The Philipsburg mail. [volume] (Philipsburg, Mont.) 1887-current, 1895-01-17

stinctive pluck and daring the crew Of
the Tacuari speedily boarded the Pa
ranahyba, killing and capturing all of
the Brazilians on deck The crew in the
forward part Of the vessel, however,
made gallant defense. The command
er of the Tacuari was shot from the
bridge of his ship by one of them, and
about the same time the commander Of
the Paranahyba, while shouting out Or
ders to back the vessel off from her ad-
versaries there being three around her.
was cut down by Paraguaya saber.
But his dying order was heard above the
din, and the vessel slipped away from
the embrace Of her enemies, who dared
not rake her with grape for fear Of kill
ing their friends swarming on her main
decks.
| At this time a hero came to the front
on the Brazilian fleet. The Brazilian adj
miral had run through the enemys line
in panic, but seeing two of his ships
left behind was afraid to proceed down
the river without attempting to recover
them. He ordered his vessels about, but
became speeohless with fear when it
came to giving orders to fight. The
chief pilot of the fleet was an Italian,
with the blood of old Mediterranean
sea dogs in his veins. Being on the flag
ship, the AmaZonas, where the confusion
of orders was notorious, he usurped
command and ordered the Amazonas to
''go att the Paraguayans full drive.
Being heavy vessel, she made a cap
ital ram and quickly rode down the
Paraguayri, at the same time clearing
her decks with grape Next the Mar
quis de Olinda and the Jejui, which,
with the Tacuari, had held the Parana-
hyba at their mercy, were cut down by
ramming or shots from the six heavy
guns Of the Amazonas. In brief, this
mammoth ship, too high out of water
for boarding from the low Paraguayan
steamers, drove through the Paraguay
ans like tornado. -Four battleships and
two steam launches carrying gun each
were destroyed, four launches captured
and the Paraguayan Igurey sent off up
the river with hole through her boiler
and the Tacuari covering her retreat.
The English engineer whose advice
had been despised saved the four
steamers which got back to the Para
guayan lines
In March, 1868 Lopez selected 1900
Of these men, the pick Of all his valiant
armies, to make boarding attack upon
feet of Brazilian ironclads lying in
the river below Humanita. The men
were all good swimmers and divers,
with the daring and hardy habits Of
their race. The ironclads were eight in
number, and the boarders, armed with
carbines, revolvers, hatchets and hand
grenades, embarked in 48 canoes, di-
vided into eight sections, one for each
ironolad. The hotilla got ready in d
thioket Of reeds on the river bank, and
the canoes were overhung with leafy
branches to resemble the floating island
oocasi ionally seen in the Paraguay river.
Setting out just before daylight the I'd
Of March, the canoes drifted under
stealthy paddles and nearly reached the
fleet when the island collided with
Brazilian guardboat. The astounded
guard backed off and pulled for the
nearest ironckad the double turret Lima
Barrios, followed in mad haste by the
canoemen, who broke their sections, ID
going at the Lima Barrios, 12+at the
Cabral and the others scattering to at
tack the ones lying at distance. The
guard alarm boat and the Paraguayan
canoes struck the Lima Barrios at the
same time. The crew ran inside, closing
the matches, but the Paraguayans swarm
ed over the decks, cutting down all who
were shut outside. Then bloody fight
took place at the towers, where revolv-
ers We're used on both sides. The Bra
lillian captain and his first officer were
wounded i'll the hand to hand fight, and
horrible slaughter took place inside tho
towers and ports where the Paraguayans
hurled their hand grenades. The Cabral
was completely surprised by the IL ca
noe loads of b0arders, but her crew had
time to go into their casenate. The
Paraguayans sWar1ned over her sides,
fighting with carbines and reYolVers
through the ports. Their own dense
ranks, however, suffered terribly from
the shots of the Brazilians, for which
they retaliated with the deadly hand
grenades, hurled through the ports,
down smokestacks and through OPEN
ings cut in the matches. The Cabral had
no steam on and soon became helpless
captive.
Two ironolads next in line, the Salado
and Herval, received some warning and
deluged their assailants with grape be-
fore they could leap from their canoes.
Farther off the Brazil, ten gunner, got
up steam and made for the cluster of
vessels where the battle was raging so
III