Mr. William Knickerbocker Van Reypen entered the service as Assistant
Surgeon December 26th, 1861. Having been promoted through the various
grades, he now holds the position of Surgeon General of the Navy.
Of good Dutch lineage on both sides of the house, he is proving his
sterling inheritances by the masterly manner in which he is meeting
the terrible responsibilities of his position in providing for all
emergencies in the Medical Department of the Navy in this war with
Spain. To Surgeon General Van Reypen the world is indebted for the
Hospital Ship in war. At the International Medical Congress, held in
Moscow in 1896, he presented the plan which was carried out by the
United States Government in fitting out the Solace and Relief during
the present summer, which were the first ever used. A most valuable
addition to a fleet in war, not only in the relief afforded to the
sick and wounded, but in rendering the ships more efficient by leaving
them with fighting men only, unhampered by the sick and disabled.
There is so little space on board men-of-war which can be utilized for
hospital purposes that the chances of recovery for the wounded are
largely increased. Civilian doctors who have visited the Solace are
enthusiastic over the perfection of its arrangements for the sick and
wounded. It is a marvel that a ship not built for the purpose could be
so well adapted to hospital needs. Jersey City may well be proud of
Surgeon General Van Reypen.
The only other representatives of Jersey City in the navy during
the war, so far as I can learn, were in the volunteer navy: Acting
Master James M. Van Boskerck, who was in command of a guard boat at
Alexandria, Virginia; Dr. Forman, who served as assistant surgeon
during the war, and Mr. Daniel Toffey, who acted as captain's clerk
for his uncle, Captain John L. Worden, on the first Monitor that was
built and went into service as an experiment in 1862. Mr. Toffey acted
as aid in carrying orders during the famous battle between the Monitor
and the Merrimac. Of the nine monitors ordered by the government during
the Civil War, six were built in Jersey City shipyards. Aside from
the above named, I have been unable to learn of many other citizens
of Jersey City who have served in the navy. About 1835, Commodore
Wetmore built a large white house on Newark avenue below Baldwin avenue
where he and his family lived for many years. At one time he was in
command of the Constitution at the Brooklyn Navy Yard. At the building
of the Hudson County Court House, Commodore Wetmore determined the
astronomical position and the following is the latitude and longitude
of the observation spot:
Latitude 40°, 43´, 50", north.
Longitude 14h., 48m., 44., 1s., or 74°, 3´, 40.5", west.
At present Lieutenant Harry Phelps, who graduated from the U. S. Naval
Academy in the Class of 1880, Lieutenant Charles Phillips Eaton of the
Class of 1883, and Lieutenant Philip Andrews of the Class of 1886, are,
I believe, the only line officers in the navy from Jersey City.