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At noon on the anniversary of George Washington’s 243rd birthday this month, U. S. naval stations and naval vessels throughout the world will fire a 21-gun salute, as has been the custom since 1818.
Another, even older Navy custom of honoring President Washington is the impressive ceremony that occurs whenever a Navy or Coast Guard vessel passes Washington’s home at Mount Vernon.
As a ship nears the tomb of General Washington adjacent to the mansion, the crew forms on deck and attention is sounded. When opposite the tomb, "hand salute” is signaled. The ship’s bell is struck eight times at five-second intervals, and the national ensign is lowered to half mast. If a band is embarked, the national anthem is played. At the end of the tolling, the ensign is raised to the peak; two blasts of the whistle signal "end of salute” and three "carry on.”
The earliest known account of this ceremony is recorded in the autobiography of Commodore Charles Morris who, in May 1801, was on board the USS Congress as a midshipman, when she passed up the Potomac River to the new Navy Yard in Washington. He recalled:
"About 10 o’clock in the morning of a beautifully serene day, we passed Mount Vernon. Every one was on deck to look upon the dwelling where Washington had made his home. Mrs. Washington and others of the family could be distinguished in the portico which fronts the river. When opposite the house, by order of Captain Sever, the sails were lowered, the colors displayed half-masted, and a mourning salute of thirteen guns was fired as a mark of respect to the memory of Washington, whose life had so recently closed, and whose tomb was in our view. The general silence on board the ship and around us, except when broken by the cannon’s sound, the echo and re-echo of that sound from the near and distant hills, as it died away in the distance, the whole ship’s company uncovered and motionless, and the associations connected with the ceremony, seemed to make a deep impression upon all, as they did certainly upon me. When the salute was finished the sails were again set, the colors hoisted, and we proceeded up the river.”
Today’s observance of these honors vary according to the size and complement of a ship but the tolling of the bell and the lowering of the flag is consistent- The custom was adopted by other vessels passing the tomb, and thus, by the tolling of a bell, a tradition begun by the Navy played a part in preserving the home of our first President.
On a brilliantly moonlit winter night in 1853, Mrs- Louisa Cunningham was travelling by steamer from Alexandria, Virginia, down the Potomac and along the coast to Charleston when she was aroused by the bell and went on deck. Struck by the dilapidation of the mansion, she wrote her invalid daughter, Ann Pamela-
"I was painfully distressed at the ruin and desola* tion of the home of Washington and the thought passed through my mind: why was it that the women of his country did not try to keep it 111 repair, if the men could not do it? It does seem such a blot on our country!”
Ann Pamela Cunningham, immediately wrote a let' ter to the most influential newspaper in the south, the Charleston Mercury. Addressed to "Ladies of the South, she urged "that by your combined efforts, in village and country town, and city, the means may be raised, from the mites of thousands of gentle hearts up°n whom the name has yet a magic spell, which will suffice to secure and retain the home and grave as a sacred spot for all coming time.” Newspapers throughout the south reprinted the letter and the ladies responded warmly. The home was purchased in 1858 by the Mount Vernon Ladies Association, the first womens patriotic organization in the nation, who maintain the mansion to this day.
The naval honors were merely a custom in 190^ when President Theodore Roosevelt witnessed the it*1' pressive ceremony on board the Presidential yacht Mayflower. On learning that the honors were not ofB' cial, he promptly made them so. General Order No- 22, dated 2 June 1906, designated the ceremony to be observed by all vessels of the United States Navy pass' ing Mount Vernon between sunrise and sunset, and although the tenses skip from past to present to future, the meaning is crystal clear:
Marine guard and band paraded; bell tolled and colors halfmasted at the beginning of the tolling of c e bell. When opposite Washington’s Tomb, bu- 6 ers sound taps, marine guard present arms, and °fficers and men on deck stand at attention and a ute. The colors will be mastheaded at the last note ° taps which will also be the signal for 'carry on.’” e Paying °f the National Anthem was added to e ceremony in 1913.
This naval custom, once practiced by most river craft passing Mount Vernon, is now observed by only a few sailors, imbued, perhaps, with a deep awareness of our history and tradition.
On the eve of our nation’s Bicentennial when so much of our national heritage is being burnished, it would seem fitting if all craft passing Washington’s tomb at Mount Vernon were once again to pay tribute to the Father of our Country in this unique manner.