INTRODUCTORY PROCEEDINGS. xxxix 



of one whose felicitous conception, aided by your generous and united efforts, has 

 culminated in such gratifying results. 



"As Colonel Stevens so aptly pointed out at the banquet last evening, our 

 Society now needs no sponsor, but we must not forget that this success, thorough 

 and incontrovertible though it be, has been the result of studious thought and 

 painstaking care. 



" In all the work of inception and execution, the master mind and guiding hand 

 have been those of Naval Constructor Francis T. Bowles, and it is to his unerring 

 skill and tact and untiring devotion that we are indebted for the formation of a 

 Society which will always be a means of professional advancement, and which 

 cannot but prove a potent factor in the reawakening of general interest in our ship- 

 building development, and in the ultimate attainment of that maritime supremacy 

 which once was ours, and must in the future inevitably return." 



The unusual tribute to Admiral Bowles made by Commodore Loring in 1893, 

 in proposing the Society's vote of thanks to that gentleman, was seconded by 

 Colonel Stevens and unanimously endorsed by the Society. In the years of develop- 

 ment of the Society which followed, the subject of this tribute, through his earnest, 

 loyal, and devoted service to its best interests, has not only justified the original 

 tribute but placed the Society under renewed obligations which have found appre- 

 ciation in his election to the highest office in the gift of his colleagues. As a further 

 mark of appreciation of the services of its late President, the Committee recom- 

 mends to the Society, for its approval, the following resolution : 



"Resolved, That the Society of Naval Architects and Marine Engineers desires 

 to avail itself of this first opportunity, since the completion of his term of office as 

 President, to give formal expression of its appreciation of the services of Rear- 

 Admiral Francis Tiffany Bowles, whose skill, tact, and untiring devotion, first as 

 organizer, and later as Secretary and President, contributed in so conspicuous a 

 degree to the development of the Society and its present assured position among 

 scientific institutions ; and that in furtherance of the foregoing expression of appre- 

 ciation, the President is directed to have this resolution and the accompanying 

 report of the Committee recorded in the minutes of the Society, and a copy thereof 

 suitably engrossed and forwarded to Admiral Bowles. 

 Very respectfully, 



W. L. Capps, Chairman, 

 Stevenson Tayi^or, Ex-Officio, 

 E. A. Stevens, 

 Geo. E. Weed, 

 Andrew Fletcher, 

 W. J. Baxter. 

 The President, 



Society of Naval Architects and Marine Engineers. 



