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![handle is hein.usccsset/usconset32567 and id is 1 raw text is: 3627
55TH CONGRESS, SENATE. REPORT
2d Session. t No. 1172.
LIEUT. COMMANDER R. M. G. BROWN.
JUNE 4, 1898.-Ordered to be printed.
Mr. PERKINS, from the Committee on Naval Affairs, submitted the
following
REPORT.
[To accompany S. 3701.]
The Committee on Naval Affairs, to whom was referred the bill (S.
3701) authorizing the President of the United States to nominate Lieut.
Commander R. M. G. Brown, now on the retired list, to be a commander
on the retired list, beg leave to report:
The services rendered by Lieut. Commander R. M. G. Brown during
the hurricane in the harbor of Apia, Samoa, March, 1889, demand recog-
nition. To his coolness and skill in time of supreme danger many
hundreds of American seamen owe their lives. This is most fully
acknowledged by Capt. N. H. Farquhar, of the U. S. S. Trenton, on
which vessel Lieutenant-Commander Brown was navigating officer.
Lieut. R. M. G. Brown, the navigator, he reported, was by my side
the whole time, and to his excellent judgment, one time, at least, the
the ship was cleared of a reef. Had we struck it I fear few of the 450
people on board of the Trenton would be alive to-day. By his order,
putting the 450 seamen in the rigging, there to act as a living sail,
when canvas would not have withstood the hurricane an instant,
Lieutenant Brown was enabled to steer the Trenton clear of a reef and
to place her in a position which was one of comparative safety for her
crew. This act has already been fittingly recognized by the State of
West Virginia, which has presented a suitably inscribed sword to
Lieutenant-Commander Brown, and should also be acknowledged by
the Government which he so signally served.
In the Fifty-fourth Congress a bill (S. 1447) similar to that on which
report is here made was presented. Acting Secretary of the Navy
McAdoo recommended its favorable consideration in the following letter
to the chairman of the Committee on Naval Affairs:
NAVY DEPARTMENT,
Waahington, January R3, 1896.
SIR: Referring to the letter of the Committee on Naval Affairs, dated the 13th
instant, inclosing a copy of a bill (8. 1447) authorizing the Presidant :, the United
States to nominate Lieut. Commander R. M. G. Brown, now on the retired list, to be
a commander on the retired list, and asking to be advised as to the views of the
S. Rep. 8-1](ViewImageLocal?handle=hein.usccsset/usconset32567&div=1&collection=&method=preview&ext=.png&size=3)