy.
The army's navy-if the expression may
be used-is made up as follows: Quarter
masters department-transports, II; fer
ryboat, /; passenger and freight boats,
q; tugs, 10; steam lighters, 5; steam
launches. 45 Engineer department-42O
vessels tmore than the whole navy, con-
slstfng of tugs, dredges, launches, etc.
Ordnance Department. screw steamer
the Ordnance. These add up to $50.
The remaining 81 government vessels
outside the navy belong to the Treasury
Department and the Department of COM
and ms rfna hnSYifa al corxyino On \
The Treasury's sea force is made up
thus: Revenue cutters. Al: public health
and marine hospital service boats, %.
In the Department of Commerce and
Labor the fleet consists of the following
squadrOns: Lighthouse establishment,
30 boats. named chiefly after flowers;
coast and geodetic survey. 1S: bureau of
fisheries. 8: bureau of immigration and
naturalization. 3.
Thus we have 662 government vessels
outside of the navy and but 32S inside of
it. If 1928 is divided into &C., your quotient
is ., with 6 to burn, and there you are.
@. f. D. And this is arithmetic reduced
to school board terms and accessible
even to the slimmest purse.
Besides the names of government yes-
sells, the volume contains complete lists
Of all American sailing, steam and un-
rigged vessels, with signal letters, ton
mage, register. time and place of building
and port Of hailing, with Official number
and rig.
Many Names Repeated.
Many of the names of the vessels are
duplicated and reduplicated, the names
of certain girls. evidently proving too
popular to be resisted, though Lillian
Russell gets but single mention.
Some of the names of vessels, both sail
and steam, with the number of times they
are repeated on various crafts, and some
names interesting in themselves. follow.
Ruth. IS; Rival, 8; Rob Roy, Z; Reliance.
80; Rowena, I; 'Rebecca. 6; Star, Il:
Dauntless. 2s; Sunny South. 3; Sunbeam,
IA; Stonewall, o., Three Sisters. 15; Three
Sons: l; Two Brothers. %; Two Sisters.
IS; Two Sons. 2; American Eagle. 8;
Betsy Ross, 3; Liberty, 8; Liberty Bell. 1;
America, 10; America {. (whatever
that may mean). 1; Alice. 50:
Petrel' ID; Aibatross, 12: Northern
phin. %; Dreadnaught. 5; Dreadnot, 2;
Dude, i: Mabel, 10; LurIine 5; Lydia. 10:
Hope. 20; Ibis. 3; Ida. IS: Caroline, 10;
Carolyn, 2: Carrie. II: Blanche 13: Bill
Spray. IS; Betty, i; Undine, 10: Virginia
Al; Trilby, 8: Wild Pigeon, B; Wild Flower,
2; Wild Rose. 3; Wild Turkey, 1: White
Wings. 5; White Wing. 8; x Ray g. Yam
kee Doodle, 3; with a grand finale of two
AAAcIA0cJAAo0 ouI CApIcSSIte craft, 1lD
and Zip.
Where the proper names of girls appear
the number following does OF mean that
the names do not appear elsewhere but
that they are merely used that number of
times by themselves, for sometimes pages
of complete names follow-the Mary This
or That and the Annie d. or Carrie T.,
etc. By that count Mary is the most pop
ular name for vessels. though, used sin
gly Alice leads the list.
Favorites of Turf.
A brief history Of the turf appears in
the names of some famous horses the
date of building of the ships named after
them being the years when those horses
were burning up the tracks. Thus we
have Dexter, ?; Maud s.. Z; Dan Patch,
1, and Nancy Hanks, 2.
Dewey leads the list of famous men who
have had ships named after them, for 10
vessels-6 sail and steam-bear his cog
nomen. There fare Roosevelt sailing
vessels and l steam, but no sign of Bryan.
while there are Rough Riders. Pres
ident Fillmore and President A. Johnson
have one ship apiece to their credit, while
Robert E. Lee has 3 and Stonewal Jack
son 2 Horace Greeley scores /. with
lola leading him by l. The ladies are
neaueO, as might De expected, Dy venus,
with 13, and one specific Venus de Milo.
Virginia Dare. the first white girl born
on this continent, gets 2. while Lillian
Russell and Lydia Thompson have a ship
each. Andrew Carnegie can boast one
steamer.
A romantic strain bulges in 4 Romeos. =
Robinson Crusoes, 2 Robin Hoods and /
Robin Adair, but for real romance the
Dark-Eyed Darling, a sloop from Bayou
Sale, Louisiana, wins the prize. The
Laughing Lass cannot be found on the
list but two real boats are the Saucy
Jane and the Saucy Maid. Dashaway and
Star of the Sea show some leaning toward
the poetic.
The volume also includes a list of yes
sells lost at sea during the year.
Personal to River Men.
Sergt Russell Dean of the harbor pre-
cinct who was confined to his home by