Sailors

President Roosevelt encloses for Acting Secretary of the Navy Newberry telegrams from Philippines Governor General James Francis Smith and president-elect William H. Taft. In light of Smith’s telegram, Roosevelt feels it is “absolutely unwarranted” not to allow the crews shore leave in Manila. He orders Newberry to tell Admiral Charles S. Sperry that, seeing as Admiral Giles B. Harber’s men have been given full shore leave, Sperry should grant his crew shore leave with precautions.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1908-11-21

President Roosevelt tells Admiral Merrell that of all the birthday wishes he has gotten, he appreciates the telegram from the enlisted navy forces at Newport the most.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1908-10-27

President Roosevelt encloses a letter from Admiral Charles S. Sperry requesting to grant leave for the men at Tokyo. Roosevelt asks Secretary of the Navy Metcalf to bring the matter to Secretary of State Elihu Root’s attention. The president believes in a “moderate quantity of leave.”

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1908-04-17

President Roosevelt thanks the men of the USS Louisiana for their kind gift to Edith Kermit Carow Roosevelt. They enjoyed their trip to Panama.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1907-02-09

President Roosevelt would like Commander Key to thank Captain Nathan Sargent for the photographs and says he does remember the outstanding record of the USS Baltimore. He would like for Sargent to send his compliments to the crew.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1907-01-31

President Roosevelt tells Secretary of the Navy Bonaparte that he feels Franck Taylor Evans is the best commander to ever serve on the Sylph, and that he would object to his transfer. He shared the same opinion with former Secretary of the Navy Paul Morton, with whom he previously spoke on the topic. He is glad the boilers of the various presidential yachts will be investigated.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1905-07-29

Assistant Secretary of the Navy Roosevelt informs W. E. Everett that he received incorrect information. There are no more open appointments for shipkeepers on the USS Constitution.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1897-09-28

Assistant Secretary of the Navy Roosevelt approves of Francis John Higginson’s plan to establish a Sailors’ Rest House near the New York Navy Yard and will do what he can to help. Such an establishment will remove “many of the temptation which now beset Jack while on shore.”

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1897-05-07

Christopher J. Kehoe asks Theodore Roosevelt if he would be able to help him secure a place on a ship. He hopes to learn wireless telegraphy, and believes such a position would allow him to do so. Kehoe knows Roosevelt has helped former soldiers in the past, and cites his own experience in the Spanish-American war.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1911-07-03

Nora L. Read thanks Theodore Roosevelt for writing to Secretary of the Navy George von Lengerke Meyer on behalf of her son. It is important that her son be kept on the active list until his class comes up for promotions, and Roosevelt’s letter has greatly helped.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1911-06-25

Frank T. Warburton, on behalf of the Seamen’s Church Institute of New York, asks Theodore Roosevelt to help fund the society’s efforts to offer visiting sailors a place to stay that is not associated with vice and crime in the city.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1911-05-09

Adeline Fitz, the president of the General Society of the Daughters of the Revolution, wants Theodore Roosevelt to speak at the dedication of a memorial to sailors of the American Revolution. She asks Lyman Abbott to intercede on her behalf.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1911-04-04

Captain Munger reports to Secretary of the Treasury Cortelyou on the United States Revenue Cutter Service’s seizure of Japanese sealing schooners. Munger asks for Cortelyou to send the District Attorney and U.S. Commissioner stationed at Seward to help.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1907-07-08

Ambassador Reid has forwarded President Roosevelt’s letter to the people of Salisbury, and he is sure it will promote kindly feeling. Reid hopes that they may be able to bring the “slow-moving” Colonial Office to an early agreement, as the only currently contentious issue between the parties is that of purse-nets. Reports of William Jennings Bryan’s speech in Madison Square Garden produced instant revulsion in Great Britain, as the public thought he “dished” himself by proposing government ownership of the railways. Reid has not yet had a chance to discuss Roosevelt’s letter to Andrew Carnegie with Sir Edward Grey, but plans to bring it up at first chance. Frederick Scott Oliver, author of the new book about Hamilton, does not seem to be a prominent literary figure among the Englishmen Reid has asked. Reid has been watching the Cuban situation with great anxiety, as he has always believed the United States made foolish decisions about Cuba at the beginning of the Spanish-American War.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1906-09-14

Secretary of the Navy Bonaparte informs President Roosevelt that he has looked up the case of an enlisted man named J. Raynor Wells. While some effort has been made to accomplish Wells’s discharge, no application was made by Wells and no action is currently being pursued by the Navy. Bonaparte notes that unless Wells is deemed unfit to serve, only Roosevelt can discharge him.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1906-09-07

A list of the status of American vessels and men available for arrival at Havana, Cuba. Lists the current location of ships, their readiness to sail, and how quickly they would be able to reach Havana, in addition to the number of sailors and marines present on the ships.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1906-09

Daniel Edgar Sickles encloses a letter from a sailor named Teakle who was injured in an explosion on the USS Maine. He believes that President Roosevelt will be interested in what Teakle has to say about Major General Wood and his work in the Philippines. Sickles is pleased by Roosevelt’s letter concerning the fleet in Turkish waters. He thanks Roosevelt for his action in regard to Kinsella.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1904-08-11

Stereographic image of the U.S. Dreadnaught North Dakota. Sailors can be seen lining the edges of its deck.

Collection

Duane G. Jundt Theodore Roosevelt Collection

Creation Date

1910-1917

Colorized stereograph showing a boat of sailors leaving their ship for shore leave, also called a “Liberty Leave.” The sailors are wearing their dress white uniforms and most are seated in the boat. Part of a ship is seen on the left side of the image. The reverse of the stereograph includes information about the sailors’ leaves.

Comments and Context

As printed on the reverse of the stereograph, “When the ship is at anchor in the harbor in ‘the piping times of peace,’ the sailor gets what is called ‘his liberty leave.’ That is, at intervals he is allowed to go on shore for twenty-four hours or more, and every morning from one to three ship’s boats are taken in tow by the little launch and the sailors are landed on shore to report again at the same spot at the same hour to be taken back to the ship.

This Stereoscopic View shows the ‘Liberty Party’ casting off, ready to be towed to shore by the little launch. They are all ready and expecting to have a very enjoyable holiday.”

Colorized stereograph taken from the bridge of the USS Minnesota at the Jamestown Exposition. The USS Kentucky and the USS Connecticut can be seen in the distance. On the left of the image, a sailor in his dress blue uniform is kneeling, looking through a spyglass. On the reverse of the stereograph is information about the officers of each of the three ships.

Comments and Context

As printed on the reverse of the stereograph, “The Bridge of the Minnesota. The Minnesota is the flagship of Rear-Admiral Charles L. [sic] Thomas.

This magnificent view was taken at the Jamestown Exposition from the bridge of the Minnesota by the kind permission of the Captain, and shows the battleship Kentucky, Captain Walter C. Knowles [sic] of the second squadron, and Admiral Evans of the Connecticut in the rear.”