Show A FAMOUS SEA FIGHT engagement BETWEEN CHILEAN AND PERUVIAN IRONCLADS the rho destruction of the huascar off the tile bolivian coast A terrible Sl slaughter Sla what a between modern war vc ves sets 1 in tho century claudo claude 11 has bas an article on A famous sea fight describing the engagement between and aua peruvian ironclad off bolivia iain in 1819 mr wetmore ays tays i t from via 10 first of tho the battlo the en voice of gran had hail como to the men in the turret through the speak ing tube from the conning tower but when hen the B biacco aach crowded into the thick of it and great shot struck the cars sides as regularly regular lyas as blows of a battering ram the orders of the commander wire no longer heard the officer in charge of the turret called to his big superior thera there was no answer and when commander elias Aguerro A guerre ran up the narrow little ladder that led to the tower bo be stumbled over the dead body of his admiral adwir al A shell had struck the conning tower and had bad taken off graue grans head as neatly as if the decapitation had bad been by the guillotine this shell also kilka kial d lieutenant terre ferre the admirals aid there was only time thile to push tho corpses aside and the new commanding officer pulled back the tuba tube flap to give bis his directions but as be he did ec so the II cascar stagg staggered cred keeled over then shook in every pinto plate while a ceneus concussion ion moro terrific than aej any so far told that a shelly shell had entered albo turret ati bad burst there when tho fumes bad cleared nw away ay so too that a person could speak a irid shipman called out that uno coo of the great guns had been lican dismounted and 20 men killed the tile survivors tumbled the bodies through the hatch batch tint that opened into the deck be to low tars re releasing leasin the clogged machinery chi nory wad as the cor corpses ses rattled down other men rushed up throwing off their clothing as they jumped into the pools of bleed to seize hold of the beur and giving the remaining gun guu into position that it night plight train of the chips they no maksout malio oct which bir nor bi r did they care and it is was di discharge hauled in loaded and discharged again once all was in the conning tower lieutenant Palacios Pala clos hastened thee theoe but before he be could enter he be was cempel compelled led to push three bodies out of tbt the way lie ile had barely given his big first camma command iad whan a bullet from the well amed tied i rifle rille of a marina marine in fit an top lod lodged 0 ed between his eyes then the fourth to command the unaa car tatt tay lieutenant took tho clace and as ho be did so he called tb an aperture telling tellin the quartermaster ster to put the helm belill to port for bo he had determined to ram rata one of tho and sink with he her if necessary over and over cipun the wheel but the bead head still pointed between the chileans Chi leans port I 1 port 1 I bayl screamed the commander she wont answer came back bach the eullen sullen reply froni ironi the only one of four quartermasters alive the bodies of the others lying upon tha the grating at his feet A shot has carried away the starboard steering gear sir air reported nn an ensign and he lie dropped dead as lis the 1 words left hid ble mouth tho huascar now lay drift drifting log in a hell bell of shot and name flame but all the while whilo shored the red white and red fluttered from frow the peak one by one in and iu in threes tho men inen in the turret dropped at their pasts posts find slid at last the remaining great gun was silent its tackle literally choked clinked with dead the turret could not be turned for the same reason corpses hung over the military top corpses clogged the conning tower with coats and waistcoat waistcoats off the surgeons had been laboring in tho the wa wardroom rd upon abo wounded who shrieking in their agony bail hail been ambled v 4 arr V down the companionway 1 like ke so much butchered beef for thero there was no time to use stretchers or to carry a stricken comrade to a n doctors care steam and smoke filtered through the doorways and suit the apartment became stifling stilling while they were sawing amputating and bandaging a shell tore into the wardroom burst and fragments wounded the assistant surgeons sorge ou the chief of the medical staff having been killed earlier in the conflict those unfortunates who were stretched upon the table abating their turn under the knife and those wim lay upon the floor suffered no more piu they were killed killea as they lay groaning this shell tore away wardroom and stern cabin and hardly a trace was left of the bulkhead after that what little surgery was done waa performed in thecial the coal bunkers huddled in a passageway near the engine room a score or more of uon non com combatants batau ts ste stewards wards pantry men and smokers stokers sto kers they were in ila a place that was lighted only as flashes came from the guns it was filled with powder smoke and clouds of steam stearn that drifted from below told that the bad had been struck in a vital spot her machinery suddenly they heard a crash followed by the rending of the deck and the little ironclad swayed as if she bad had struck a reef some one passed the word that the maintop mast had bad been shot away As it came down it brought living men to be dashed to death also corpses that had bad been hanging over the sides of the military top |