Description
Spanish American War Navy Hat Ribbon Tally ~ USS Mayflower
A Important Historical Item
1897 – 1919 era US Navy Cap Hat Tally in nice original condition with full length black fabric and wire thread letters: USS Mayflower Size: approximately 36 inches long With the Spanish-American War requiring that the Navy expand rapidly, she was purchased by the Navy from Goelet’s estate and commissioned at the New York Navy Yard as the USS Mayflower on 24 March 1898 with Commander M. R. S. McKensie in command. The Mayflower joined Admiral William T. Sampson’s squadron at Key West, Florida on 20 April. Two days later, the squadron sailed to blockade Havana, Cuba. En route, Mayflower captured the Spanish schooner Santiago Apostol. She also took a number of fishing boats and coastal trading vessels. On 11 May, she boarded a large British merchant steamer, which also carried the name Mayflower, and sent the blockade runner to the United States under a prize crew. On the 14th, Alfonso led two Spanish gunboats out of the harbor hoping to break through the American blockade. Mayflower’s guns engaged the Spanish warships and drove them back to shelter under the guns of Morro Castle. For the rest of the war, Mayflower guarded the ports of Santiago de Cuba and Cienfuegos. Caribbean Early in 1899, the yacht steamed to New York where she decommissioned on 2 February to be fitted out for special service in Puerto Rican waters. She recommissioned on 15 June 1900, with Commodore Duncan Kennedy in command. At San Juan, she served as headquarters for the government of the island being formed by the first American Governor Charles H. Allen. In 1902, Mayflower twice served as Admiral George Dewey’s flagship. In November 1903, Rear Admiral Joseph Coghlan flew his flag when off Panama during the revolution which established Panamanian independence and pointed toward the construction of the Panama Canal. She sailed to Europe in the summer of 1904, and in the fall carried Secretary of War William Howard Taft on an inspection tour of the West Indies. Mayflower was decommissioned at New York on 1 November 1904 for conversion to a presidential yacht. Presidential yacht Recommissioned on 25 July 1905, with Commander Cameron Winslow in command, she immediately sailed for Oyster Bay, Long Island, New York, to prepare for the peace conference which ended the Russo-Japanese War. President Roosevelt introduced the Russian and Japanese delegations on board Mayflower on 5 August. The ship continued to play a prominent role in support of the negotiations which won President Roosevelt the Nobel Peace Prize. After duty as a dispatch boat protecting American interests in Santo Domingo in 1906, Mayflower served as presidential yacht until 1929. She was the scene of many diplomatic and social events during these years. Many members of the world’s royal families visited the yacht and numerous persons of great prominence signed her guestbook. President Wilson selected Mayflower as the setting for much of his courtship of Mrs. Edith Bolling Galt.
