The Commanding Officer of the Imperator is Casey B. Morgan, Captain,
U. S. N. He graduated from the Naval academy in 1888, and his first
cruise in a seagoing vessel of the Navy was in the U. S. S. Atlanta. He
took part in a number of campaigns and received his first commission,
that of Ensign, in 1890. While in this rank he served in the Alert,
Dolphin, and the Michigan--now the Wolverine; the Raleigh during the
Cuban blockade. He sailed for the Asiatic in the Raleigh in December,
1897, and arrived at Hong Kong, China, on Feb. 18th, 1898, and it was
upon the arrival of the Dolphin that the destruction of the Maine was
learned. He served with Admiral Dewey as a Lieutenant (jg) during the
Spanish-American war, and took part in the Battle of Manila Bay, also
the bombardment of the city of Manila and the capture of Subic Bay and
Corregidor.
Captain Morgan served in many vessels since the war, his service has
been both varied and honorable. He was promoted up the ladder of
success steadily, and in 1910 he received his commission as a Commander
in the Navy. Captain Morgan was the first officer in the Navy to take a
ship of the Navy through the St. Lawrence River and canals to Chicago,
that vessel was the Dubuque. Captain Morgan was the senior Naval
officer present during the Cuban outbreak in 1911, and was S. O. P.
during the Santa Dominican and Haitian Revolutions in that year and the
one following. He was in command of the battleship Minnesota at Vera
Cruz in 1914, and was at the War College, Newport, R. I., when we
declared war on Germany.
His first command during the war was the Sixth Squadron, Patrol Force,
with Hampton Roads as its base, and the Albany as the flagship. The
patrol was ordered to the other side, and Captain Morgan was ordered to
command the Agamemnon, the ex-Kaiser Wilhelm II. In April, 1918, he was
ordered to the staff of Vice-Admiral Gleaves as Force Transport
Officer, and remained in that capacity until May 23, at which time he
took command of the Great Imperator.
[Illustration: _The U. S. S. North Carolina which operated with the
Force._]