Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 13.djvu/83

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MARINA.
63
MARINE INSURANCE.

prominent in all the affairs of the Conquest. Their son, Don Martin Cortés, attained to considerable importance in Mexico. She was afterwards married to Juan de Jaramillo, and was living as late as 1550.

MARINDUQUE, rē̇n-do͞o′kā̇. A province of the Philippines, comprising the islands of Marinduque and Mindoro (qq.v.) with their dependent islands.

MARINDUQUE. One of the Philippine Islands, situated in the Visayan Sea, 19 miles south of the Isthmus of Tayabas, separating North from South Luzon. It is roughly circular in shape, with a diameter of 20 miles and an area of 667 square miles, or, with the dependent islets, 681 square miles. The interior is mountainous and forested, with some fine grazing grounds. The principal occupations of the inhabitants are cattle-raising and the cultivation of rice and hemp, the latter being of fine quality. Copra is also manufactured and exported. The population is 48,000, almost entirely Tagálog. Marinduque was a separate province until June 23, 1902, when the large island of Mindoro (q.v.) was annexed to it. The capital is Bóac, a strongly fortified town near the northwestern coast, with a large stone church, straight and regular streets, and a population of 14,722. Marinduque has an advantageous position as a port of call on the main line of communication between Luzon and Mindanao, and steamers visit it weekly.

MARINE CORPS (OF., Fr. marin, from Lat. marinus, pertaining to the sea, from mare, sea; connected with Goth, marei, AS. mere, OHG. marī, Ger. Meer, Ir. muir, OChurch Slav, morye, Lith. máres, sea; possibly connected with Gk. βρύξ, bryx, sea-depth). A body of soldiers enlisted for service in the navy, either on board ship or on shore at naval stations or elsewhere. Marines, as these soldiers are called in the United States and British navies, are a relic of the days when ships were manned by soldiers as their fighting complement. Instead of constituting the greater part of a ship's company, they now form usually less than 15 per cent. of it.

At the present time marines are used in the United States Navy on board ship and to guard naval stations at home and in the insular possessions; and when on board ship they constitute a quickly available infantry force for service abroad. Sailors are also drilled as infantry and artillery, but as their chief duties are connected with the ship, when they are landed the fighting efficiency of the ship is greatly reduced.

A small number of sea soldiers were permanently kept on men-of-war even in very ancient times, the number varying from 15 to 50, according to the size of the vessel. When the heavy guns of ships had gradually caused the employment of soldiers as the fighting complement of ships to be done away with, there ensued an interval in which there were no marines. In 1653 Admiral Blake embarked a number of soldiers on his ship to act as riflemen in his action against Van Tromp. The British marine corps was first established in 1664, but it was several times wholly or partly abolished.

In the United States Navy the provision for the enlistment of marines antedates the actual formation of the regular establishment of the navy, being authorized in an act of Congress dated November 10. 1775. This act, however, really intended to provide for a naval establishment under the designation of marines, as the enlisted men and officers were required to be “good seamen, or so acquainted with maritime affairs as to be able to serve to advantage by sea when required.” The actual establishment of the corps dates from June 25, 1776, when a marine corps, consisting of 1 major (Samuel Nichols), 9 captains, 10 first lieutenants, and 7 second lieutenants, was provided for and the officers appointed. After the close of the Revolution the navy was practically abolished, and, with other branches, the marine corps disappeared. When the reorganization of the navy took place, in 1798, the marine corps was again established, with an authorized strength, officers and men, of 881, commanded by a major.

In 1899 the number of men and officers was greatly increased. In 1902 it consisted of 1 brigadier-general and commandant, 5 colonels of the line, 3 colonels, who are heads of staff departments, 6 lieutenant-colonels, 10 majors of the line, 4 majors of the staff, 56 captains of the line, 3 captains of the staff, 56 first lieutenants, 56 second lieutenants, and 6000 enlisted men. Consult Collum, The History of the Marine Corps (New York, 1902).

MARINED. A term in heraldry, applied to an animal whose lower extremity terminates in a tail like that of a fish. See Heraldry.

MARINE HOSPITAL SERVICE. A bureau in the Treasury Department of the United States, charged with the management of marine hospitals and relief stations for the cure of sick and disabled seamen of the American merchant marine. It has also under its supervision the national quarantine stations, the supervision of local quarantines, the investigation and suppression of epidemics and plagues, the collection and dissemination of mortality statistics and sanitary information, the scientific investigation of sanitary problems, and the examination of immigrants under the laws excluding those affected with contagious diseases. At present there are 23 marine hospitals, a sanitarium for consumptive seamen in New Mexico, and 115 relief stations. The Marine Hospital Service of the United States owes its origin to an act of Congress of July 16, 1798. For a long time the service consisted mainly of independent hospitals built as necessity arose and placed under charge of a surgeon appointed by the Secretary of the Treasury. In 1871 the service was reorganized and all the hospitals placed under the charge of a supervising surgeon-general with an office in Washington. In 1902 the staff consisted of a surgeon-general, 29 surgeons, 21 passed assistant surgeons, and 56 assistant surgeons, all commissioned officers, appointed by the President. There were besides 129 acting assistant surgeons appointed by the Secretary of the Treasury. The marine hospitals are located on both the Atlantic and Pacific seaboards, on the Gulf of Mexico, on the Great Lakes, in several of the larger river cities, and in Alaska, while relief stations exist in the new insular possessions. By an act of Congress of July 1, 1902, the official title of the service was changed to the Public Health and Marine Hospital Service. Consult the annual reports and public addresses of the Surgeon-General.

MARINE INSURANCE. The practice of marine insurance, at least on a purely commercial basis, antedates by centuries the application