Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1913-02-27
SILVER TREASURES OF NAVY
Gifts of States Much Priced
Maine Started Custom,
cumuIated services Worth 100000
Total Value of Fintc Prc-
scented to Ships &429,0co.

In the navy department at washington,
where It is treasured as one Of the most
sacred possessions of tho navy, Is a beau
titul silver service the gift of the people
OF great State to a battleshp, the fate
OF which vessel is among the immortal
| records Of the American service anoat
The ship referred to is the old Maine,
the sinking of which in the spring Of 1898
FASTENED the war with Spain, and the
| service is the same that the people of
Maine presented to that ship in June,
| 1891. the first gift of the kind in the his
| tory Of the navy, and the beginning OF a
custom that up TO date has given to the
government the finest collection of silver
plate in the world a collection the total
value Of which IS rapidly approaching the
sij0000 mark
In those days the heads OF the navy de-
rartment were not looking so far ahead
as now. The navy, as it is to-day, had no
past at that time. and there was no pre-
! cedent to call attention to the fact that
ships of war are not lonE-lved affairs,
and that with their going, whether to the
bottom Of tho sea or the junk heap. some
sort Of ownership would have to be found
for the costly silver services that adorned
the officers quarters.
So it was that some dozen years ago
the order went forth that in the future
silver services for American mcn-of-war
should be presented to the ship, but the
title did not 20 TO the ship but to the
government at WASHINGTON, and the re-
suit is that to-day the navy u.r- rtment
| Is already in possession of thousands of
dollars worth of the finest punchbowls,
( soup dishes, ladies'. wiun glasses. enter
pieces, and caudlcIbra i'm all the world.
with every prospect of seeing tho accu-
mutation doubled if not treblrd. within
The next five or 10 years
Some of these services are stilI on
board the obsolete ships, hut the dar t.:
not far distant when the transfer to t..
| safer custody OF the government viii
pc necessary. The Names service. a
service that rested at the bottom Of
Havana harbor for dozen years. wa
| found in good condition all tuines con
sdcfcd, when the army engineers brought
the wreck of the famous old ship to the
surface few months ago. and the silver
smiths had no great difficulty in making
it once more thing beautiful TO look
upon
1t is not possible as yet to compute
10 an exact figure the valuc Of the sill
yer plate thar has been turned back
and is stil being turned back but, tax
ing into consideration the ships that arc
admitted officially to Ice obsolete, it is
safe 10 say that the value of the plate
I on such ships would reach a total well
above the $ooooo mark
NAVY MAY HAVE SILVER SHOP.
! 1t hegins to look as if the navy depart
| ment will have to create a shop where
| the finest productions of the silversmith
art are on view, but whore there is moth
| ing for sale, such a shop. Naval Silver
| Plate Museum would probably be more
appropriate, will display in its cases of
GLASS, first Of all, the service of the old
Maine, a service that 20 Years ago Col.
| c. H. Osgood of Lewiston spent nights
and days in designing
| The decorative designs ua the service
all refer to something or other that re-
| minds one of the northeastcrnmost of
| the Atlantic States, There are pine
| trees, and, Of course, the bun moose, and
| the sailor to show that Maine is
scafarng State, and tho farmer to in
dictate that she is also great AGRICULTURAL
ly. The presentation OF this service oc-
CURED on June 3, 1891, and the last time
the service was used was within a week
of the time that the Maine was blown
mp in Havana harbor
The second service TO he presented to
any ship in the navy was the magnificent
punch service given to the old cruiser
Detroit by the citizens of the city after
which that ship was named The Detroit
long ago ceased to be an active part of
the navy. and was recently ordered sold
to the highest bidder, which means the
I junk pile, unless some turbulent little
South or Central American or West In
dian republic gets into the lists and buys
! the ship for "a navy"
The Detroits punchbowl, with its tray
and glasses, cost 5000 The decorations
! of the bowl are considered by many the
most beautiful of any on any piece of
| silver plate ever given to a ship,
| The surface Of the bowl shows a hac-
| chanalian feast on n background of
crapevines and grapes, while on the tray,
| little less beautiful is "a splendid birIseye
view Of the harbor of Detroit.
BROOKLYN AND OREGON
After the Detroit, and in the order
| named. the Gunboat Montgomery and the
! cruisers Cincinnati ana Minneapolis and
! the armOrcd cruiser Brooklyn We're pre-
scented with wonderful plate by the cities
whose names they carried. The Mont
eumery despite her long years of service
! is stlll i'm the active list, but the Cincin-
natl is stricken from the list and the
/ Minneapolis and Brooklyn are out OF
commission, the first probably fer an time
| to come.
! Afts the hrooklyn the famous ore
Gon, a ship which will never, because
Of her glorious history, 20 to Junk
! pile or cease TO he a part o. the navy.
got her service, and a wonderful one
it was. ON the punch bowl was shown
Mt Hood ana beautiful scenes al tb.
mouth Of the Columbia river. rho
Olympia's service was the gift of tho
people of the state of Washington
while the splendid service of tho Ala
bama bears on its great tray the I'm.
scrption From the loyal hearts of tba
people of Alabama to the United Stot.s
battleship Alabama"
Then came The splendid services given
to the Massachusetts, the Kentucky. iho
| Indiana, he Marietta, the Wisconsin. tha
Illinois the armored cruiser New yorl,
NOV the Saratoga, and other vessels OF
the navy, all of which are out of com