The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, September 22, 1901, Page 1

) I » hope ahead for the jack y be rear admiral yet. s done it d rear admiral—those were the shores of an uncrossed gul? until Ferenholt e Norwegian sall- orman, performed miracle. Forty ed out in life wearing e common seaman; years ago be the blue blouse of and this m he retires from active ser- vice, having won the big buttons and epaulettes of rear-admiraity. There's hope ahead for the jack tar. He bes been used to ook upon himself @s once = sellor always a sailor. He has ‘been eatisfied, to be sure. He has, for that very reason, been known as the jolly tar. Those days are over for him. For in the light of what Farenholt has done, the tar's ambitions are awakened. The navy of the United Btates is not- able for the fact tha, accazding to ex- isting law, there is no promotion from the ranks to an officer’s commission. In the army many promotions from the ranks take place every year, but no one can be- come a commissioned officer in the line of the navy without graduating from An- napolis. True, there are still a few of- ficers In the service who were transferred from the volunteer to the regular estab- lishment at the close of the civil war, But these entered the volunteer navy, not a8 enlisted men, but as officers—they have always been officers. On Beptember £ last, however, an officer was withdrawn from active service and placed on the-retired list who is a re- markable exception to this rigid rule. He is & man of foreign parentage, who has risen, step by step, from the lowly grade of seaman to the rank of rear admiral, the highest ranik attainable by Amerfcan naval officers, except In such cases as those of Farragut, Porter and Dewey, for whose especial benefit, as a reward for distinguished public services, the grade of full admiral has been successively cre- ated, to expire, however, with the death of the incumbent. The exceptional officer in question is Os- car W. Farenholt, who is unique in our navy. Thers was a somewhat similar case several years ago, when, in 1895, J. X..Winn was retired as & commander, Heo, too, first entered the service as an enlisted man angd served as such for eleven months, but his case was quite different from Farenholt's, not only because he reuched no further than commander but for otber reasons. Farenholt, with the exception of Winn, was the only man to acliieve the pecullar distinction of obtaining a commission from the enlisted ranks. All the other. llne officers of the navy entered as offi- cers. His experience was the result of a remarkably brilliant war record, combined with recognition of his conduct by his sue periors. Born in Texas, of Bcandinavian par- ents, Farenholt, who had been a sallor from borhood, at the outbrcak _of the “ivil War decided to cast his lot with the North, and on April 24, 1861, almost as coon, indeed, as Fort Sumter had been fired upon, enlisted as a common seaman in the United States navy. Of sturdy build, he was a likely jack tar, but no more so, apparently, than thousands of others. He was friendless, obscure. Speaking with a strong forelgn accent, he was glven even less consideration than if he had been a typical Yankee of the Gloucester fishermen. or New Bedford whaler class. But he soon showed that he had the « Stuft’ of which old Vikings were made. Being !mmediately drafted to the b'g steam frigate Wabash, at that perfod re- garded as onme of the finest and formidable war vessels aflont, he soon found himself attached to the North At- lantic blockading squadron off the Caro- lina coasts, and the dull moments became ecar¢e. : He had fighting galore. On board the Wabash he tock part in the attacks on Forts Hatteras and Pulaskl, and “in the battle”6t Port Royal. He also was a member of every one of the boat expedi- tions, and they. were many, which the Wabash __sent. out on various missjons during 1861 and 1862, His gallantry was always conspicuous. But he gould not always escape scatbed from these many hazardous ex- un- “périencés, and finglly on ‘ohe OF these ex- pediticns, which landed four howitzers to assist in covering the retreat of the army at Pocotallgo, N. C.; he was gevere- 1y ‘wounded. After, the engagement. he was brought back to. his ship, and thence, transferred to the New York Naval Hom- pital, where he lay a long while disabled. Upon his recovery he was honorably dis- charged from the navy,”but as soon as his health was well restored, in Febru- ary, 1863, his appetite for war whetted rather than lessened by his hard experi- ence, he re-enlisted and was promptly again sent to the front, where the hard- est kind of fighting was the order of the day. This time he was assigned to the moni- tor Catskill, and on this doughty little ironciad he took part in all the engage- ments before Charleston, 8. C., during the balance of 1863 and the early part of 1864, On August 17, 1863, he exhibited the herolsm which, combined with his pre- vious excellent record, won for him his commiesion and opened up the career which has just closed in hanBrable retire- ment with the highest rank and good pay for lUfe INE SECTIO /EPTEMBERZ2,1901. On. that day the Catskill was actively engaged with the formidable forts and batteries .of Charlegton harbor. Getting close in, she was soon the favored target of a terrible converging fire. Farenholt was at the wheel and, although shot, shell and shrapnel were hurtling anl bursting all about him. he continued to steer as coolly as _.though “doing his trick™ on a peaceful sea. Commander George *W. Rodgers, one of the navy's most gallant officers, and Paymaster . €. Woodbury, who was acting as his aid, were both killed by Farenholt's side, but he continued unmoved at his post of duty and steered the vessel to safety when she was withdrawn. His conduct on this occasion was so conspicuously meritorious that it attract- ed the attention of the higher officers, and, strong as s the sentiment in the navy against the forecastle Invading the wardroom, efforts were inaugurated to re- ward him sultably for his behavior in -u.c[: a trying time. He added gtill more luster to his record iIn the following month (September, 1853), when he was a member of the disastrous storming party which -the fleet landed to assault Fort Sumter. Here. too, he distinguished him- self by his gallantry. Chief{ among those who appreclated Farenhoit's mettle was Captain, after- ward“Rear Admiral, Daniel Ammen, who commanded a divisioh of the blockading fleet” oft ‘the coast’of .South _Carolina. Ammen, by the way, was a warm. par- seral friend :and boyhdod’'s playmate of most. General Ulysses 8. Grant, having “onee eaved the latter’s life from drowning ,when both boys were in swimming in Ohto. Aided by Ammen’s influence and the recommendations of others Farenholt in August, 1564, was dppointed an acting en- sign.- He-was now an officer, and his first duty as such was the command of the ordnence schooner Henry James. His fighting was not by any means over, and before the close of the war he participated in several mors sharp engagements, nota- bly in the Chowen and Black Water riv- ers and the battle and capture of Fort Fisher by the combined military and naval forces, in January, 1365. As a result of his fine war record Faren- holt was selected as one of the volunteer officers_to be retained permanently in the navy, and on March 12, 1868, after passing an examination, he was commissioned an eneign in the regular establishment. From that time on he has passed suc- cessively by strict seniority through all the intermediate grades up to and inclu- sive 0f that of captain, which was his las€” rank on the active list. He reached the grade of rear admiral on the day of his retirement by virtue of the law passed twe years ago, which permitted officers —— who served durfng the Civil War to re- tire with the rank and pay of the next higher grade. Rear admiral is the grade Text above Farenhoit's naval War, however, has r ce the Civil led through flowery paths. He ev ad to oon- tend with a certain pre e which ex- ‘sts in the navy cers who are aduates lce has tbe case owing to ter even lis. This preju- marked in his did not en- e as an of- ficer, but The soclal gulf in forward and aft is a v e, and naval officers wish it tb be kept impassable. they permit, and even t an Annapolis education sep lsted period f one time a ¢ r of enlisted naval apprent ven appoint- ments to Annapc e practice was short-lived. Of ho graduated three are active list—Coms= mander W. P t - Come~ mander J. H. South- Two erland Ist—Lieu- Samuel Sea. t and Winn, 1 officers who been ] All but Farenholt and W1 aated from Ane papolls. Farenno! has reached the highest grade in e. While Rear Admiral Ammen was chie? of the Rureau of Navigation during the *70s. Fare details, but he had ne ser received some fairly good % the berths as a general thi drawn were und fence; his foreign ac his education was be emy standard and his ms in acquiring the polist d. Many of- ficers, too, thought of numbers of enlisted men their own acquaintance whose heroisms had‘been quite as great if not greater than Farenholt's and thefr other qualifications for a commission better, Hence Farnholt’s personai nds in the nav ve been comparatively few. His ships ¥ been storeships or somet} <ind, which 4o not offer or advantages of the renholt's rather limit. at t cal subjects also mili- st his assigm- e Ngval Acad- ers were slow regular cruls ed acqualnt and other tated to som ment to ships where he would be called upen to act as an instructor to others. His firs to the year 1857 to the recelving ships New Hampshire and Ohio and the storeship Idaho. He was bandled about with very little. ceremon only on two occa- ise in one vessel. 70 he served on the Ashuelot, in Asiatic waters, and In the latter year was attached to t rfolk navy-yard, fol- lowing In close crder by duty on the crulser Shenandoah, the recetving ship Relief, the flagship Minnesota, the prac- tice ship Supply and In 1876 back agnin to the Norfolk navy-yard. He spent a year there and then from 1877 to 1879 was placed In charge of the naval niter depot at Malden, M He made a full three years’ cruise in the “double-ender” gun- boat Monocacy in Chinese waters from 1872 to 1882, Finally In 1882 he was assigned to duty on the old steam frigate Wabash, the same vessel upon *h he saw his first naval service r days two dec: previou: mained on the old Waba: ended her active days a into a receiving s at Bos except for ab e year, when - he was sttaehed tc t-war Swatara on th: Most of hi gunboat coupleof Hghthouse inspector fe district, with headquarters at Or. ol His last sea sers shortly before h mand of the double- nock, stationed in Manila Bay. Cu enough, Lis first and las officer in the navy were as the com ing officer of a vess ooner Henry James, in 1864, and the armorclad Monad- nock, in 1901, and b Is wers In hostile waters, for n frequently under Filip Admiral Farenhol h he completed 1t, was In com- tor Monad- is tall, well buflt, and with the blon r and blue eyes of the typical Nors n. He is soclally inclined, and while a lLighthouse inspector made himself quite popular the peo- ple of Oregon and Washington. He is known, too, In San Franeisco, having served on a court-martial at Mare Island not very long ago, prior to his departure to assume command of the Monadnock. He has a son in the navy, Passed Assist- ant Surgeon Ammen Farenhoit, named for his friend and benefactor, the late Rear Admiral Ammen. Farenholt's life has been unigue. Ite volumes are summed up In the cne eles quent sentence: “From seaman to rear admiral™