nynsy

See:

For information about the event, see

Major General and Mrs. Frederick Dent Grant were among the VIPs on the launching platform near the bow of the Vestal.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frederick_Dent_Grant
"Frederick Dent Grant (May 30, 1850 – April 12, 1912) was a soldier and United States minister to Austria-Hungary. Grant was the first son of General and President of the United States Ulysses S. Grant and Julia Grant. He was named after his maternal uncle, Frederick Tracy Dent."

His wife was en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ida_Marie_Honoré
"Ida Marie Honoré Grant (June 4, 1854 – September 5, 1930) was an American socialite, philanthropist, and ambassador's wife."

Thanks TVL1970 and swanq. We'll add some of this information to the photos in this series.

William J Baxter, responsible for the launch of the collier Vestal.
An article he wrote about the process of launching is at
- www.usni.org/magazines/proceedings/1892/january/statics-l...
The Statics of Launching, By Assistant Naval Constructor William J. Baxter, U.S. N.
January 1892
Proceedings Vol. 18/1/61

See

I was looking of information on William J. Baxter in newspaper articles and found one from April 11, 1908 in the Washington Post that said he had been informed that a dog that bit him at the Navy Yard had tested positive for rabies and he would have to undergo treatment.

See en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caspar_F._Goodrich
"Caspar Frederick Goodrich (7 January 1847 – 26 January 1925) was an admiral of the United States Navy, who served in the Spanish–American War and World War I."

Bio from www.usna.edu/Library/sca/man-findingaids/view.php?f=MS_184
"Caspar Frederick Goodrich was a career naval officer, retiring with the rank of rear admiral. He graduated first in the U.S. Naval Academy Class of 1865, whose commencement was held in November 1864. From 1871 to 1874, he taught physics and chemistry at the Naval Academy. During this time, he helped found the U.S. Naval Institute, serving as president of that organization from 1904 to 1909. He was also a founder of the Naval War College, assuming the presidency of the school in 1889 and 1897-98, as well as being among its regular lecturers.

Goodrich was naval attaché to General Sir Garnet Wolsley during the British bombardment of Alexandria, Egypt in 1882. During the Spanish-American War, he was involved in the action at Santiago, Cuba. After duty as commandant of the New York Navy Yard from 1907 to 1909, he retired on 7 January 1909. He briefly returned to duty as commander of the Naval Training Unit and Pay-Officers Material School at Princeton University in 1918.

Considered an intellectual in naval circles, Goodrich authored several books and numerous articles, especially for the Naval Institute's Proceedings. From 1914 to 1916, he was president of the Naval Historical Society, another institution that he helped to organize. He died in Princeton, New Jersey on 26 December 1925 at the age of 78."

See en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_Erben
"Henry Erben (5 September 1832 – 23 October 1909) was a rear admiral of the United States Navy, who served in the American Civil War and the Spanish–American War."