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 124 ADMINISTRATOR ADMIRALTY should voluntarily die for him. This was cheerfully complied with by his wife Alcestis, daughter of Pelias, who was subsequently res- cued from the hands of Pluto by Hercules and restored to Admetus. ADMINISTRATOR. See EXECUTOR. ADMIRAL, a naval officer of the highest rank. The title was introduced by the Genoese and other Italians into Europe, and was probably derived from the Arabic word amir, which was also used in reference to shipping by the Greeks of the lower empire. The office of admiral was not created for the navy of the United States until during the second year of the civil war. Previously the grade of captain was the highest in the service, al- though the title of commodore had been ac- corded to commanders of squadrons and naval stations, and they had assumed the commo- dore's distinguishing broad pennant.* By act of congress, Jan. 16, 1857, captains in com- mand of squadrons were denominated flag officers, and by subsequent and progressive de- partmental orders and regulations they sub- stituted for the broad pennant a square blue flag worn at the mizzen ; next the same at the fore for those over 20 years commissioned as captain, and the senior captain's was carried at the main ; finally they came to arrogate all of the functions of admirals. Congress established the grade of rear admiral July 16, 1862, and commissioned therein on account of eminent individual services David G. Farragut and three other captains from the active list, and Charles Stewart and ten other distinguished veterans from the retired list. The grade of vice admiral was constituted by act of Dec. 21, 1864, and Farragut promoted thereto as a reward for Mobile ; and as a further token of gratitude and honor the grade of admiral was created for him July 25, 1866. The rank of admiral is relatively equivalent to that of gen- eral in the army, vice admiral to lieutenant general, and rear admiral to major general. The pay per annum of admiral is $13,000 ; the sea pay of vice admiral $9,000, and of rear admiral $6,000. There have been bestowed 2 commissions of admiral, 3 of vice admiral, and 55 of rear admiral ; and there are now in the service 1 admiral, 1 vice admiral, and 38 rear admirals; of the latter, 12 are on the ac- tive and 26 on the retired list. -In Great Brit- ain there were until 1864 three classes of ad- mirals, red, white, and blue. The distinction of flags was then abolished, and only the white flag retained in the royal navy. The manage- ment and superintendence of the navy of Eng- land was formerly vested in a lord high admiral. James II. when duke of York held this office, and when king, on" account of his predilection for the naval service, kept it in his own hands. Prince George of Denmark, husband of Queen Anne, was also lord high admiral. The last in- cumbent of the office was the duke of Clarence, afterward William IV., who held it from May, 1827, till September, 1828, since which time the office has been put in commission, the du- ties being performed by the lords of the ad- miralty, who are six hi number, the first lord having a seat in the cabinet. His pay is 4,- 500 per annum. The highest officer in the Russian navy bears the title of general admiral. ADMIRALTY. In England at a very early period the administration of the navy, and of all affairs pertaining to commerce, ships, and navigation, or connected in any way with the high seas or the navigable waters of the realm, seems to have been delegated to a naval offi- cer of high dignity called the lord high admiral, deriving his authority directly from the sov- ereign, and invested with powers over some of the sovereign's most important prerogative rights. His functions, covering originally all maritime affairs, extended also to the private concerns of the subject in commercial trade. All of his powers which required judicial action were delegated to a court of admiralty, and they still remain its characteristic function. That part of the jurisdiction which was purely executive, and which related especially to the navy and the royal privilege, was at a very early date transferred to other departments or tribunals. Originally, then, the high court of admiralty in England was the court of the lord high admiral, and its judge was his lieutenant. The admiral also appointed vice admirals, and their lieutenants in turn were the judges of the vice admiralty courts in different parts of the kingdom. The commission usually issued to the admiral of England in the 16th and 17th centuries gave him cognizance of " debts, bills of exchange, policies of insurance, accounts, charter parties, contractions, bills of lading, and all other contracts which any ways con- cern moneys due for freight of ships, moneys lent to be paid beyond the sea at the hazard of the lender, and also of any cause, business, or injury whatsoever had or done on or upon or through the seas or public rivers, or fresh waters, streams, havens, and places subject to overflowing, within the flowing and ebbing of the sea, upon their shores or banks, from the first bridges toward the sea, throughout our kingdom or dominions aforesaid, or else- where beyond the seas, or in any parts be- yond the seas whatsoever," &c. A commis- sion of the time of Henry VIII. gives to the admiral authority in cases of treasons, rob- beries, and other crimes on the seas or other waters within the king's maritime jurisdic- tion. But these commissions, though full and large, are, it must be remembered, of a comparatively recent date ; for the admi- ralty jurisdiction is very ancient, and the "Black Book of the Admiralty," a sort of code of the admiralty law of England, com- piled probably about the beginning of the 14th century, contains constitutions of John (1199), Richard I. (1189), and Henry I. (1100), relat- ing to the admiralty. The jurisdiction of the court was modelled after that of the consular courts of the Mediterranean. Its decisions