Mr. Hay to Mr. Porter.
Washington, March 6, 1901.
Sir: Under date of the 1st instant the Acting Secretary of the Navy transmits a copy of a letter from Commander Karl Rohrer, commanding the U. S. S. Annapolis, in which that officer reports that in order to repair an injury which occurred to the safety valve of the vessel’s boiler on February 2 last a particular piece of brass tubing which was required could not be obtained in the port of Algiers, where the vessel then lay, and that therefore the commander, accepting the kind offer which had been made by Rear-Admiral Albert Servan, the commandant of the French naval station at that place, applied to him for assistance. There being no pipe of the required size in stock, the admiral ordered an ingot to be cast, bored, and turned, gave to the commander two sections of tubing of the size and length required, and declined to have a bill made out for the material and work involved.
You will express to the Government of the French Republic the thanks of the Navy Department for the kind and courteous treatment extended by Rear-Admiral Servan to a vessel of the United States and to her commander.
I am, etc.,