Show I HFE ON A W ARSH1P A Brother of Wythe Denby Describes De-scribes the Routine I BLOCKADING SERVICE NOVEL AND EXCITING EXPERIENCE EXPERI-ENCE IN WAR TIME lC nr T Always On the Lookout For a Chase Capture of An Abandoned Ship Fight With a Big Steamer Assailed As-sailed By Gunboats Sensations Felt I a Battle On the Sea I A letter from Edwin Denby brother of Wythe Denby gives a glimpse of life on a war vessel Mr Denby is on from Hamp the Yosemite and writing ton Roads Va says I have been intending to write you J for what seems a long time though only a few weeks but heavens and earth if you knew how hard it is to write you would forgive me The last two days however I have slung lead at a great rate and polished off quite a number of correspondents and now i is your turn to be afflicted with this epistolary affection This morning for the first time since I leaving this same port on May 30 we sighted Yankee land unless you call our new acquisition in the Antilles Yankee Yan-kee land and it seems reasonable enough to do so now It was a novel experience for most of the ships com panynot s with me however I there is to be a bombardment and occupation oc-cupation of San Juan Porto Rico by cupaton our forces I shall feel rather aggrieved I that we were not allowed to stay and I participate After our lonely three weeks vigil in front of the white fortress for-tress it reminded me of a doomed leper it would have been glorious to have steamed under its ruined guns and flown Uncle Sams starry banner in the inner harbor But I suppose we must be content with such honor as we may have won and try to forget the discredit that attaches to us for one unfortunate un-fortunate incident Really our position on the blockade was so perilous that I cannot understand under-stand our being left so deserted after the 28th of June the date of the battle for all the authorities knew we might have been crippled and helpless help-less and at bay against our toes in fact it was only by a miracle that such was not the case But you know now the details of the fight and I will indulge in-dulge in no further boasting A blockade is a strange thing All day long we lay off the Morro cruising up and down with double lookouts constantly scanning the horizon our guns all provided with extra ammunition ammuni-tion and ready for service at a moments mo-ments notice Occasionally down from aloft would come the magic cry Sail ho and after the bridges Where away and the stranger had been located lo-cated th bugle and drum would call us to quarters and away we would go after her at full speed every pulse athrob for we never knew but what she would prove to be our relief or better still the enemy Sometimes the chase would be a long one and hope would run high Then the stranger would break her flag English Eng-lish Danish German whatever it was and hope would die This of course would not content us however and as we drew near we would hail her with the stern challenge of the sea a blank shot first and then if unheeded a solid shot across her bows Only once did a vessel disregard the latter and she TOW lies a riddled wreck on the sands of Porto Rico WheTi the chase hove to we would board her and finding find-ing her all right send her rejoicing en her way Generally she would dip her colors as she s > ed away At night the chases were more exciting ex-citing It is one of the weirdest experiences IIi II periences I ever had to be waked up by the mad alarm they sound to rush to quarters and to chase through the night after a dim light with all the consequent uncertainty Once at dusk we sighted a trim schooner but being distracted by another affair we failed to pursue immediately and when we turned our attention to her she had disappeared in the glom We finally sped in the direction in which she had gone and after a long time the outlines out-lines of the little fellow showed dimly in the night We ran close to her and from our No 1 sixpounder flashed a command to heave to She wasted no time in doing so sGared out of her little lit-tle boots She told us she had had no idea we were anywhere near her until un-til out of the black night came the flash and boom of our cannon No wonder won-der she thought i was Gabriels trumpet trum-pet Alas she was an Englishman Upon another day we sighted a small threemasted schoner close inshore trying to creep into San Juan She I was too insignificant to cause any uneasiness un-easiness as to provisioning the enemy I I But a blockade is a blockade and the hide and the hoof and the horn and the hump of the law is obey on such occasions I oc-casions and so we hailed her through a sixpounder She evidently took fright however and made for shore a most impertinent and foolish thing to II do so we began to argue with a five inch rifle Four shots were sent with wonderful accuracy right in line and I through her rigging though the distance I dis-tance was three full miles or more That settled I Her crew found the position untenable and in stark fear put ashore in their small boat abandoning aban-doning the poor little blockade runner I to her fate She grounded and wast ing no more ammunition on her we steamed away During the afternoon as we were loafing around wishing the gunboats would come out for another interview a sail was sighted bearing out from shore This va strange but stranger still the curious resemblance she bore to the schooner of the morning and the fact that the former seemed to be missing from the beach On she came all sails drawing a gallant a little craft as ever sailed the sea The queer part was that there appeared to be no one at the wheel nor forward nor aloft nor amidships nor anywhere and yet she seemed as skilfully sailed as ship could be The opinion was hazarded that she was abandoned to which idea the absence of her small boat from the davits seemed to lend some credence But the one or two old sailors aboard said no ship could sail so well without a crew I was uncanny to see her handle herself In so strange 3 fashion like a witch ship But she was not deserted as we ranged alongside the shrill bark of a small dog reached our ears He and another were cook and captain bold and crew of the captains gig We boarded her and brought off her entire en-tire crew as prisoners of war One was Ia small black and yellow mongrel cur that looked for all the world like a cross between a tar bucket and a ropes end The other member of the crew was a w1 diminutive gray kitten very tawdry and with a funny peculiarity in its tail When it walked its tail wiggled from side to side like a playful calfs So we called it Wigwag the dog never had a name Both took to the new flag very kindly but their life under un-der two flags was destined to be short The dog was humanely chloroformed I and consigned to some sharks voracious I vora-cious maw and the cat disappearedI suspect some hungry sailor had fresh meat off San Juan After this gallant capture of Her crew a prayer to the spirit of the deep to take her safely back to her bereaved be-reaved owner we left the little schooner to her we ii j Upon another day four men in a small sailing vessel tried to run past u We overhauled them and the I captain save them a pretty little talk I saying that a they were courageous enough o keep aloft their tattered flag they might go in peace giving his compliments and best wishes for a early meeting to the commandant at San Juan Hat in hand they save usa us-a thousand compliments and thanks salaaming low the while and stood In toward the harbor whence came rejoicing rejoic-ing friends to meet and tow them ip But these were trifles There was sterner work done off San Juan upon another day the 28th of June and I was muzzle to muzzle flag against flag and we proved upon our enemy in the trial by battle the ljustice of our cause I had not intended to describe the action fo you in d tai thinking you must have already heard of it but perhaps your accounts are meagre so here goes In the gray dawn misty and rajny about 5 oclock a cloud lifted and showed a large steamer close in shpre and making full speed for San Juan We turned upon her and when about four miles distant we fired a fiveinch shell across her bow and a second to which her only response was a black cloud of smoke from her funnel She was running for it in full earnest Then from Captain Emory on the bridge came the thrilling order Sink her and thenceforward it rained GOpound steel shells around and upon her Ah it was glorious Why is it we love so to destroy We cursed when the shots went wide and we thrilled with exultation exul-tation when they struck home She saw that in her course lay certain death but her captain showed himself resourceful re-sourceful as well a brave He whirled his vessel about heavily listed to port as it seemed to us and drove ashore under a full head of steam I a gallantly done and he deserves the reward re-ward I hope his king will give hiih for the dead In the meantime a great cloud of white smoke had risen from the gaunt fortress and a distant roar told us that Morro had opened on us We were well within range and you can imagine how interesting I was imagne waiting for that shot to strike I did strike inperfect line but far afield The next was nearer and the next until they were whistling through our rigging rig-ging and dropping all around us Then dropping the gunboats came out of the har oral or-al gallantly arrayed in flags the size of acre fields They thought probably we would flee like a frightened deer But Captain Emory had business where he was and regretted his inability to leave Instead we turned upon the gunboats gun-boats and poured in a terrific fire The ship shook from stem to stern She i was at times almost hidden in powder i smoke but we knlinr that above i all our battle flags were waving Of course the gunboats were firing vigorously at us all the time and with great skill I But the Lord God of battle was with us yet and though every man on the I spar deck had a sore neck after the action on the gun deck we could not I acton hear the whistling so plainly and did I not have to dodge not a single shot struck us One splashed water on the ship I was told another is said to have passed between one of the small boats and the deck but none struck The gunboats fared badly however they were struck repeatedly and finally final-ly one turned tail and staggered back into the harbor The lookout reported her a sinking and at St Thomas we were told she had gone down We shall probably never know for certain At eight bells we withdrew some distance dis-tance not quite out of range of Mor ros vaunted Krupps and squatting around the deck amid the glistening shells provided for the guns we partook par-took of beans Then we returned to the attack The remaining gunboats had discreetly withdrawn nearer the fort but they continued to pour in a vigorous fire We maintained our position po-sition filling the transport with shot until we judged her to be destroyed and I then withdrew I was time Morros guns were dropping shells with most painful accuracy all around During the fight a little torpedo boat came out and ran to the wrecked ship spitting at us meantime with her small guns but it was not comfortable there and she returned t As to ones sensations in battle at least in such a battle as we had when death does not run riot among ones comrades why he feels only the keenest keen-est desire to hurt the enemy He wants to see the shots strike and annihilate He wants to see ships sink He doesnt worry about being afraid He might when the blood began to flow c |