The Boys of '98 Part 9

They were under steam and slowly moving about, apparently ready to receive the fire of the advancing squadron. The flag-ship _Reina Christina_ also was under way.

"Prepare for general action! Steam at eight-knot speed!" were the signals which floated from the _Olympia_ as she led the fleet in, keeping well toward the sh.o.r.e opposite the city.

The American fleet was yet five miles distant, when from the a.r.s.enal came a flame and report; but the missile was not to be seen. Another shot from Cavite, and then was strung aloft on the _Olympia_ a line of tiny flags, telling by the code what was to be the American battle-cry: "Remember the _Maine_," and from the throat of every man on the incoming ships went up a shout of defiance and exultation that the moment was near at hand when the dastardly deed done in the harbour of Havana might be avenged.

Steaming steadily onward were the huge vessels, dropping astern and beyond range the transports as they pa.s.sed opposite Cavite Point, until, having gained such a distance above the city as permitted of an evolution, the fleet swung swiftly around until it held a course parallel with the westernmost sh.o.r.e, and distant from it mayhap six thousand yards.

Every nerve was strained to its utmost tension; each man took a mental grip upon himself, believing that he stood face to face with death; but no cheek paled; no hand trembled save it might have been from excitement.

The ships were coming down on their fighting course when a sh.e.l.l from one of the sh.o.r.e-batteries burst over the _Olympia_; the guns from the fort and from the water-batteries vomited jets of flame and screaming missiles with thunderous reports; every man on the American fleet save one believed the moment had come when they should act their part in the battle which had been begun by the enemy; but up went the signal:

"Hold your fire until close in."

Had the American fleet opened fire then, the city of Manila would have been laid in ashes and thousands of non-combatants slain.

The _Olympia_ was yet two miles from Cavite when, directly in front of the _Baltimore_, a huge shaft of water shot high into the air, and with a heavy booming that drowned the reports of the Spanish guns.

"The torpedoes!" some one on the _Olympia_ said, in a low tone, with an indrawing of the breath; but it was as if Dewey did not hear. With Farragut in Mobile Bay he had seen the effects of such engines of destruction, and, like Farragut, he gave little heed to that which might in a single instant send his vessel to the bottom, even as the _Maine_ had been sent.

Then, so near the _Raleigh_ as to send a flood across her decks, another spouting of water, another dull roar, and the much vaunted mines of the Spaniards in Manila Bay had been exploded.

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

The roar and crackle of the enemy's guns still continued, yet Dewey withheld the order which every man was now most eager to hear.

The Spanish gunners were getting the range; the sh.e.l.ls which had pa.s.sed over our fleet now fell close about them; the tension among officers and men was terrible. They wondered how much longer the commodore would restrain them from firing. The heat was rapidly becoming intense. The guns' crews began to throw off their clothes. Soon they wore nothing but their trousers, and perspiration fairly ran from their bodies.

Still the word was not given to fire, though the ships steadily steamed on and drew nearer the fort. Orders were given by the officers in low voices, but they were perfectly audible, so great was the silence which was broken only by the throbbing of the engines. The men hugged their posts ready to open fire at the word.

A huge sh.e.l.l from Cavite hissed through the air and came directly for the _Olympia_. High over the smoke-stack it burst with a mighty snap.

Commodore Dewey did not raise his eyes. He simply turned, made a motion to a boatswain's mate who stood near the after 5-inch gun. With a voice of thunder the man bellowed an order along the decks.

"Remember the _Maine_!" yelled a chorus of five hundred gallant sailors.

Below decks in the engine-rooms the cry was taken up, a cry of defiance and revenge. Up in the turrets resounded the words, and the threatening notes were swept across the bay to the other ships.

"Remember the _Maine_!"

In that strange cry was loosed the pent-up wrath of hundreds of American sailors who resented the cowardly death of their comrades. It bespoke the terrible vengeance that was about to be dealt out to the defenders of a detestable flag.

"You may fire when you are ready, Gridley," was Commodore Dewey's quiet remark to the captain of the _Olympia_, who was still in the conning-tower.

The _Olympia's_ 8-inch gun in the forward turret belched forth, and an instant later was run up the signal to the ships astern:

"Fire as convenient."

The other vessels in the squadron followed the example set by the _Olympia_. The big 8-inch guns of the _Baltimore_ and the _Boston_ hurled their two hundred and fifty pound sh.e.l.ls at the Spanish flag-ship and at the _Castilla_.

The Spanish fleet fired fast and furiously. The guns on Cavite hurled their sh.e.l.ls at the swiftly moving vessels; the water-batteries added their din to the horrible confusion of noises; the air was sulphurous with the odour of burning powder, and great clouds of smoke hung here and there, obscuring this vessel or that from view. It was the game of death with all its horrible accompaniments.

One big sh.e.l.l came toward the _Olympia_ straight for the bridge. When a hundred feet away it suddenly burst, its fragments continuing onward. One piece struck the rigging directly over the head of Commander Lamberton. He did not wince.

[Ill.u.s.tration: THE BATTLE OF MANILA BAY.]

The _Olympia_ continued on. It was evident Commodore Dewey was making straight for the centre of the enemy's line, which was the big cruiser _Reina Christina_.

Being the nearest ship, the _Olympia_ received more attention from the Spaniards than any of the other vessels.

The water was now getting shallow. Commodore Dewey did not wish to run aground. He altered his course when about four thousand yards from the Spanish vessels, and swung around to give them his broadside.

A small torpedo-boat was seen to emerge from the sh.o.r.e near the a.r.s.enal, making for the coal-laden steamers at a high rate of speed. The secondary batteries on the ships nearest were brought to bear upon her; it was a veritable shower of shot and sh.e.l.l which fell ahead, astern, and either side of her. To continue on would have been certain destruction, and, turning in the midst of that deadly hail which had half disabled her, the craft was run high and dry on the beach, where she was at once abandoned, her crew doubtless fearing lest the magazines would explode.

"Open with all guns," came the signal as the course of the American vessels was changed, and soon all the port guns were at work.

The American fleet was steaming back and forth off Cavite Bay as if bent on leaving such a wake as would form a figure eight, delivering broadside after broadside with splendid results.

All this time the enemy's vessels were keeping up a steady fire, the smaller ships retreating inside the mole several times during the action.

The forts were not idle, but kept thundering forth their tribute with no noticeable effect. The enemy's fire seemed to be concentrated on the _Baltimore_, and she was. .h.i.t several times.

A 4.7-inch armour-piercing sh.e.l.l punctured her side on the main-deck line, tore up the wooden deck, and, striking the steel deck under this, glanced upward, went through the after engine-room hatch, and, emerging, struck the cylinder of the port 6-inch gun on the quarter-deck, temporarily rendering the gun unfit for use.

In its flight it also struck a box of 3-pounder ammunition, exploding one sh.e.l.l, which in turn slightly wounded one of No. 4 gun's crew.

One sh.e.l.l pierced her starboard side forward of No. 2 sponson, and lodged in a clothes-locker on the berth-deck; another struck her port beam a little above the water-line, and a few feet forward of, and above this, another sh.e.l.l came crashing across the berth-deck, striking a steam-pipe and exploding behind the starboard blower-engine, but with no serious results. A fragment of a sh.e.l.l went through one of the ventilators, and the colours of the mainmast were shot through.

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

The concussion from the 8-inch guns on the p.o.o.p shattered the whaleboats, and they had to be cut adrift. A fragment of a sh.e.l.l that burst over the quarter-deck cut the signal halliards which Lieutenant Brumby held in his hand.

On the _Boston_ a sh.e.l.l came through a port-hole in Ensign Doddridge's stateroom, and wrecked it badly. The explosion set a fire which was quickly put out. Another sh.e.l.l struck the port hammock netting, where it burst, setting fire to the hammocks. This was also soon extinguished.

Still another sh.e.l.l struck the _Boston's_ foremast, cutting a great gash in it. It came within twenty feet of Captain Wildes on the bridge.

The _Raleigh_ was forced insh.o.r.e by the strong current, and carried directly upon the bows of two Spanish cruisers. By all the rules of warfare she should have been sunk; but instead, her commander delivered two raking broadsides as she steamed back into place.

Three times the American ships pa.s.sed back and forth, opening first with one broadside and then with another as the ship swung around, and then the _Reina Christina_, black smoke pouring from her stacks, and a vapour as of wool coming from the steam-pipes, gallantly sallied out to meet the _Olympia_.

Between the two flag-ships ensued a duel, in which the Spaniard was speedily worsted to such a degree that she was literally forced to turn and make for the sh.o.r.e. As she swung around, with her stern directly toward the _Olympia_, an 8-inch sh.e.l.l struck her squarely, and the explosive must have travelled directly through the ill-fated craft until it reached the after boiler, where it exploded, ripping up the decks, and vomiting forth showers of iron fragments and portions of dismembered human bodies.

A gunboat came out from behind the Cavite pier, and made directly for the _Olympia_. In less than five minutes she was in a sinking condition; as she turned, a sh.e.l.l struck her just inside the stern railing, and she disappeared beneath the waves as if crushed by some t.i.tanic force.

Navigator Calkins of the _Olympia_ had soundings taken, and told Commodore Dewey that he could take the ship farther in toward the Spanish fleet.

"Take her in, then," the commodore replied.

The ship moved up to within two thousand yards of the Spanish fleet. This brought the smaller guns into effective play.

The rain of sh.e.l.l upon the doomed Spaniards was terrific.

The _Castilla_ was in flames from stem to stern. Black smoke poured up from the decks of the _Isla de Cuba_, and on the flag-ship fire was completing the work of destruction begun by the American sh.e.l.ls.