The Butler County press. [volume] (Hamilton, Ohio) 1900-1946, 1916-12-15
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.

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 i'll duels in the half cen
j tury from 1893 to 1913 was two thirds
F.! 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 men
were killed, OF whom thirty three were
naval officers. or those who were not
killed In those naval duels half
/ were wounded
In those days of the old navy the
duel was held to be IA 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
/ pompous solemuity
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 Tnpoli olfi-
GERS became invoked In quarrels
among themselves and with the offi-
! GERS of the British navy who were on
I service III the Mediterranean. In 1919
/ the Americans and the British officers
who were connected with the garri-
i son at Gibraltar fought duels so fre.
quently that the governor prohibited
4 the harbor to American ships
Those old time uii1es were exceed
/ ingly beiicose They We're cry 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 sanglnarv duel was pre-.
ci9itated by causes the most trivial
What nowadays would be considered
practical Joke then became an affair
of ten PAGES with pistols
Once a MILDLY amused himself by
/ sprinkling a letter that another MILDLY
was writing Thereupon the letter
writer sprinked the waistcoat of the
cleender with the contents Of the Ink
bottle A few days later the two faced
! each other in duel
That the number OF deaths and seri-
GUS wounds IN these duels was so great
! IS not surprising In view OF the fact
| that the distance between the com
| batants measured about thirty feet.
! A marksman of fair ability could hit
| his adversary at that distance with
out much trouble If his nerves were
! steady In some cases the distance
was much less Ia the cambridge
Cochran duel il vas twelve feet. In
another duel rhe pistols almost touch
ed, and both combatants were killed
at the first sho
The largest number Of the duels
which were fought in the United States
took place III the ueiehborhood Of Nor
folk, Of New York and Of Bladensburg,
which is near the city of Washing
ton But duels were also fought on
Castle island. In Boston harbor; at New
Orleans ana in various other places
1t was at Weehawken that Commo
dore Oliver II Perry fought his duel
with Captain Iolu Heath. There were
| grounds abroad also which In the ma.
ture Of the circumstances saw many
of these naval encounters F. for In
stance, Rio Janelro, Valparaiso, Port
Mahon and in various places IN the
| Mediterranean aud III the East Indies
These naval duels We're most fre.
quent between the years 1899 and
1886, The best known of them al
| probably was that between Decatur
and Barron i'll 1920 This year marks
the beginning of the slow decline q
the practice, and the last OF the duels
in the old navy of which there is a
record took place in 1850
Pistols were not always used, but
the sword was sometimes resorted to-
as, for instance, in what was practical
ly the first Of the duels in the United
States navy. This took place IN 1779
The combatants were Captain r. x
Landais and Captain d \. Cottineau
both Frenchmen, who were IN corn
mand of vesseIs under John Panl Jones
at the battle with the Scraps Jones
found evidence of insubordination upon
the part of Landais in that engagement
ana accused him of firing intentional
ly into the Bonhomme Richard There
ensued a bitter quarrel, and in an In
quiry made by Benjamin Franklin
Cottineau gave testimony that caused
Landais to issue a challenge. The due
came off In Holland, and as Landais
was skilled swordsman he wound
ed Cottineau severely Philadelphia
Press.
Didn't Know Mckinley.
Once when William Mckinley was