The Boys of '98 Part 36

"12. It seems proper to briefly describe here the manner in which this was accomplished. The harbour of Santiago is naturally easy to blockade, there being but one entrance and that a narrow one, and the deep water extending close up to the sh.o.r.e line, presenting no difficulties of navigation outside of the entrance. At the time of my arrival before the port, June 1st, the moon was at its full, and there was sufficient light during the night to enable any movement outside of the entrance to be detected; but with the waning of the moon and the coming of dark nights there was opportunity for the enemy to escape, or for his torpedo-boats to make an attack upon the blockading vessels.

"It was ascertained with fair conclusiveness that the _Merrimac_, so gallantly taken into the channel on June 3d, did not obstruct it. I therefore maintained the blockade as follows: To the battle-ships was a.s.signed the duty, in turn, of lighting the channel. Moving up to the port, at a distance of from one to two miles from the Morro,-dependent upon the condition of the atmosphere,-they threw a search-light beam directly up the channel and held it steadily there.

"This lighted up the entire breadth of the channel for half a mile inside of the entrance so brilliantly that the movement of small boats could be detected.

"Why the batteries never opened fire upon the search-light-ship was always a matter of surprise to me; but they never did. Stationed close to the entrance of the port were three picket-launches, and, at a little distance further out, three small picket-vessels-usually converted yachts-and, when they were available, one or two of our torpedo-boats.

"With this arrangement there was at least a certainty that nothing could get out of the harbour undetected.

"After the arrival of the army, when the situation forced upon the Spanish admiral a decision, our vigilance increased. The night blockading distance was reduced to two miles for all vessels, and a battle-ship was placed alongside the search-light-ship, with her broadside trained upon the channel in readiness to fire the instant a Spanish ship should appear. The commanding officers merit great praise for the perfect manner in which they entered into this plan, and put it into execution. The _Ma.s.sachusetts_, which, according to routine, was sent that morning to coal at Guantanamo, like the others, had spent weary nights upon this work, and deserved a better fate than to be absent that morning.

"I enclose, for the information of the department, copies of orders and memorandums issued from time to time, relating to the manner of maintaining the blockade. When all the work was done so well, it is difficult to discriminate in praise.

"The object of the blockade of Cervera's squadron was fully accomplished, and each individual bore well his part in it, the commodore in command of the second division, the captains of ships, their officers, and men.

"13. The fire of the battle-ships was powerful and destructive, and the resistance of the Spanish squadron was, in great part, broken almost before they had got beyond the range of their own force.

"The fine speed of the _Oregon_ enabled her to take a front position in the chase, and the _Cristobal Colon_ did not give up until the _Oregon_ had thrown a 13-inch sh.e.l.l beyond her. This performance adds to the already brilliant record of this fine battle-ship, and speaks highly of the skill and care with which her admirable efficiency has been maintained during a service unprecedented in the history of vessels of her cla.s.s.

"The _Brooklyn's_ westerly blockading position gave her an advantage in the chase which she maintained to the end, and she employed her fine battery with telling effect.

[Ill.u.s.tration: U. S. S. BROOKLYN.]

"The _Texas_ and the _New York_ were gaining on the chase during the last hour, and, had any accident befallen the _Brooklyn_ or the _Oregon_, would have speedily overhauled the _Cristobal Colon_.

"From the moment the Spanish vessel exhausted her first burst of speed, the result was never in doubt. She fell, in fact, far below what might reasonably have been expected of her.

"Careful measurements of time and distance give her an average speed, from the time she cleared the harbour mouth until the time she was run on sh.o.r.e at Rio Tarquino, of 13.7 knots.

"Neither the _New York_ nor the _Brooklyn_ stopped to couple up their forward engines, but ran out of the chase with one pair, getting steam, of course, as rapidly as possible on all boilers. To stop to couple up the forward engines would have meant a delay of fifteen minutes, or four miles in the chase.

"14. Several of the ships were struck, the _Brooklyn_ more often than the others, but very light material injury was done, the greatest being aboard the _Iowa_.

"Our loss was one man killed and one wounded, both on the _Brooklyn_. It is difficult to explain the immunity from loss of life or injury to ships in a combat with modern vessels of the best type, but Spanish gunnery is poor at the best, and the superior weight and accuracy of our fire speedily drove the men from their guns and silenced their fire.

"This is borne out by the statements of prisoners and by observation. The Spanish vessels, as they dashed out of the harbour, were covered with the smoke from their own guns, but this speedily diminished in volume, and soon almost disappeared.

"The fire from the rapid-fire batteries of the battle-ships appears to have been remarkably destructive. An examination of the stranded vessels shows that the _Almirante Oquendo_ especially had suffered terribly from this fire. Her sides are everywhere pierced, and her decks were strewn with the charred remains of those who had fallen.

"15. The reports of Commodore W. S. Schley and the commanding officers are enclosed.

"16. A board, appointed by me several days ago, has made a critical examination of the stranded vessels, both with a view of reporting upon the result of our fire and the military features involved, and of reporting upon the chance of saving any of them, and of wrecking the remainder. The report of the board will be speedily forwarded. Very respectfully,

"W. T. SAMPSON, "_Rear-Admiral U. S. Navy, Commander-in-Chief_ _U. S. Naval Force, North Atlantic Station._

"_The Secretary of the Navy, Navy Department, Washington, D. C._"

A letter from Captain Chadwick of the flag-ship _New York_, to his wife, is an entertaining addition to the story of this most marvellous sea fight:

"FLAGSHIP NEW YORK, July 4, 1898.

"Yesterday was a wonderful day, as you will know in a few hours after my writing this.

"We were in a rather disgruntled frame of mind on account of a little note from Shafter. He wanted to know why the navy could not go under a destructive fire as well as the army. It was decided to go and have a consultation with him, explain the situation, and lay our plans before him, which were to countermine the harbour, going in at the same time, and also trying to carry the Morro by a.s.sault with one thousand marines landed in Estrella cove.

"It was arranged we were to go to Siboney about 9.30, so Sampson, Staunton, and I put on our leggings, got some sandwiches, filled a flask, and the ship started to go the seven miles to Siboney, where we were to find horses and a cavalry escort.

"We were within a mile or so of the place when a message came to me that a ship was coming out, and by the time I was on deck I found the _New York_ turned around, and headed back, and there they were, coming out one after the other, and putting west as hard as they could go.

"The situation was one which rather left us out of it. We were too far off to shoot, but could see the rest banging away. The last to come were the two torpedo-boat destroyers, so we headed in to cut off any attempt on their part to return to port, and we saw Wainwright in the _Gloucester_ firing at them for all he was worth, and soon one evidently had a hole through her boiler, as there was a great white cloud of steam which shot into the air. We fired two or three 4-inch shots at the other, which was moving back toward the entrance, and then left him to Wainwright's mercy, as it was a clear case, and stood on; in a few moments we came, first to one and then the other, but a little way apart, the _Infanta Maria Teresa_ and the _Oquendo_ afire and ash.o.r.e.

"As we were going past the torpedo-boats, I ought to have mentioned two men in the water, stripped, to whom we threw life-buoys, with which they expressed themselves satisfied. It is impossible in such a case, with two of the enemy's ships going ahead of us, to stop.

"We had not pa.s.sed the two ships I mentioned far, until we saw the _Vizcaya_ head in, and soon she was on the beach and aflame, at Ascerraderos, right under the old Cuban camp.

"There was still the _Cristobal Colon_, a good way ahead, the newest and fastest and much more powerful. We had pa.s.sed the _Iowa_ (which we left with the burning _Vizcaya_) and the _Indiana_, which we ordered to return off the harbour, and tailed on to the procession after the _Cristobal Colon_, which consisted of the _Oregon_, the _Brooklyn_, and _Texas_, and the _Vixen_. We got each of our extra boilers into operation until we were going a good fifteen knots, and we were overhauling the advance somewhat.

"The _Oregon_ and _Brooklyn_ kept well up, and soon the _Oregon_ began to fire, and we could see the _Cristobal Colon_ gradually edge insh.o.r.e, so that we knew the game was up and the victory complete; soon she headed in, and went under one of the points which come down from the mountains, which here (some sixty miles west of Santiago) are close at the water's edge, and are the highest (seventy-eight hundred feet) in Cuba. We hurried forward and soon saw she had hauled her flag down, and was ash.o.r.e.

"The _Brooklyn_ had sent a boat, and Cook, who had gone in it, came alongside on his return, and stated he had received their surrender, stating he was not empowered to make any condition as to personal effects, etc., as to which they seemed anxious.

"I then went on board and arranged things, the admiral allowing them, of course, to take with them all their personal belongings, so while we were dividing them up among the ships (525 men) along came the _Resolute_, reporting having been chased by a Spanish armoured ship, so we put all the prisoners in her. This was a long job.

"The thing was to save the _Cristobal Colon_, as she is one of the finest modern ships of her cla.s.s. We hurried a prize-crew aboard from the _Oregon_, closed all water-tight doors, as she was evidently leaking somewhere, but for all we could do she settled down on the beach after floating with the rising tide. It was a great pity, but the rascally engineers' force had opened all the valves connecting with the sea, and we could not get at them.

"We finally, after eight hours of hard work, left her in charge of the _Texas_ and _Oregon_, and are now steaming back to our post off Santiago.

The failure to save the _Colon_ was too bad. It is possible to do so, of course, with the a.s.sistance of a wrecking company, but she was practically in an undamaged condition. She had one man killed and twenty-five wounded.

"I am only too thankful we did not get ash.o.r.e this morning. Poor Higginson, who was down at Guantanamo coaling, will be full of grief, as also Watson, in the _Newark_.

"I had forgotten to mention that day before yesterday we bombarded the forts very heavily, knocking off a good deal of the poor old Morro, and bringing down the flagstaff and the flag which was so proudly flaunted in our eyes for more than a month.

"We did this at the request of the army, as a demonstration while they attacked. They did not, however, make the attack, as it turned out.

"These bombardments are very unsatisfactory; one reads lurid accounts of them in the papers, but nothing really is gained unless we strike the guns themselves, and this we have not done.

"As we steamed by to-day in close range, our friends of the western battery, who paid a great deal of attention to us yesterday, banged away at us in fine style, and a number of sh.e.l.ls burst around us. Finally, when I had them entirely off my mind and was paying attention only to the torpedo-boat destroyers, came a tremendous screech, and everybody on the forecastle dodged. It was their last; it fell about two hundred yards to our right. We did not reply as we came along. I thought it a waste of material, and thought they might have their amus.e.m.e.nt so long as they did no damage.