Casper Joseph Knight, Jr.

Excerpt from a Historic Naval Ships Association publication:

         Historic Naval Ships Association Awards

The Casper J. Knight, Jr. Award
This award is named in honor of one of the founders of the Association, and former director of the cruiser USS Olympia, "Cappy" Knight. It is the highest award the Association can bestow. It is given to individuals or organizations who have contributed in a major way, usually over a considerable length of time, to the preservation and exhibition of historic naval ships, and to the goals and work of the Association.
(End of excerpt. Provided by Chris Knight, his grandson. This award continues to be given out annually (as of 2008). Inside the ship-museum USS Olympia, parked in Philadelphia's Penn's Landing harbor, a display case can be found describing Casper J. Knight Jr.'s singular efforts to rescue the Olympia from mothballing and eventual scrapping in the Philadelphia Navy Shipyard. Casper Knight Jr, his sons Casper III and Randy, and a crew of men, helped to restore the ship to museum quality in the 1970s. After that, Casper Jr managed the ship-museum until his death. I still remember going down to the ship in the late 1970s and climbing all over the ship with my brother Tim. Casper Knight Jr's office on the ship was the same wardroom used by Commodore George Dewey during the Spanish American War. I also remember my father (Casper III) and uncle (Randy) standing on a piece of wood rigged to hang from the side of the ship and painting with red paint near the waterline.

Here is another excerpt from a document handed out during the celebration of the declaration of the USS Olympia (and it's "vertical reciprocating steam engines") as a national historical mechanical engineering landmark, on March 30, 1977.

     The U.S.S. Olympia is one of the two surviving ships of the era of the vertical reciprocating steam engine. The Cruiser Olympia, launched in 1892, was one of the first naval ships to be built with these engines. The other survivor, the Battleship Texas, one of the last, has already been dedicated as a National Historic Mechanical Engineering Landmark.

The Olympia's historical significance far from ends there, though, for it was the Olympia that commanded the first action of the Spanish-American War. On May 1, 1898, the Olympia led the Navy's Asiatic Squadron into Manila Bay, the Philippines, in search of the Spanish squadron. From the Olympia's bridge, Commodore George Dewey said, "You may fire when you are ready, Gridley." Eight hours later, the entire Spanish squadron had been destroyed. For these reasons, ASME proudly dedicates the U.S.S. Olympia and its engines as a National Historic Mechanical Engineering Landmark.
(End of excerpt)