ended their careers violently in service.

The government ripped out the costly interiors and converted these
panelled floating abodes of the wealthy into serviceable fighters, and
no doubt will retain those that survive when the war is ended. There
were instances where the owners of yachts and the Navy Department could
not agree on prices to be paid. The naval authorities finally suggested
that the owners should name one representative, and the Navy Department
another, and terms thus agreed upon. It was not, however, until the
Department appointed a special board, whose duty was to secure suitable
boats without further delay, that affairs began to proceed smoothly. The
first move was to have the International Mercantile Marine Company's
shipping experts act as agents of the special board, and from that time
on there was no further trouble.

The Mercantile Marine experts not only brought about the transfer of
yachts to the navy, but superintended alterations above and below deck,
arming, outfitting, coaling, painting, and provisioning the converted
war-ships. While this was in progress the Navy Department was having
built a fleet of submarine-chasers of the 110-foot class, which,
together with the yachts taken over, offered abundant opportunities for
oversea service, which the sailors enrolled in the Coast Defense
Division were not slow to accept after they were requested to transfer
their enrollment from Class 4 to Class 2, under which classification
they were eligible to be sent abroad. Thus thousands of young men who
had enlisted for coast-patrol duty, were sent aboard transports,
submarine-chasers, and war-ships generally, for service in the European
war zones.

And with this constant outflow of trained men from the various naval
training-stations of the country, the influx of newly enlisted reserves
into these schools gives assurance that the Navy Department will never
be embarrassed for lack of material wherewith to man its boats. And
there is the likelihood that as our new merchant vessels are launched
and put into commission, they will be manned by reserves from the navy
training-schools with officers furnished by the Deck School at Pelham
Bay and the Engineers' School at Hoboken. The government, of course, is
in complete control of the merchant marine; but in our present condition
many American ships have to be manned by aliens. It will be surprising
if this state of affairs will not be corrected as swiftly