Regulations for the government of the United States Navy (1865)

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ARTICLE XXXIII.

United States Naval Asylum.

1256 The Naval Asylum having been placed under the supervision and direction of the Bureau of Yards and Docks, subject to the immediate control of the Secretary of the Navy, the following regulations have been adopted for its government :

  1. The object of the Asylum is to provide a comfortable home for "disabled and decrepit naval officers, seamen, and marines," who shall be entitled to the benefits of the institution.
  2. The officers shall consist of a Governor, not below the grade of a Captain in the Navy, and a Commander, a Lieutenant, a Surgeon, and a Chaplain, to be taken from their respective ranks, together with a Secretary to the institution, a Master-at-Arms, a Matron, and such officers and laborers, embracing watchmen, cooks, laundresses, and attendants, as the department from time to time shall authorize.
  3. Applicants for admission into the Asylum will be required to produce evidence of twenty years' service in the Navy. They must state their age, birth-place, and physical condition, the vessels in which they have sewed, the names of the Captains, and the dates of such service. They will also be required to produce a naval surgeon's certificate, stating that the applicant is not able to support himself by manual labor ; and in cases where pensioned applicants desire to commute their pension for places in the Asylum, similar certificates will be required ; nor will these regulations be deviated from except under extraordinary circumstances, or the written permission of the Secretary of the Navy.
  4. In consideration of the liberal provision which has been made for the beneficiaries in the Asylum, they will be required, at the discretion of the Governor or Commanding Officer, to perform such duties, for their benefit and that of the institution, as their age, physical abilities, and condition will allow.
  5. For misconduct, (of which drunkenness, fighting, abusive and profane language may be enumerated as foremost,) or for any conduct subversive of good order and discipline, beneficiaries will be subjected to punishment by stoppage of their pocket-money and tobacco, confinement in the cells, and curtailment of the ration, at the discretion of the Governor or Commanding Officer, and to dismission from the Asylum, with the sanction of the Secretary of the Navy.
  6. The Governor will administer the affairs of the institution, receive the daily reports of the subordinate officers, make the required returns to the Bureau of Yards and Docks, submit annual estimates for the probable wants of the institution, and transmit the same so as to reach the Bureau on or before the 1st October in each year. He will also cause a diary to be kept and forwarded annually to that Bureau. The diary will also contain a list of absentees, punishments, and misdemeanors of every kind.
  7. The allowance to each beneficiary for clothing is not to exceed $3 per month, or $36 per annum.
  8. In consideration of their good conduct, and the faithful performance, from time to time, of such duties in and about the Asylum as may be directed by the Governor or Commanding Officer, each beneficiary shall receive $1 per month. For any violation of the regulations, however, this gratuity may be stopped for such period as the Governor may deem expedient.
  9. As a reward for meritorious conduct, the Governor or Commanding Officer shall form a corps of petty officers and watchmen (not to exceed eight in each class) of the best behaved and most efficient of the pensioners, who shall wear a suitable badge of office. It shall be the duty cf the petty officers to set and relieve the watchmen on their respective beats, to attend to the hoisting and lowering of the colors, to reporting delinquents, and to the performance of such general duties as the Governor or Commanding Officer may direct. They shall hold their office for the term of three months, may be reappointed at the discretion of the Governor, and shall be allowed two dollars per month, including the monthly allowance of one dollar, for pocket money.
  10. The products of the grounds shall be expended for the benefit of the institution, at the discretion of the Governor or Commanding Officer.
  11. No liquors of any kind will be allowed the inmates of the institution, nor will they be permitted within its enclosures. A violation of this regulation will be deemed a sufficient cause for dismission from the Asylum.
  12. The colors shall be hoisted and struck daily at the hours usually observed in the Navy.
  13. During the summer months the fires will be extinguished as early after meals as practicable. The lights will be extinguished at 10 p. m. In the winter the fires and lights, with the exception of the furnaces and such others as the Commanding Officer may deem necessary, will be extinguished at 11 p. m. The gates and doors shall be closed and locked at 10.30 p. m., in winter, and 11 p. m. in summer, and shall not be opened until daylight, without permission from the Commanding Officer.
  14. No beneficiary will be allowed to leave the Asylum without the permission of the Executive Officer, and no leave for a longer period than a week to be granted without the sanction of the Bureau ; and if, when on leave, they break their liberty without a satisfactory explanation to the Governor, they will not be permitted to return, except by an order from the Bureau.
  15. Any beneficiary who shall sell or otherwise dispose of his clothing shall have the value thereof deducted from his allowance of pocket-money and tobacco, and shall be restricted to the limits of the Asylum for a period of not less than three mouths.
  16. All complaints shall be referred to the Governor or Commanding Officer, in the same respectful manner as the usage of the service requires on shipboard. Under no circumstances, however aggravated, will a resort to any other method be tolerated, except it be a respectful appeal to the Secretary of the Navy, through the Bureau of Yards and Docks.
  17. Divine service will be performed on Sunday at 10 a. m., at which hour the beneficiaries will be required to attend, except in cases of sickness, or permission to the contrary having been obtained in writing from the Executive Officer.

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