New York Times, April 9,1905   Unique Position and Adventurous Record of Captain Lovelace, "Lord High Admiral" of Panama, Who Will Shortly Sail for the Isthmus on Panama's Only Warship, the Orienta. A Navy consisting of one steam yacht, commanded by an American who bears the only military commission granted by the Government under which he serves, is the unique feature of New York Harbor this week. This navy is the steam yacht Orienta of the Panama Republic, and her commander is Capt T. T. Lovelace of Kansas City. In January the Republic of Panama disbanded its army, every mother’s son of them. from Gen. Huertas down, declaring that from henceforth the municipal police of Colon and Panama would afford ample protection against all foes, foreign and domestic. As there never had been anything like a navy since Panama divorced herself from Colombia, nothing was said protecting the coast of the republic. But Panama has a coastline of 45O miles on the Atlantic and slightly more on the Pacific boundaries of its domain, and that this extensive ocean frontage is out of reach of the police, and is inhabited by savage tribes of Indians who do a thriving trade in cocoanuts, ivory nuts, and tortoise shell with smugglers from Curacao, Jamaica, and the Islands of San Andres, it occurred to President Amador that a navy would be a profitable investment. Last year there were 7,000,000 cocoanuts exported from the San Bias coast alone, between the City of Colon and the mouth of the Atrato River All these nuts were paid for In merchandise smuggled on the coast, not a cent of the legitimate customs revenue due from this trading finding Its way into the coffers of the republic. As a business proposition, to keep the Indians In order, add to the national dignity, and exert an active sovereignty over what the foreign markets consider the richest cocoanut territory In the world, a Navy was inevitable. So, to the shipyards of New York the Panama Government directed its attention, with the result that one of Lewis Nixon's ships, the Orienta, has been selected to be the first to fly the Panama colors on the sea - and on the 16th of this month this flagship of the Panama Navy will sail from this city for the scenes of its future supremacy on the Caribbean, taking with her, in all probability, as far as Annapolis, the Minister and Consul General from Panama. Thus will be born the newest, and certainly the most unique of the world's navies The Orienta was originally built for B. H. Ladew of the New York Yacht Club. She first saw the light in 1901 In Lewis Nixon's shipyard, Elizabethport, N. J. But when she came to be tested it was found that she did not meet her specified [----d] requirements, and so, from that day to this, she has been awaiting an owner, little dreaming that from a luxurious pleasure yacht, destiny had decreed that she should defend and uphold the honor of a nation, bearing the latter's flag in [ ___ly] majesty along a savage coast, ignorant as yet of naval authority. If the Orienta's speed capacity is not up to the standard of other pleasure yachts, as a [ ____th] American naval vessel It will win her the title of ocean greyhound, for with her 20[?] knots an hour, she will with ease be able to run away from any possible antagonist belonging to neighboring republics, not one of whose ships can make more than half that speed. Running away, however, is not to be the programme of the Orienta, although she is so abundantly fitted for that mode of warfare. On forward and after deck this Panama flagship will carry an armament of two automatic Hotchkiss guns and two Maxim machine guns. These guns have already seen service in the wars of Panama, when Panama boasted of an army, and are now awaiting the arrival of the Orienta at Colon, where they will be placed in position on board. A military mast, a 2,000 candle power searchlight, and a complete De Forest wireless apparatus, by which she will be able, at all times to communicate with Bocas del Toro or Colon, make up the balance of the yacht's naval equipment. When she is armed and in service she will look like an American torpedo boat, as she is built after that model, measures 103 feet in length, 12 feet beam, 5 feet draught, and has a flush deck. Her crew, besides her commander, will consist of 15 men It was nine years ago that Capt. Lovelace left his native Kansas City for a life of South American adventure, and today he does not appear to be much above thirty years of age. Tropical climates, especially in the vicinity of the Isthmus, have gained an unsavory reputation for bad health; but Lovelace has lived In the worst of these supposedly deadly regions for years at a time, and Is to-day the picture of rugged health and endurance. Indeed, his companions tell yarns of his strength and prowess that make one skeptical forever after of the theory that a tropical climate breeds indolence and inertia.   Captain Lovelace's first experience in the tropics was as an engineer on a trading vessel coasting along the San Blas coast between Cartagena and Colon, the same territory that he will now virtually govern with an unrestricted authority through his position as commander of the Panama navy. When he first knew the San Bias coast it was under Colombian rule, nominally, although, he declares, the San Blas Indians have always been free to govern themselves as they chose, making their own laws, keeping up their own savage customs quite as If they were independent of all outside authority.   So successful was Capt. Lovelace in his navigation of these waters and his dealings with the Indians that the Colombian Government employed him in the difficult task of bearing official dispatches during the last revolution up and down the Magdalena River, where the fighting was concentrated, and travel could be undertaken successfully only by strategy and under cover of night. At the same period he took a part also in the defense of Santa Marta, strongly besieged by the revolutionists.   Following his services to the revolution, Capt. Lovelace was given a decidedly novel duty to perform by the Colombian Government - the task of exterminating the alligators on the Magdalena River. It was in the working out of this contract that Capt. Lovelace gained for himself the title of "El Gran Conquistador do Caimanes," (The Great Conqueror of Alligators,) and to-day, when one ascends the Magdalena, the natives lean over the sides of the steamer whenever they see an unsuspecting saurian dozing on the river bank and wave their arms at It and shout derisively, " Lovey Lassy! Lovey Lassy! " (Spanish for Lovelace,) whereat the startled King of the Marshes awakes from his dreams, rolls over, and disappears beneath the waters with the celerity of a shot.   " I spent three years on the Magdalena killing alligators on this Government contract," said Capt. Lovelace, speaking of his Colombian experiences, " and during that time, with the help of the large number of native hunters in all parts of the river, working with me, I killed 126,000 alligators -or crocodiles. it would be more correct to call them. Such a figure, I know, must seem an exaggeration to most people. But by any one who has traveled on the Magdalena and seen with his own eyes how the river is literally infested by these animals, it will not be so hard to believe.”