Martinsburg herald. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1881-1920, 1893-11-04

One OF the crabs was OF the ordinary
pattern, but Crab X was furnished with
spring armor above the heavy plates
of her roof This had been placed upon
her after the news had been received by
| the syndicate that the Adamant would
carry perpendicular cannon over her
stern, but there had not been time
enough to fit out another crab in the
same way.
When the director in charge of repeller
No. Z first caught sight of the Adamant,
and scanned through his glass the vast
proportions of the mighty ship which
was rapidly steaming toward the coast,
he felt that responsibility rested upon
him heavier Than any which had yet
been borne by an officer of the syndicate,
| but he did not hesitate in the duty which
| he had been sent to perform, and imme-
diately ordered the two crabs to advance
to meet the Adamant, and to proceed to
action according to tho instructions
which they had previously received.
His own ship was kept, in pursuance of
orders. several miles distant from the
British ship.
AS soon as the repeller had been
| sighted from the Adamant strict look
| out had been kept for the approach of
crabs, and when the small exposed por-
| tons of the backs of two of these were
perceived glistening in the sunlight the
speed of the great ship was slackened
The ability of the syndicatc's submerged
vessels to move suddenly and quickly in
any direction had been clearly demon
strated, and although great ironclad
with ram could run down and sink a
crab without feeling the conclusion, it
was known that it would be perfectly
easy for the smaller craft to keep out of
the way of its bulky antagonist. There
fore the Adamant did try to ram the
crabs, nor to get away from them. Her
commander intended, if possible, to run
down one or both of them, but he did
not propose to do this in the usual way.
AS the crabs approached, the stern
jacket of the Adamant was let down and
the engines were slowed This stern
jacket, when protecting the rudder and
propellers, looked very much like the
COW catcher of locomotive, and was ca
| pable of being pat 10 Il somewhat similar
use. 1t was the intention of the captain
| of the Adamant, should the crabs at
| tempt to attach themselves to his stern,
to suddenly put on all steam, reverse his
engines and back upon them, the stern
! jacket answering as ram.
| The commander of the Adamant had
no doubt that in this way he could run
into crab, roll it over in the water, and
when it was lying bottom upward, like
| q floating cask, he could move his ship
to distance and make target of it. SO
| DESTROYS was this brave and somewhat
facetious captain to try his new plan
| upon crab that he forebore to fire upon
| the two vessels of that class which were
approaching him. Some of his guns were
SO mounted that their muzzles could be
| greatly depressed and aimed ut an object
| in the water not far from the ship. But
these were not discharged. and, indeed,
| the crabs, which were new ones of I'M
usual swiftness, were alongside the Ada
mant in an incredibly short time and out
of the range of these guns.
! Crab j was on the starboard side of the
Adamant, Grab X was on the port side,
and, simultaneously. the two laid hold of
her. But they were not directly astern
of the great vessel. Each had its nippers
fastened to one side of the stern Jacket
near the hinge like bolts which held it to
| the vessel, and on which it was raised
and lowered IL
In q moment the Adamant began to
steam backward, but the only effect of
this motion, which soon became rapid
was to swing the crabs around against
her sides and carry them with her As
the vessels were thus moving the great
pincers of the crabs were twisted with
tremendous force, the stern Jacket on
one side was broken from its bolt, and
on the other the bolt itself was drawn
out of the side of the vessel The nppers
then opened, and the stern jacket fell
from their grasp into the sea, swapping
in its fall the chain by which it had been
raised and lowered.
This disaster occurred SO quickly that
! few persons on board the Adamant knew
what had happened. But the captain,
who had seen everything, gave instant
orders to 60 ahead at full speed. The
first thing to be done was to get at a dis
lance from those crabs, keep well away
from them, and pound them to pieces
with his heavy guns.
But the iron screw propellers had
| scarcely begun to move in the opposite
direction before the two crabs, each now
lying at right angles with the length of
the ship, but neither of them directly
astern of her, made dash with open
nippers, and Crab j fastened upon one
propeller, while Crab K laid hold of the
other. There was din and crash of
breaking metal, two shocks which were
felt throughout the vessel, and the shat
tered and crushed blades of the propel-
lers of the great battle ship were power
! less to move her
The captain of the Adamant, pallid
with fury, stood upon the poop. In a
moment the crabs would be at his rud-
der The great gun. double shotted and
ready to fire. was hanging from its boom
over the stern Crab X, whose roof had
the additional protection of spring
armor, now moved round SO as to be
directly astern of the Adamant. Before
she could reach the rudder her forward
part came under the suspended cannon.
and two massive steel shot were driven
down upon her with force sufficient to
send them through masses of solid rock,
but from the surface of elastic steel
springs and air buffers they bounced up
ward. one of them almost falling on the
deck of the Adamant.
The gunners of this piece had been
well trained In a moment the boom
was swung around, the cannon reloaded
and when Grab X fixed her nippers on
| the rudder of the Adamant two more
shot came down upon her. As in the
first instance she dipped and rolled, but
the ribs of her uninjured armor had
scarcely sprung back into their places
before her nippers turned and the
rudder of the Adamant was broken in
two and the upper portion dragged from
its fastenings; then quick backward
jerk snapped its chains and it was
dropped into the sea.
( A signal was now sent from Crab to
/ Repeller No. Z, to the effect that the Ada
mant had been rendered incapable of
steaming or sailing, and that she lay sub
/ ject to order
Subject to order or not, the Adamant
/ did not remain passive. Every gun on
board which could be sufficiently de-
/ pressed was made ready to fire upon the
crabs should they attempt to get away.
Four large boats, furnished with machine
guns, grapnels, and with various appli-
ances which might be brought into use
on steel plated roof were lowered from
! their davits and immediately hcoran Cir.