FREDERIC R. HOLMAN, LTJG, USN
Frederic Holman '97
Lucky Bag
From the 1897 Lucky Bag:
Holman, Frederic Ralph
Sioux City, Iowa
"Polly"
Second Class Buzzard; gave advice concerning Class Ring; voted for Hop Committee.
Holman, Frederic Ralph
Sioux City, Iowa
"Polly"
Second Class Buzzard; gave advice concerning Class Ring; voted for Hop Committee.
Photo scanned and provided by Jennifer Bryan, Ph.D., Head of Special Collections & Archives/Archivist at the Naval Academy's Nimitz Library
Photo from Illustrated American, September 2, 1898; located by Kathy Franz.
Loss
Frederic "died on board the U.S.S. Celtic Aug. 13, 1902;" he went missing overnight while underway from Manila to Sydney.
Though initial reports are that he "jumped" from the ship, by October 30 the "theory was discredited" and the ship's captain was censured for reporting it without witnesses or any basis in fact. A naval board of inquiry ruled his death an accident.
Other Information
From researcher Kathy Franz:
He lived in Denver in 1880 with his father Henry who was a jeweler, mother Carrie, sister Maud and brother Charles. Later moved to Sioux City. Henry was called "Doc". I saw one of his jewelry ads as "Doc", but his name appears as "Dr." in the news articles. Maud married Frank Marshall, and they named their son Holman, born 1892.
Frederic was educated in Sioux City public schools until 1892 when he attended a military academy in New York.
The Illustrated American on September 2, 1898, under the heading “Heroes of the War” printed a portrait of Frederic. He was one of the young naval officers who explored Guantanamo channel before the surrender. In a launch from the Texas, he ran inside the line of blockade as far as the first fort. At one time he was within 200 yards of a Spanish gunboat which carried four 7-inch quick firing guns. He was commended for his bravery.
The "Register of Commissioned and Warrant Officers of the United States Navy and Marine Corps" was published annually from 1815 through at least the 1970s; it provided rank, command or station, and occasionally billet until the beginning of World War II when command/station was no longer included. Scanned copies were reviewed and data entered from the mid-1840s through 1922, when more-frequent Navy Directories were available.
The Navy Directory was a publication that provided information on the command, billet, and rank of every active and retired naval officer. Single editions have been found online from January 1915 and March 1918, and then from three to six editions per year from 1923 through 1940; the final edition is from April 1941.
The entries in both series of documents are sometimes cryptic and confusing. They are often inconsistent, even within an edition, with the name of commands; this is especially true for aviation squadrons in the 1920s and early 1930s.
Alumni listed at the same command may or may not have had significant interactions; they could have shared a stateroom or workspace, stood many hours of watch together… or, especially at the larger commands, they might not have known each other at all. The information provides the opportunity to draw connections that are otherwise invisible, though, and gives a fuller view of the professional experiences of these alumni in Memorial Hall.
January 1899
January 1900
January 1902
Memorial Hall Error
Frederic is listed as an Ensign in Memorial Hall, which was his rank when he died. He had been selected for promotion to Lieutenant j.g., though; this should be his rank in Memorial Hall. It is the rank reflected in the 1903 Register of Commissioned and Warrant Officers of the United States Navy and Marine Corps of 1903, which records his death.
Frederic is one of 3 members of the Class of 1897 on Virtual Memorial Hall.
The "category" links below lead to lists of related Honorees; use them to explore further the service and sacrifice of alumni in Memorial Hall.
