This was done under the administration of Alexander Hamilton, then Secretary of the Treasury, and one of the shining lights of our early days as a nation. He suggested giving the officers military or naval rank, “which,” he added, “will not only induce fit men to engage, but attach them to their duties by a nicer sense of honor.”
The first vessels built for this service were brigs or schooners, and they were commanded by excellent officers and sailors, who were proud of their position. They had not only to look after the collection of the revenue from imports, but to preserve order in ports, and had many other onerous duties. They had to make returns of all vessels boarded, as well as any special duties which the Secretary of the Treasury might direct. They were to succor vessels in distress—and, to this day, the Revenue vessels cruise on our coasts during the very worst winter weather to succor vessels, and many a cargo, as well as many lives, have been saved by their exertions.
Any one, even those who are not familiar with ships, can tell a revenue vessel by the flag she carries—because, while the union is the same as in other flags of the United States, the stripes run vertically instead of horizontally.
Formerly the revenue cutters were almost always of schooner rig, and generally very neat and trim, and very beautiful and picturesque vessels, especially under sail, but at present and for many years past, the “Cutters” are able sea-going steamers. In former days the revenue cutters, in addition to the protection afforded to commerce, had to attend to the placing of buoys, and the supply of lighthouses, under the direction of Collectors of Customs of districts. But in 1852 the present Light House Board was established—and special vessels devoted to that service, than which there is none better in the world. The Revenue Marine has often taken part with the Navy in operations of various kind, such as the War of 1812; the Florida War; the Mexican War; the Paraguay Expedition; the Civil War; the Seal Fishery patrol, and numerous other occasions, giving the best of service cheerfully and promptly.
As regards appointment of officers in the Revenue Marine, we may say that the service is entirely separate from the Navy, and controlled by the Treasury Department. This Department appoints cadets, not less than eighteen and not more than twenty-five years of age, who may be promoted to third lieutenants after two years’ service, and after having passed a satisfactory examination. This takes appointments out of the line of personal or political preference. The cadets are first sent on a practice cruise at sea in a revenue cutter, and then trained in practical seamanship and navigation, and during the winter study mathematics and other things necessary to fit them for their duties. If successful in passing as third lieutenants they have a reasonable chance of rising to Captain. Revenue cutters, beside their ordinary duty, are often called upon to make special cruises in search of missing vessels, or to enforce neutrality laws when expeditions may be fitting in our ports against neighboring and friendly governments. Since Alaska has been acquired some of the most remarkable cruises have been made in Arctic waters, not only for the succor of whalers, but for the protection of the natives from smugglers who would try to introduce poisonous spirits. Officers of the revenue service are also detailed as inspectors and assistant inspectors of life-saving stations, in which capacity they have done excellent service, and added much to the value of that noble branch of our public work.
The whole of the Revenue Marine Service is in charge of a chief, called the Chief of the Revenue Marine, in the Treasury Department, at Washington, forming a separate bureau. This chief must be a man of ability, for he has great responsibility, and must have legal and scholarly attainments in order to be able to meet all the calls upon him. In regard to nautical matters he is supposed to avail himself of the advice of competent senior officers of the service, and also as far as the personnel of the Revenue Marine is concerned.
MARINE HOSPITAL SERVICE.
It may be of interest to many persons in the interior of our country, who are not brought in contact with water transportation, or even with river boats of any kind, to know what is meant by the “Marine Hospital Service,” which has existed from our earliest days as a nation, and yet has nothing in common with the Revenue Marine, or with the Naval Service. The Naval Service has its own hospitals, and the Revenue Marine make arrangements for their sick and wounded at proper places. The Marine Hospital Service provides for all sick men who follow the water in the merchant service, whether they are salt water or fresh water men, whether they are on a Mississippi steamboat, or on a vessel just arrived from a China voyage. Its authority, under the law, dates from the year 1798, but it also provided that a tax of twenty cents a month should be exacted from every officer and seaman for the support of hospitals. In the following year the same provision of tax was made for the navy, and all officers and men have paid it for nearly a hundred years; so that the Marine Hospitals and the Naval Hospitals have never cost the nation anything, the money for their support having come purely from this personal tax. Every merchant sailor pays that; and every naval person, from an admiral to a messenger boy, has twenty cents a month deducted from his pay for hospital service.
U. S. S. Chicago.