Name/Title
Text-Book of Ordnance and Gunnery 1894 [Book]Description
Royal Rodney Ingersoll taught and wrote about ordnance subjects during several tours at the Academy. This first edition book is a compilation of his knowledge on the subject of Ordnance and Gunnery. The latest turret mounts and types of guns, etc., adopted by the Navy Department appear in this edition.
Officers preparing for their examination will find this book of especial value. It will also prove of great value to officers of the Revenue Cutter Service and Naval Militia. Adopted as a text-book at U. S. Naval Academy.Context
Morris H. Brown was a naval cadet assigned to the battleship Texas on April 3, 1898 and participated in the Battle of Santiago de Cuba on July 3. The Texas engaged the west battery for some hours, and “distinguished himself by the effective operation of two machine guns on board the Texas, when the Cervera fleet was sunk at Santiago.”
In early August, Morris was on furlough at home. He said that he was in charge of six rapid fire six pounders, and the “element of fear has little place in a man’s thoughts during action, his chief energies being directed to the business of hammering the enemy.” He spoke to 300 members of the Pottawatamie Club who listened intently for an hour. He was in his dress uniform of the service, answered their questions, and “bravely stood his ground and evinced that his magazine of experiences would stand the test of a prolonged engagement.” He had several relics from the Vizcaya - a chronometer, a seaman’s knife, fragments of shells, and a machete. While in town, he mounted a watch charm made from a Spanish peseta, which he got off one of the wrecked war ships, and had his monogram placed on it.
This book belonged to Cadet Brown, contains his notes and drawings, and aided his skill in gunnery.