Show pooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo o o oi °: e 0 Ol g: interesting for the remainder of the The Petrel was not Spanish boats Idle nor was the McCulloch which dodged In and ouJamong the fleet boat The dpins( Its work nois of the bom Bailment was deafening pi both gldqn and the firing considering the unse smoke which soon it cfpatch arose aboHcured the fleets from each ell nigh continuous otheri oi Naval One of Battles of Greatest the shot was intended to jg couiu The noise was plainly heard at Manila each shot being easily noted Modern Times 2 g although of course the result was not (Svfiy o: o iOQQQQQQQO OOOOO OOOOOOOOO OQOOOOO! It was 4:25 p m Saturday April 30 when the American fleet passed Subig bay which Is on the China sea and around Marlveles peninsula from Manila and Manila bay and steered directly for the entrance to the mouth of the latter As It drew near the entrance the fleet slackened speed for it was then All the ships were near sundown for action and cleared decks dark the the sharpest outlook kept In all directions The entrance to the harbor was thought by the Spaniards to be well defended and It would be bo considered against anything but a fleet such as came there from Hongkong On the d side entering there are two batteries one on Point Marlveles and a smaller one further up the bay On the right hand side there are also two batteries one at Llmbones point and another at Restingo These last are on the Cavite side of the bay In the middle of the entrance are three Iso lands the largest of which is which was to have been fortified but the Spaniards did not have land armament to spare It was understood that the entrance to the bay as well as the bay itself was loaded with electric mines and torpedoes but If this was the case they did not explode for the American fleet sailed over and through them unharmed As the fleet approached the entrance In the dark the progress became slower and one officer of the Olympia suggested to Commodore Dewey the danger of being blown up To this Dewey Is said to have replied grimly: “It’s a case of Mobile Bay now” which was Interpreted to mean in Farragut’s words: n the torpedoes! Go ahead” “D All this time the vessels proceeded almost noiselessly on their way When the fleet had rejoined inside of the bay Commodore Dewey reformed his line In the following order: left-han- Carre-qulde- The of the fleet took some little time but so soon as this was accomplished the flotilla proceeded with full steam on as though it were sailing in broad daylight in American waters It was still dark at this time but presently the dawn began to break and the sun arose in all its oriental splendor The weather was calm and sultry and over the waters of Manila bay a thick haze so common to early morning in those parts hung like a curtain through which the rays of the coming day penetrated with dull but beautiful hues Gradually however this lifted and the dim outlines of the hills in the neighborhood of Cavite were discernible Nothing whatever could be seen of the Spanish fleet but the Amerioans knew they were but a few minutes away from the greatest naval battle of modern times The nerves of the officers and men on Dewey’s fleet were keyed up to the strongest tension Ev ery officer was at his post and every gunner behind his weapon which he had watched for hours The word had gone around not by word of mouth but by some subtle psychology: Remember “Remember the Maine! the Maine” and Into drawn faces there came that look which one sees only when man stirred by strong and primitive emotions determines to meet and fight his enemy to the death The breeze freshened up from off Cavite and' at 4:30 the enemy was in sight ships as well as land batteries Ab near as could be determined at that time eight Spanish ships were In full view but their identity was not of course known to the Yankee fleet It was soon apparent however that two more Spanish cruisers were close at hand and there was other shipping not clearly distinguished near by It was plain that the Spanish admiral was taken entirely by surprise His fleet was ready but he did not expect the Americans to enter the bay Admiral Montejo had fully expected the American fleet to remain in the vicinity of Subig bay and that he would have to go out to the open water to meet It He thought Commodore Dewey would try to force an entrance past the batteries of Subig bay and make a landing there and the governor general had a force of 8500 men there to prevent a Junction between the Insurgents and the Americans That the latter would have the temerity to enter the d bay and give him battle in front of Manila never entered his mine-sowe- head With the rapidity for which he is noted Admiral Montejo formed his line It is not known yet what his exact formation was It is a mistake however to say that the Castilla was part of the formation That cruiser ran aground Friday morning and could not be dislodged She was therefore improvised as part of the land batteries although a good portion of her armament comprising the movable guns was removed to shore Saturday Later she was ’ ‘ known Suddenly a Spanish ship which proved afterward to be tbs Dbn Juan de Austria ran down the Spanish line under a mistaken signal from the adIt was struck at least three miral times by the American shells one of which was plainly seen to hit one of its guns disabling It It fired as It went on but a shot from an eight-pound- er the Olympia Btruck the Spanish boat near the waterline Watchers saw the Don Juan quiver as a horse does when shot In battle Then In a sudden ces- sation of firing on both sides which of seemed almost for the purpose the what followed Spanish watching cruiser exploded with a noise which made all the cannonading that had gone before sound like the popping of so manycti $ The tearing of steel the splitting of timbers even the shrieks of the wounded could be plainly heard following this awful noise Dead bodies of men were Been flying through the air while the survivors were noticed jumping from the decks The Don Juan careened over to port righted again and dipped once more and began to Blnk rapidly Hardly a second’s time elapsed between the striking of the fatal shot and the explosion but It seemed to the watchers that It was five thinking it was one of the American forced In the direction of Manila Mon tejo had by this time recovered hi presence of mind and reassembled his shattered line presenting a bold but battered front to the enemy He endeavored to put heart Into his men but the fight had been taken out of the Spaniards and they seemed to feel that ternately cursing the Yankees and the there was not the slightest chance of Don Juan’s captain for his recklesstheir winning Montejo’s officers and ness most of his men behaved splendidly for whole The explosion unnerved the the first hour and stood by their guns to said be with and fleet it desperate bravery but It was clear may Spanish have determined the whole battle for to the foreign warships in Manila harIt proved the turning point Montejo bor that they were outclassed as gunhad no time for vain regrets for his ners as their commanders were tbs seaown flagship was soon struck twice by men The last half hour of fighting shells The attack of the American had no heart In it so far as the Spanfleet was recommenced almost immeiard? were concerned and the Luzon diately after the explosion and some Velasco and Cuba were the only ships of the hardest knocks were directed at which really made any show of standthe Reina Marla Christina Her caping up to the Americans At 11 o’clock were tain Cardozo and eight gunners the work of the American fleet was killed by a shell and almost In the shown to be more effective than was at same instant a full broadside from two first supposed for in the bay toward American ships struck the Spanish Manila three other sunken Spanish boat killing two officers and a large ships were seen The names could not The Spanish governnumber of men Just then the Marla be ascertained ChrlBtina was discovered to be on fire ment officials claimed that these vesand sinking The crew broke from al sels were sunk by Admiral Montejo to discipline and rushed to the sides keep them from falling into the hands hut the Americans deny jumping over officers and men preferring to trust to their powers as this and say that they were sunk by swimmers rather than suffer the fate Bhots from Dewey’s' fleet The Cebu a of their companions of the Don Juan Spanish transport loaded with coal and Several other shots struck her but the ammunition was set on fire by AmeriAmericans seeing that It would he a can shells and sank off Cavite The waste of powder turned their attention Cavite batteries continued the fight for to the other boats Borne time after the fire of the Spanish The Marla ChrlBtina hegan to sink ships slackened but they too becams rapidly and Admiral Montejo and a silent about 9:30 A Spanish lieutenfew officers had barely time to untangle ant who was badly wounded on the a boat and pull off in It before his flag- Reina Mercedes and was landed near ship the finest Spanish boat in Asiatic Cavite with a load of other victims waters sank In the bay He tried to many of them dead of dying B&ld: reach the Reina Mercedes but she was “The greatest naval battle of the world fleet but when the dull yellow smoke lifted and they saw their cruiser a total wreck and the bay In Its vicinity full of dead and wounded Spanish officers they shrieked with agony and Montejo Is said to have lost his head and to have run up and down the deck al- ene-my- ’s minutes The shot undoubtedly penetrated and exploded the Don Juan's magazines The Americans had an opportunity to see this for at that moment the dense cloudB of smoke had settled in the direction of the Spanish line while the American ships were comparatively free The vice consul’s report says: "The notoriously bad marksmanship of the Spaniards1 J was apparent from the start The fleet was managed with daring and skill but although numerically stronger than its enemy it was no match for It in gunnery The latter was splendid and much regret Is expressed that our naval representatives were not given a better opportunity to take note of an engage- ment which must mark an epoch in naval warfare” As a matter of fact the Raleigh Boston and Baltimore were reported to have been struck by riddled with American shells some of Spanish shells and several men killed which set her on fire and she burned and wounded but the victims having been landed at a distant point upon nearly to the water’s edge The American fleet forced the fight- the shore the names could not be asing from the first Captain Wildes of certained at the time the Spanish authe Boston was ordered to run out thorities cut the cahle or at least stopahead and his ship had the honor of ped Its use at Manila When the Don Juan blew up a cheer firing the first shot The effect was not noticed for the battle began almost arose from each of the American fleet immediately afterward on both sides and again the cry went up “Rememthe fire of the Spanish fleet being aug- ber the Maine The Maine is avenged” mented by that of the Cavite batteries From his post Commodore Dewey gave Under orders the American boats de- out his orders and these commands were to keep maneuvering It was this ployed to the right and left until ordered back for the formation and adorder 'which rendered the shots from so Ineffective vance which finally destroyed the the Spanish gunners Spanish fleet Admiral Montejo direct- They and their commanding officers ed the movement of his fleet from the seemed unable to locate any of the deck of the Reina Maria Christina dur- American ships in time to deliver the ing the early part of the fight and broadsides where they intended No Commodore Dewey never left the sooner would a gun be sighted than the whole American squadron would Olympia until It was all over The Boston and Baltimore were in have seemed to change position and advance of the American line and the the Spanish shots simply churned the roar of their guns was lnoessant But water In the bay Those shells which presently the commodore’s flrgahlp did take effect did so almost without came up as though envious of the part exception merely by chance and it is Her main quite likely that some of them came the others were playing When the guns was soon from the land batteries battery of eight-inc- h thundering away while the cannon of Spaniards heard the explosion of the the Concord and Raleigh were making Don Juan they gave shouts of joy THE CRUISER OLYMPIA in so hot a corner that he had to go on board the nearest boat which proved to be the Isla de Cuba a small and inferior cruiser It is said that a majority of the Reina Christina’s crew were killed or drowned but some of the men were picked up by the Spanish fleet and the ship’s exact loss in men cannot now be ascertained The flagship burned fiercely during the rest of the fight but sank before any explosion could occur She Is a total wreck All this had taken place within sixty minutes There was not a gun on board the American fleet which had not been used and most of them had done execution The Spanish cruiser Reina Mercedes was engaged by the Baltimore and Concord the shells of which did frightful damage to her and she was obliged to retire behind the Spanish line The Boston and Raleigh did splendid work along with their sister ships The battery which had been rigged up on the sunken Castilla fired a few shots at the enemy hut leas quickly disabled by the American guns The Cavite battery kept up a steady cannonading upon the American fleet but many of Its shots fell short and some came nearer to the Spanish boats than to the Americans After the battle had raged for an hour the American fleet retired by twos to the Nashan and Zallro where they recoaled the re- mainder of the fleet keeping up the fight None of Commodore Dewey’s fleet showed any apparent injury to the Spanish fleet They maneuvered with a much ease as though they were merely going through a squadron evolution In calm waters Nearly all the bad fleet showed Injuries and Spanish the loss of life among their sailors was so great that the commanders moved the ships with difficulty The transfer of Montejo’s flag to the Isla de Cuba was not noticed for some time in the confusion and wreck of the Spanish fleet and it was nearly fifteen minutes before he made his boats understand where their admiral was and what he wanted them to do Then there was a cessation of really hard fighting for about twenty minutes when the AmerIts line and began ican fleet once more This time the Isla de Mindanao a converted cruiser and the Don Antonio de Ulloa were so badly disabled that they retired slowly and took no further part in the fight Again tie guns at Cavite roared out a steady bass chorus to the water fight and the gunners appeared to have secured better range upon the Amerloan fleet for Dewey ordered a general change of base and the fighting was ed TIIE BALTIMORE 'm ) CA PT DEWEY’S FLAGSHIP occurred today We were defeated but no wonder when one considers the heavy armament of the Yankee shlpB The Spanish navy was Ignorant of the power of the fleet against which it way pitted Our boats many as they were were no match for the enemy hut the honor of Spain is intact” When Commodore Dewey found hs had his adversary at such a disadvantage he detached the Baltimore Concord and Boston to a point nearly opposite Cavite point with orders to shell the batteries there Knowing the danger of risking his beats even at this advanced stage of victory too near the stationary guns of the land battery he Instructed them to use the greatest caution In the undertaking for they had not only to face the Cavite but those of Mount Manila and Las Plnae on the Inland shore of Bakor bay which overlooked that body of water as well as the Cavite peninsula and commanded a wide He did sweep of Manila bay itself not know the strength of those batteries but be had the seaman’s caution of risking a fight with a land fortification He had at the same time to beware of the still stronger fortifications farther up the shore the particular defenses of Manila The Baltimore and Concord stood down the bay for a mile or two and began a heavy cannonading upon the Cavite batteries lasting twenty-seve- n guns Par-anq- ue minutes Their work was effective from the start and the Spanish reply was short and ineffective The cruisers ran in quite close to the shore and the work of their gunners dismounted several Spanish cannon and killed a large number of men The position of the American ships prevented the forts on the hills behind Bakor bay from keeping up anything but a desultory fire and even some of this was so badly managed that it dropped Into the Cavite battery From the very first shot of the battle Manila was In a panic The stream of people who began to leave last week turned into a river and that river into a flood and when the foreign office here last heard all was confusion In the city and its suburbs Also there was word that the Insurgents had moved up to within fifteen miles of the western gates HU 3U Experience “I bought a claim” said the returned Klondlker “where the nuggets were said to be as plentiful as blackberries” “And they were not?” “Well yea they were but you see there are no blaokberrles In that region”— Illustrated London News - it r 9f - |