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The Texas Navy Association
A Brief History of the Organization
Many
Texas Governors in the past have given commissions in the Texas Navy to
various people as a means of honoring them for doing a service to Texas.
Governor James V. Allred in 1936 may have been the first Texas
Governor in giving a commission as an Admiral in the Texas Navy to dancer
Ginger Rogers when she appeared in Dallas at the opening of the new Texas
State Fair Grounds in Dallas which opened the Texas Centennial celebration
of independence from Mexico. She
was most probably the first woman, or anyone for that matter to be so
honored.
In 1958 Governor Price
Daniels formed what was the first successful attempt to form a “Third
and Honorary” Texas Navy. Their
headquarters were established in Houston and they held Annual Admiral
Balls at the Houston Yacht Club and the Governor would review the fleet
each year at the San Jacinto monument.
The fleet consisted of every conceivable type of vessel from a
luxury cruiser to a canoe in the days of Governor Daniels.
All who applied were made Admirals in the Texas Navy.
This organization was intended to be a type of coastal surveillance
service to the State of Texas in its defense.
Governor Daniels has most
of the records of the early days of the Texas Navy at his museum and
library, the Sam Houston Regional Library and Research Center, in Liberty,
Texas. Also the
correspondence on all of those commissioned by him as Admirals in the
Texas Navy.
The first Chief of Naval
Operations for the Texas Navy Association was Stephen Walter and the
second was Dr. John Thiel, M.D. and the records of the organization during
this time will be found at the Rosenberg Library in Galveston, Texas.
These records were placed here to insure their security and availability
to future generations of Texans.
The Texas Navy, Inc., now
the Texas Navy Association, was formed by an act of the 63rd
Texas Legislature becoming effective on August 27, 1973.
The act was sponsored by Senator “Babe” Schwartz of Galveston,
Texas. We are a non profit
501(c)3 organization devoted to preserving the history of the three Navies
of Texas. The Governor of
Texas is still our Honorary Commander-in-Chief as has been the case since
the act was passed by the Texas Legislature and the Governor still
appoints one member to the fifteen member board.
We are most fortunate that Governor Perry chose Texas Land
Commissioner Jerry Patterson as his appointee.
As Land Commissioner, Jerry’s assistance in our search for the
INVINCIBLE was most necessary as his office approves off shore searches
such as this.
 Later in 1973, Governor
Preston Smith moved the Texas Navy Headquarters from Houston to Galveston,
Texas
where it remains today and is the headquarters for the Texas Navy
Association.
Since then the Texas Navy
Association has shown a steady growth and has participated in many
worthwhile ventures in preserving the history of the Republic’s two
navies. We have found the
uniforms and artifacts of Commodore Edwin Ward Moore and they were on
display at our first annual Texas Navy Christmas Party in December of
2004. We annually sponsor a
sailboat race from Galveston to Cozumel and the winner receives the
Stephen Walter Trophy.
We are currently looking
for the wreckage of the INVINCIBLE off the coast of Galveston.
The INVINCIBLE was one of the four ships that comprised the first
Texas Navy and was wrecked on a sand bar while two Mexican men of war were
pursuing her. The web site
you are now viewing has been a source to disseminate the deeds of the
Texas Navies and to preserve their memory in the ships of the Honorary
Third Texas Navy.
Texas history is taught in the public schools in Texas in the
seventh grade. The Texas Navy
web site is not only an attempt to bring out little known facts about the
heroic history of our two navies of the Republic of Texas in a proper way
by bibliographies, web site sources of information and documents to show
what has sadly been mostly forgotten or neglected by historians of today.
The Texas Navy web site is a proud member of The Texian Web which
only a few Texas historical web sites are admitted.
The public school text
books, dating from Pennybacker’s “History of Texas” in the 1890’s
show little more than a paragraph on this part of Texas history that has
gone unnoticed in even current histories of Texas.
Few, if any, even mention the presence of any naval forces of the
Republic, yet the Gulf of Mexico with its long shores has always been
there. The Texas Navy Association hopes to bring forth documentation
of the deeds of the first and second Texas Navies as they are scarcely
mentioned in all of the histories of the Republic of Texas.
To become a member of the
Texas Navy Association you must hold a valid commission as an Admiral in
the Texas Navy from a Governor of the State of Texas.
A copy of your certificate may be required by the association
before membership. Dues are
$40 per year or you may obtain a Life Membership for $350.
For further information please contact our Headquarters in
Galveston, Texas at: phone:
(409) 762-4444, fax: (409)
762-9011, or e-mail: homeport@texasnavy.com.
Prepared by Admiral Walter Nass
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