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Show NAuTICALNOYELTIES There hangs in the reception room of the Battleship New York two coal shovels that have a brass plate attached at-tached which announces that Kinj George of England and King Albert of Belgium used these shovels to fire the boilers of this ship, on the occasion occa-sion of their visits to the New York when that vessel was attached to the grand fleet during the World war. One of the memorable features of the old sailing ships of the navy was the figurehead that always decorated the ship. The first figurehead on the constitution was a statue of Hercules, but this was struck by a shot during the action at Tripoli. This was succeeded suc-ceeded by a figure of Neptune, and then a plain billet, and then the figurehead fig-urehead of Andrew Jackson, the p'.ac- . ing of which was the occasion of one if -the bitterest controversies of oui .listory. When Captain Dacres of the H. M. S. Guerriere came aboard the U. S. F. Constitution to surrender after theii j famous fight, Commodore Hull, the; American commander, met him at the rail. Captain Dacres oiiered his sword. "No, no," said Hull refusing it. But I'll trouble you for that hat." Dacres had forgotten that once before be-fore the war when the two had met . ocially he -had bet a hat that his ship could beat Hull's vessel. The general mortality rate in the IT. S. Navy during 1932 was 3.47 per thousand. Assuming the average age of Xavy men as 30 years, which is a bit high, we find the death rate for this age given as S.43 in the American Ameri-can Experience Table of Mortality, injuries in the Xavy, due to motor vehicle accidents, caused the largest number of deaths SI. Drowning caused the second largest number 40. From the above data, we deduce that life in the Navy is relatively healthy and safe (in peace time.) The battleship Maryland, commissioned commis-sioned in 1921, was the first ship in the world to be successfully equipped with sixteen inch guns. The West v'irginia and Colrado also have 16-inch 16-inch guns. The U. S. S. Argonne this month will begin a survey of the Aleutian slands. She will be accompanied by two amphiban planes equipped with hotographic apparatus, two destroyers destroy-ers with sonic depth finders for sounding depths, and the minesweepers minesweep-ers Gannett and Swallow. The Is-ands Is-ands are a chain of uncharted reefs, ide rips, sunken rocks and sub-arc-.ic fogs. About five years ago, Navy anes accomplshed important survey jf most of Alaska from the air. On December 1, 1932, the Panama canal was open to the commerce of che world exactly 6,682 days. During -his period there has been very few lays that traffic was suspended due to landslide. Since the opening of he canal there has been an average )f twelve vessels passed through the anal each day. A Tt-i1 OOlL |