The daily Alaskan., 1917-01-25
DUELS IN THE NAVY.
They Were Frequent and Deadly
 From 1799 to 1886.
HONOR WAS THEN A FETISH.
In Those Days a Challenge Was Held to Be Sort of Diploma For Naval Men, and the Victims of the Field of Cem- bat Were Lauded as Heroes.

The number of United States naval officers killed in duels in the half cen tury from 179S to 1S4S 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 men 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 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 it's 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 solemnity,
 Verses were printed upon their vic- tins in the literary journals of the day, and their relatives caused epltaphs in | the Johnsonian style to be placed upon their tombs. Occasionally duels as- | stunned the character almost of an in- ternationGl incident, and sometimes l they became small wars.
 Early in the war with Tripon off, 1 cers became involved in Quarrels among themselves and with the ot1- cers of the British navy who were on service in the Mediterranean. In 1919 the Americans and the British officers who were connected with the garri- son at Gibraltar fought duels so ire quently that the governor prohibited the harbor to American ships:
 Those old time middies were exceed. ingly bellicoSe. They were very jeal- ous of their rank. They had their own exalted ideas as to the meaning of the terms gentleman" and "ofIiCer;' there fore many sanguinary duel was pre- cipitated by causes the most trivial. What nowadays would be considered practical joke then became an affair of ten paces with pistols.
 Once a mIddy amused himself by sprinkling a letter that another mlddy was writing. ThereupOn the letter writer sprinkled the waistcoat of the offender with the contents of the ink l bottle. A few days later the two faced each other in duel,
 That the number of deaths and serl. ous wounds in these duels was so great | Is not surprising in view of the fact l that the distance between the com batants measured about thirty feet. 4 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. In the Bainbridge- Cochran duel it was twelve feet. In another duel the pistols almost touch ed, and both COmbatants were killed at the first shot.
 The largest number of the duels which were fought in the United States took place in the neighborhoCd of Nor folk, of New York and of BladensburS, which is near the city of Washing ton. But duels were also fought on Castle island, in Boston harbor; at New Orleans and in various other places. It was at Weehawken that Commo- dore Oliver II. Perry fought his duel with Captain John Heath. There wero grounds abroad also which in the na- ture of the circumstances saw many of these naval encounters flor 1n- stance, Rio JaneirO, Valparaiso, Port Mahon and in various places in the Mediterranean and in the East Indies.
 These naval duels were most ire quent between the years 1799 and 1886, The best known of them all probably was that between Decatur and Barron in 1920. This year marks the beginning of the slow decline of 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 P. K Landais and Captain D. N Cottineau, both Frenchmen, who were in com mand of vessels under John Paul Jones at the battle with the SCrapis. Jones found evidence of insub0rdimation upon the part of Landais fin that engagement and 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 q challenge. The duel came off in Holland, and as Landais was a skilled swordsman he wound ed COttineau severely. - Philadelphia Press
 Didn't Know Mckinley