| Show HOBSON ABOUT IT new york july 9 A dispatch to the herald F from rom off Sant santiago dago decuba says your correspondent saw mr hobson after he had made a report to admiral sampson and he consented to give the herald a fuller interview of his experiences perien ces he spoke in glowing terms of the courage and bravery of his crew we have been thirty three days tn in a spanish prison said Mr Hobson land and the more I 1 think about it the mare mar bellous it seems that we are alive it was albort 3 8 in the morning when the merrimac entered the narrow channel and steamed in under the guns of morro castle the stall st U I 1 nes of death prevailed it was so dark that we could scarcely see the headland we had planned to drop our starboard anchor alt ait a certain point to the right of the channel reverse our engines and then swing the merrilia Merrin Merr imia vat alto around und sinking her directly across the channel this plan was adhered adhe fred to but clr cum atances stances rendered its execution impossible when the merrimac Merr ithac poked her nose into the channel our o ur troubles commenced the deadly silence was broken by the wash of a small boat approaching us from the shore I 1 made her out to be a picket boat she ran close up under the stern of the merrimac and fired several shots from ahalt seemed to be three guns gune the merrimack Merri macs rudder was carried away by this fire that is why the collier was not sunk across the channel nel I 1 we did not discover the loss of the th rudder until murphy cast the anchor we then found that the merrimac Meir would not answer her helm and agid were compelled to make the best of the situation the run up the channel was very exciting the picket boat had given the alarm and in a moment the guns of the vizcaya and almirante oquendo and of the shore batteries were turned upon us submarine mines and torpedoes also were exploded all about us adding to the excitement the mines did no damage although we could hear the rumbling and could feel the ship tremble we were running without a light and only the darkness saved us from utter destruction when the ship was in the desired position petition we found the rudder was gone and I 1 called the men on deck while they were launching the catamaran I 1 touched off the explosives at the same moment momen lt two torpedoes torpe doea fired by bv the reina mercedes struck the merrimac amid amidships I 1 cannot say whether our explosives or the spanish torpedoes did the work but the merrimac was lifted gut of the water and almost rent asunder As she settled down we scrambled overboard and cut away the catamaran A great cheer went up from the forts and warships hips as the hull of the collier foundered the spaniards thinking the Merr merrimac imse was an american warship we attempted to get out of chehar the harbor in the catamaran burt buit a strong tide was running and daylight found us still struggling in the water then for the first time the spaniards saw aw us and a boat from the relna reins mercedes picked us up it was then shortly after five welock in the morning and we had then been in the water more then than an hour we were taken aboard the relna reins mercedes Mero edea ind and later were sent to morro castle in morro we were confined in cells in the inner side of the fortress and were there the first day the fleet bombarded morro 1 I could only hear the whistling of shells and the noise they made when they struck and I 1 judged fudged from the conversation of the guards that the shells did considerable damage after this bombardment den the british consul protested and we were removed to the ho hosi coital pital Ital there I 1 was separated from the other men in our crew and could see me them only by special permission selon Moni montague tague and kelly fell ill III two weeks ago suffering from malaria and I 1 was permitted to visit them twice mr Rains ramsden den was very kind to us ua and demanded that Mont montague agbe and kelly be removed to better quarters in the hospital this was done clone As for myself there is little to say the spaniards were not disposed to do much for the comfort of yf any of the prisoners a at t first but after our army had taken some of their men a as a prisoners the treatment was beater food was scarce in the city and I 1 was told that we fared better thaY the spanish office officers rs |
