The Boys of '98 Part 33

"'Very respectfully, "'JOSE TORAL, "'_Commander-in-chief, Fourth Corps._'

"The British, Portuguese, Chinese, and Norwegian consuls have come to my line with Colonel Dorst. They ask if non-combatants can occupy the town of Caney and railroad points, and ask until ten o'clock of fifth instant before city is fired on. They claim that there are between fifteen thousand and twenty thousand people, many of them old, who will leave.

They ask if I can supply them with food, which I cannot do for want of transportation to Caney, which is fifteen miles from my landing. The following is my reply:

"'THE COMMANDING GENERAL SPANISH FORCES, "'Santiago de Cuba.

"'_Sir_:-In consideration of the request of the consuls and officers in your city for delay in carrying out my intention to fire on the city, and in the interest of the poor women and children, who will suffer very greatly by their hasty and enforced departure from the city, I have the honour to announce that I will delay such action solely in their interest until noon of the fifth, providing, during the interval, your forces make no demonstration whatever upon those of my own. I am, with great respect,

"'Your obedient servant, "'W. R. SHAFTER, "'_Major-General U. S. A._'

(Signed) "SHAFTER, "_Major-General Commanding_."

CHAPTER XII.

THE SPANISH FLEET.

"_Don't cheer; the poor devils are dying._"

It was Sunday morning (July 3d), and the American squadron lay off Santiago Harbour intent only on blockade duty. No signs of life were visible about old Morro. Beyond and toward the city all was still. After two days of fighting the armies of both nations were resting in their trenches.

The fleet had drifted three miles or more from the land. The battle-ship _Ma.s.sachusetts_, the protected cruiser _New Orleans_, and Commodore Watson's flag-ship, the cruiser _Newark_, were absent, coaling fifty miles or more away.

Shortly before nine o'clock Admiral Sampson, desiring to ascertain the exact condition of the Spanish coast defences about Aguadores, ordered the flag-ship to go that way, and after flying the signal, "Disregard the motions of the commander-in-chief," the _New York_ steamed leisurely off to the eastward.

The little _Gloucester_ lay nearest the sh.o.r.e; the _Vixen_ was opposite in a straight line, and to the eastward of her about five miles. A mile or less from the _Gloucester_, to the seaward, was the _Indiana_. Nearly as far from the latter ship, and southeast of her, lay the _Oregon_. The _Iowa_ was the outermost ship of the fleet, lying four miles from the harbour entrance; next her, to the eastward, each vessel slightly nearer insh.o.r.e, were the _Texas_ and the _Brooklyn_ in the order named.

[Ill.u.s.tration: GENERAL WEYLER.]

Sh.o.r.eward, inside the harbour, could be seen a long line of black smoke.

On board the fleet religious services were being held, but the lookouts of every ship were at their stations.

Suddenly, at about half past nine, a dark hull was seen coming out past the point of the harbour, and instantly all was seemingly confusion on the big fighting machines.

"The enemy is escaping," was the signal run up on Commodore Schley's flag-ship, and within a few seconds the roar of a 6-pounder on the _Iowa_ broke the stillness of the Sabbath morning.

It was as if every American vessel was put in motion at the same instant, and even as the flag-ship's signal appeared, the clouds of dense smoke from their stacks told that the men in the furnace-rooms had already begun their portion of the task so unexpectedly set for all the fleet.

John R. Spear, author of "The History of our Navy," who was with Sampson's fleet, wrote this complete story of the marvellous naval battle off Santiago and along the southern sh.o.r.e of Cuba, for the _World_:

"The enemy was first seen at 9.30, and at 9.32 the men of the American batteries were standing erect and silent beside their loaded guns, waiting for the order to commence firing, and watching out of the corners of their eyes the boys who were still sprinkling the decks with sand that no one's foot might slip when blood began to flow across the planks.

"But though silence prevailed among the guns, down in the sealed stoke-hole the click and ring of the shovels that sprayed the coal over the glowing grate-bars, the song of the fans that raised the air pressure, and the throb of pump and engine made music for the whole crew, for the steam-gauges were climbing, and the engineers were standing by the wide-open throttles as the ships were driven straight at the enemy.

"For, as it happened, the _Texas_ had been lying directly off the harbour, and a little more than two miles away the _Iowa_ was but a few lengths farther out and to the westward, while Capt. Jack Philip of the one, and 'Fighting Bob' Evans of the other, were both on deck when the cry was raised announcing the enemy. Hastening to their bridges, they headed away at once for the Spaniards, while the _Oregon_ and the _Brooklyn_ went flying to westward to intercept the leader.

"The mightiest race known to the history of the world, and the most thrilling, was begun.

"They were all away in less time than it has taken the reader to get thus far in the story, and in much less time still,-indeed, before the gongs in the engine-rooms of the Yankee ships had ceased to vibrate under the imperative order of 'Ahead, full speed!'-the _Almirante Oquendo_, fugitive as she was, had opened the battle. With impetuous haste, and while yet more than two miles away, the Spaniard pointed one of his long 11-inch hontoria rifles in the direction of the _Texas_ and pulled the lanyard.

The sh.e.l.l came shrieking out to sea, but to sea only.

[Ill.u.s.tration: CAPTAIN R. D. EVANS.]

"Instantly the great guns of the Morro, 180 feet above the water, and those of the Socapa battery, lying higher still, with all the batteries beneath those two, began to belch and roar as their crews strove with frantic energy to aid the flying squadron.

"Now, it was about three minutes from the appearance of the first Spaniard to the firing of the first American gun.

"In these three minutes the distance between the squadrons was lessened by at least a mile,-the range was not more than two thousand yards.

"But while two thousand yards is the range (about one and one-sixth miles) selected for great gun target practice, it will never do for an eager fight, and as the trend of the land still headed the Spanish off to southward, the battle-ships were able to reduce the range to fifteen hundred yards before they were obliged to head a course parallel with the Spaniards.

"Meantime the _Oregon_ and the _Brooklyn_, as they were stretching away toward the coast, had opened fire also, and then the last of the big Spaniards, the _Infanta Maria Teresa_, having rounded the point, the magnificent spectacle of a squadron battle on the open sea-of a battle between four of the best modern armed cruisers on the Spanish side, against three battle-ships and an armoured cruiser on our side-was spread out to view.

"And their best was the worst struggle the world ever saw, for it was a struggle to get out of range while firing with hysterical vehemence their unaimed guns.

"The first shot from the American ships fell short, and a second, in like fashion, dropped into the sea. At that the gunner said things to himself under his breath (it was in the forward turret of the _Iowa_), and tried it once more.

"For a moment after it the cloud of gun smoke shrouded the turret, but as that thinned away the eager crew saw the 12-inch sh.e.l.l strike into the hull of the _Infanta Maria Teresa_. Instantly it exploded with tremendous effect. Flame and smoke belched from the hole the sh.e.l.l had made, and puffed from port and hatch. And then in the wake of the driven blast rolled up a volume of flame-streaked smoke that showed the woodwork had taken fire and was burning fiercely all over the after part of the stricken ship.

"The yell that rose from the Yankee throats at that sight swelled to a roar of triumph a moment later, for as he saw that smoke, the captain of the _Teresa_ threw her helm over to port, and headed her for the rocky beach. The one sh.e.l.l had given a mortal wound.

"And then came Wainwright of the _Maine_,-Lieut.-Commander Richard Wainwright, who for weeks conducted the weary search for the dead bodies of shipmates on the wreck in the harbour of Havana. He was captain of the _Gloucester_, that was once known as the yacht _Corsair_. A swift and beautiful craft she, but only armed with lean 6-pounders.

"'Ahead, full speed,' said Wainwright.

"And fortune once more favoured the brave, for in the wake of the mighty _Maria Teresa_ came Spain's two big torpedo-boats, called destroyers, because of their size,-the _Pluton_ and the _Furor_. Either was more than a match for the _Gloucester_, for one carried two 12-pounders, and the other two 14-pounders, besides the 6-pounders that both carried.