Russian, three Spanish, one
Argentine vessel, and the "Miantonomoh," of the United States Navy,
making a combined fleet of thirty-five ships-of-war. The President, on
board the "Dolphin," reviewed the fleet on April 27th, and the next
day the armed battalions of the various nations, to the number of
3,815 men, marched through the streets of New York, and were reviewed
by the Governor of the State.

The navy suffered a severe loss in 1894, in the wreck of the famous
old man-of-war "Kearsarge," the conqueror of the "Alabama," which was
wrecked February 2d on Roncador Reef, while on her way from Port au
Prince to Bluefields, Nicaragua. Eight days later her men were rescued
by the "City of Para."

One of the conspicuous features of the pageants which attended the
opening of the Kiel Canal, between the North and the Baltic seas, on
June 19th, 1895, was the fleet of war-vessels which assembled in the
harbor at Kiel. It was the most remarkable ever seen in any waters,
numbering over a hundred of the finest vessels in existence. A number
of these, headed by the flagship "New York," belonged to the new navy
of the United States. These ships provoked the admiration of all the
naval authorities present, and their effective strength was noted and
commented upon all over Europe.

CHAPTER II.

THE NAVAL MILITIA. -- A VOLUNTEER SERVICE WHICH IN TIME OF WAR
WILL BE EFFECTIVE. -- HOW BOYS ARE TRAINED FOR THE LIFE OF A
SAILOR. -- CONDITIONS OF ENLISTMENT IN THE VOLUNTEER BRANCH OF
THE SERVICE. -- THE WORK OF THE SEAGOING MILITIA IN SUMMER.

The _personnel_ of a navy is quite as important as its vessels. It has
been said that a ship is worth what her captain and crew are worth. It
is certainly true that a man-of-war, of whatever power, would be
useless or worse than useless if her officers and men did not
understand her wonderfully complicated construction nor know how to
handle her. The officers of the United States navy are given this
important instruction at the Naval Academy at Annapolis, and the rank
and file of the men of the navy, those who fill the positions of
seamen and petty officers, are trained at the station in Coaster's
Island Harbor, near Newport, R.I., and in the training-ships when
cruising.

The training-station is designed to ensure the thorough efficiency of
the corps of men enlisted in the service, and to provide for the
manning of the vessels by American citizens instead of by for