SAILOR PRESIDENT

Te Awamutu Courier, Volume 64, Issue 4543, 2 March 1942, Page 7

SAILOR PRESIDENT

FAMOUS YACHTS ROOSEVELT IN ROLE OF THE SAILOR

(By

D.M.A.)

Section 2 of Article 11. of the Constitution of the United States of America reads:— “The President shall be Commander in Chief of the Army and Navy of the United States, and of the militia of the several States when called into the actual service of the United States; he may require the opinion, in writing, of the principal officer in each of the executive departments upon any subject relating to the duties of their respective offices, and he shall have power to grant reprieves and pardons for offences against the United States, except in cases of impeachment.” Contrary to British tradition, the army in the United States takes precedence of the navy. Though the founders of the United States constitution were far-sighted in anticipating many conditions which have been effectively administered over a period of 150 years, it is not surprising that they failed to realise the possibility of aircraft becoming an essential factor in warfare. Since the Constitution does not provide for a comman-der-in-chief of aviation, the most modern of war units has been brought under the U.S. Navy department. Of the three arms of the service the navy, in a personal sense, means more to President Roosevelt than does the army or air force. From boyhood his hobby has been an interest in all manner of craft that sail the seas. To him there is a neverfailing fascination in boats, ships and the sea. In his home at Hyde Park, and in his study in White House, there are many models of ships, from Chinese junks and Arab dhows to the most modern examples of marine architecture. In 1913, when he was 31 years old, President Woodrow Wilson appointed him Assistant Secretary to the Navy. However, for a brief period, he broke away from naval interests when, in 1918, he was an army inspector in France, and in 1919 he was in charge

of the demobilisation of United States troops. His Hyde Park home on the Hudson, Warm Springs (Georgia), and the U.S- navy yacht Potomac are favoured outlets for recreation, and of these he is happiest on the Presidential yacht. It is a converted Coast Guard patrol boat, 165 feet long. Her beam is a little under 24 feet, with a 450 tons’ displacement. Her diesel engines are equal to producing a top speed of 14 knots. The afterpart of the main deck, a “fantail,” is used by the President for trolling and still fishing. On the superstructure deck there is ample space for rigging trolling lines for deep-sea fishing, and for sun bathing. There are an 18-foot pulling boat and a 26-foot diesel-pow-ered whaleboat, which arc used by the President for fishing purposes. The Potomac carries about 50 naval sailors, and her armament is limited to' two 50-cafibre anti-aircraft machine guns and anti-magnetic mine equipment. When at sea she is followed by at least one escort destroyer, which is made available to a select personnel of press representatives. Urgent bffi ir.’. messages are relayed from the Naval Radio Station' in Washington, and essential mail is flown by naval plane. King George VI. and Queen Elizabeth were guests on board the Presidential yacht when their Majesties visited George Washington’s home at Mount Vernon on the Potomac River. HISTORIC MEETING On an earlier Presidential yacht, the Mayflower, President Theodore Roosevelt acted as intermediary when he received Russian and Japanese diplomats at Portsmouth, Newhaven, in 1905. It was there and in that year that the Russo-Japanese peace agreement was signed. The Mayflower was sold by the United States Government soon after President Franklin Roosevelt took office, a change being made to the reconditioned patrol boat now called the Potomac. As she has only a mean draft of 9 feet when fully loaded, the Potomac’s tendency to roll proves discomforting to some of the shipboard guests. However, as an “old sea dog” the President is free from troubles such as those experienced by his secretary, Major-General E. M. Watson, who, groaning in his bunk, once remarked: “Thank heaven I joined the army.” It is not a luxury yacht of the class of Vincent Astor’s Nour-

mahal, which, by the way, was placed at the President’s service after the sale of the Mayflower, and before the Potomac was conditioned for his use. Again, it is far from resembling - . J. P. Morgan’s Corsair, the upkeep Jof which required the expenditure of a' small fortune. When a friend asked Morgan what it cost to operate 2 a pleasure yacht, he replied, “If you have to ask, don’t get one.” 1 One single episode emphasising Roosevelt’s adherence to sea-going traditions, was witnessed by the present writer in The Yard at Harvard, on the day when America’s great university celebrated its tercentenary. As a Harvard graduate, President Roosevelt was present in frock coat and high silk hat. Sitting in the open through a heavy downpour *bf rain, he refused a proffered umbrejla. “That,” a bystander remarked, J’is the naval side to the President’s character. All naval men scorn to pse an umbrella.”