The Mount Holly news. [volume] (Mount Holly, Burlington Co., N.J.) 1891-1942, 1916-12-12
DUELS IN THE NAVY
They Were Frequent and Deadly
From 1899 to 1886.
HONOR WAS THEN A FETISH.

In Those Days Challenge Was Held to
Be Sort of Diploma For Naval Men,
and the Victims Of the Field Of Com
bat Were Lauded as Heroes.
The number of United States naval
officers killed In duels in the half CEN
tury from 1898 to 1913 was two-thirds
the number of officers who lost their
lives in the naval wars of the United
States In that same period.
In the eighty-two duels which were
fought in that period thirty-six mel
were killed, of whom thirty-three were
naval officers. OF those who were not
killed in those naval duels one-half
were wounded.
In those days of the old navy the
duel was held to be a sort of indis-
pensable diploma for the naval officers.
Men were sensitive as to their honor,
and very fantastic were their notions
as to the necessity of its defense.
Duels were fought between officers
high In rank and more often between
the midshipmen. The commissioned
officers dealt with these affairs of
| honor between the youngsters with
I! pompous solemnity.
Verses were printed upon their VIC
TINS In the literary journals Of the day,
and their relatives caused epitaphs in
the Johnsonian style to be placed upon
their tombs. Occasionally duels as
sumed the character almost Of an in
ternational incident. and sometimes
they became small wars.
Early in the war with Tripoi off,
GERS became involved In quarrels
among themselves and with the OH.
GERS of the British navy who were on
service In the Mediterranean. In 1918
the Americans and the British officers
who were connected with the garr1-
son at Gibraltar fought duels so fire.
quently that the governor prohibited
the harbor to American ships
Those old time middies were exceed
ingly bellicose. They were very jeal
GUS of their rank. They had their own
exalted ideas as to the meaning of the
terms gentleman and officer" there
fore many a sanguinary duel was pre-
cipitated by causes the most trivial
What nowadays would be considered
q practical joke then became an affail
Of ten PAGES with pistols.
Once a MILDLY amused himself by
sprinkling letter that another MILDLY
was writing. Thereupon the Letter
writer sprinkled the waistcoat Of the
offender with the contents of the tnl
bottle. A few days later the two faced
each other In a duel.
That the number of deaths and seri
Gus wounds In these duels was so grea
, Is not surprising in view Of the fac
that the distance between the com
batants measured about thirty feet
A marksman of fair ability could hi
his adversary at that distance with
out much trouble If his nerves wer
! steady. In some cases the distanc,
was much less. In the cambridge
Cochran duel it was twelve feet. Il
another duel the pistols almost touch
ed, and both combatants were kille,
at the first shot.
The largest number of the duel
which were fought in the United State
took place in the neighborhood of MOI
folk, of New York and of Bladensburl
which is near the city of Washing
ton. But duels were also fought o.
Castle island, In Boston harbor; at Ney
Orleans and In various other places
It was at Weehawken that CommC
! dore Oliver II. Perry fought his due
with Captain John Heath. There wer
grounds abroad also which in the nj
! ture of the circumstances saw man
Of these naval encounters = for IL
stance, Rio Janeiro, Valparaiso, Pol
; Mahon and in various places in tn
Mediterranean and in the East Indie
These naval duels were most fr,
quent between the years 1899 an
1895 The best known Of them a
probably was that between Decatu
and Barron In 1920. This year mark
! the beginning of the slow decline {
the practice, and the last Of the due
In the old. navy of which there Is
record took place In 1850.
, Pistols were not always used, br
the sword was sometimes resorted to-
as, for instance, in what was practica
IL tho f4r-ct Of fho draIo In tho ITnifo