The Encyclopedia Americana (1920)/Speyers, Arthur Bayard

SPEYERS, Arthur Bayard, American naval officer: b. New York, 15 Aug. 1846; d. Montreal, province of Quebec, 19 Nov. 1918. He was admitted to the United States Naval Academy in 1863, where he remained until six months before the close of the Civil War in 1865, when he was assigned with other members of his class to duty as acting midshipman on vessels assigned to destroy privateers. At the close of the war he returned to the Naval Academy, where he was graduated in 1868. His first assignment was to the North Atlantic fleet. A year later he was promoted to the rank of ensign and transferred to the Benicia on the Asiatic station. Two years later he was promoted to master, and while serving on the Kansas in 1874 was commissioned lieutenant. He was made lieutenant-commander in 1895. Soon after the beginning of the Spanish-American War in 1898 he was assigned to command the Cæsar and took part in bottling up Cervera's fleet in the harbor of Santiago de Cuba. At the close of the war, Commander Speyers was placed in command of the Glacier. He retired with the rank of rear-admiral, 11 Jan. 1905.