Eagle River review. [volume] (Eagle River, Wis.) 1890-1927, 1925-11-05

| ~ mander John Rodgers is the hero of
lAWWE the latest epic of the sea- the air and
~ sea cruise of the PN-9, No. 1, who has
told the Presidents air board what is
wrong with the navy and has been made assistant
chief of the navy's bureau of aeronautics under
Rear Admiral William A. Moffett. The Lexington
is the new airplane-carrier just launched, is the
last word in naval construction and marks the
acceptance of the airplane a factor in the
future development of the first line of defense"
Both names-John Rodgers and Lexington
have added significance in that they recall
vast amount of naval history that is of great
interest to all good Americans.
"Since the days of John Paul Jones'" says the
New Haven Journal Courier, "there has always
been John Rodgers in the navy" The Rev
Haven editor is enthusiastic than well
informed since the first John Rodgers in the navy
was not born until 1771 But it is a fact that
since the War of 1912 there have been so many
Rodgerses in the navy that it would require
Philadelphia lawyer to keep track of them and
of their relationship
The multitudinous Rodgerses are all descended
from Commodore John Rodgers and his brother,
Commodore George Washington Rodgers-who
didn't rise higher because there wasn't any higher
rank in the navy in their day. But the second
John Rodgers was rear admiral and since 1900
less than five active admirals have been
of the Rodgers family. How many lesser Rodgerses
there are In the navy today nobody seems to know,
but they are many.
Commander John Rodgers of this story is the
fourth of his name. His father, third of the name,
is living-and is rear admiral.
The Lexington is also the fourth of her name.
The first fought in the Revolutions the second in
the Mexican War, the third in the Civil War. The
fourth Lexington was begun in 1917 as a battle
ship Under the treaty for the limitation of naval
armament she was converted to an airplane-
carrier
Commander John Rodgers recent exploit was
probably as thrilling an adventure as any one Of
his tribe ever had. His airplane left San Fran
cisco on a nonstop flight of 2,100 miles to Hon
olulu Various naval vessels were stationed on the
course, 200 miles apart. Exhaustion of gasoline
forced down Rodgers and his four companions
after about 1900 miles had been flown They
missed the next to the last staton-ship. They put
the plane under rigged-up sail and sailed and
drifted 450 miles due west This took nine days.
during which the five aviator-saiors suffered
hunger and thirst. During those nine days all the
resources of the navy were put forth in the
search. Finally submarine found them. And
when found they were within fifteen miles of
Kauai cheerful and courageous under sail and
going strong. In few heurs they would have
made landing unaided
The photograph shows Commander Rodgers
Indicated by arrow on board ship, after their
rescue. His companions are Lieut.. Byron j.
Cornell Of Pittsburgh, assistant pilot; Skies N.
Pope Of Jackson, Tenn, aviation pilot; William II.
Bowlin Of Richmond, Ind, aviation chief machin-
lists mate, and Otis G. Stantz Of Terre Haute,
chief radio operator
There wasn't John Rodgers in the Colonial
navy of the Revolution Probably that was because
the Colonies had navy when the Revolution
began and the first American John Rodgers chose
to fight on land as colonel of militia
John Rodgers (1771-1S3O the militia colonels
son, was the to start the Rodgers tradition
in the navy He was born at Havre de Grace. At
fourteen he ran away to Baltimore and tried to
go to sea as a cabin boy. His father caught him,
indentured him to responsible merchant captain
and made him promise never to touch liquor-a
promise which was kept in that age of hard
drinking John was a merchant captain at eighteen