574 NAVY OF THE UNITED STATES. 



NEAL. JOHN. 



NAVY OF THE UNITED STATES. The 

 Navy now comprises 146 vessels of 150,157 

 tons' measurement, carrying 1,142 guns, exclu- 

 sive of howitzers and Gatlings. Of these 23 were 

 sailing-vessels, carrying 229 guns; and 123, 

 of 120,894 tons, and carrying 913 guns, were 

 steam-vessels, including 24 iron-clads of 72 

 guns, 27 tugs, and two torpedo-boats. Of the 

 whole number of vessels 75 were in actual use 

 at the close of the year, of which 37, including 

 11 iron-clads on the North- Atlantic Station, 

 were in commission attached to fleets. In his 

 last annual report Secretary Robeson says : 



The reduction of the force of our fleet by act of 

 Congress, from 8,500 to 7,500 men, has placed our 

 Navy, in the personnel of the enlisted men, below 

 that of nearly every navy of Europe. The effect of 

 this reduction has been to lose to the service many 

 valuable seamen, who, for want of continuous em- 

 ployment in the Navy, and in the absence of any 

 commerce of our own, have been forced to go abroad 

 for employment. Their services are thus lost to the 

 country, and the time and care given to their educa- 

 tion as men-of-war's-men has been to some extent 

 in vain. As a remedy for this misfortune, and for 

 the purpose of maintaining a trained class of men in 

 the Navy, skilled in their duties and devoted to their 

 flag, I have the honor to repeat my recommenda- 

 tions of last year, that Congress give the necessary 

 authority to enlist annually 750 boys for the Navy, 

 under existing laws, but in addition to the number 

 of men now allowed. The cost of these boys, so far 

 as the pay of the Navy is concerned, would not 

 amount to more than the cost of 250 men : and it is 

 expected that this number enlisted annually will, in 

 the course of a few years, not only fill the vacancies 

 made by discharge, death, and desertion, but finally 

 man our fleet with educated American seamen. 



The system of training boys has been in success- 

 ful operation for little more than one year, and there 

 are at present 479 in the service, one-half of them 

 under instruction on board the training-ships Min- 

 nesota and Monongahela, and the others already 

 afloat in vprious sea-going vessels. The Department 

 has stationed the Minnesota at New York, the Con- 

 stitution at Philadelphia, and the Monongahela at 

 Baltimore, as permanent school-ships for these lads, 

 and the experience of the past year fully demon- 

 strates the success of this effort to improve pur sea- 

 men. 1 feel myself, therefore, most fully justified 

 in earnestly renewing my recommendation of this 

 addition to the personnel of the Navy. 



On July 1, 1875, the amount of the appro- 

 priations applicable to the year ending June 

 30, 1876, was $18,301,731. The actual expen- 

 ditures during the year amounted to $17,- 

 937,355, or about $364,376 less than the ap- 

 propriations. The appropriations available for 

 Che year beginning July 1, 1876, aggregate 

 $12,961,790. The estimates for the general 

 maintenance of the Navy for the next year are 

 as follows : 



Pay of officers and seamen of the Navy $7,300,000 00 



Pay of civil establishment in navy -yards 205,922 00 



Ordnance and Torpedo Corps 445,575 00 



Coal, hemp, and equipments 1,250,000 00 



Navigation and navigation supplies 135,136 44 



Hydrographic work 89,800 00 



Naval Observatory, Nautical Almanac, etc $54,200 00 



Kepairs and preservation of vessels, etc. .... 3,300,000 00 



Steam-machinery, tools, etc 2,000,000 00 



Provisions and clothing 1,403,721 85 



Repairs of hospitals and laboratories 40,000 00 



Surgeons' necessaries 40,000 00 



Contingent expenses of various departments 



and bureaus 851,000 00 



Naval Academy 199,262 40 



Support of Marine Corps 905,769 00 



Naval Asylum, Philadelphia 63,597 00 



Maintenance of yards and docks 862.029 00 



Total $18,646,012 69 



The amount estimated for new buildings 

 and the repairs and improvements necessary at 

 the various navy-yards, stations, and hospitals, 

 is $2,908,596. There is also submitted by the 

 Bureau of Ordnance an estimate for $775,500 

 to provide the proper armament for large iron- 

 clads and other ships being fitted out for sea. 



The following is a statement of the number 

 and yearly amount of pensions of the Navy on 

 the rolls June 30, 1876, and the amount which 

 was paid during that fiscal year: 



NEAL, JOHN, an American author ; died at 

 Portland, Me., June 20, 1876. He was born 

 in Falmouth (now Portland), Me., August 25, 

 1793. His parents were members of the So- 

 ciety of Friends, with which he also was con- 

 nected until the age of twenty-five, when, 

 principally for his inability to "live peaceably 

 with all men," he received his formal dismissal. 

 About the age of twelve he was employed in 

 Portland as a shop-boy ; a few years later he 

 taught drawing and penmanship in the prin- 

 cipal towns of Maine; in 1814-'15 he was a 

 dry -goods retailer and jobber in Boston and 

 New York, and afterward established himself 

 in Baltimore as a wholesale dealer in partner- 

 ship with John Pierpont. In 1816 they failed, 

 and Neal began the study of the law. He 

 read through a legal course intended to em- 

 brace a period of several years in a twelve- 

 month, besides attending lectures and study- 

 ing several languages. In 1816 he produced _a 

 review of the works of Byron, written, it is 

 said, in four days, which appeared from month 

 to month until completed in the Portico, a 

 Baltimore magazine. In 1817 he published his 

 first novel, "Keep Cool " (2 vols., Baltimore), 

 originally called "Judge Not," followed the 

 next year by "The Battle of Niagara, Goldau, 

 and other Poems." In 1819 appeared " Otho, 

 or the Bastard," a five-act tragedy ; and about 



