Little Falls herald. [volume] (Little Falls, Morrison County, Minn.) 1889-1950, 1898-07-15
'l6l lfRl Ger Err End
Technical Descriptioa 6 the
! Great Sea Fight at Santiago.
aoRY OF An OFFICER OF TIE IOWA

Alarm Given By the 1ows-Beforo Signal
11ags Were Up Other vessels Pustsd For
Places Allotted to Them For Such IN
Emergency = Fleet Destroyed In Less
Than IN Captain Evans Refused
to Take Away Eulate's Sword - Reoep-
ton of Admiral Cervera.
A naval officer on the Iowa. writing
under the date of July about the fight
between part of Admiral Sampson s
squadron, under command Of Commo-
dore Schley, and Admiral Cervera' q
feet, says:
On Sunday morning, July 8. our
watching ships lay r6lling in the easy
surges off the entrance to the harbor of
Santiago Their distances from the
guarded haven varied from 1000 to
5000 yards, and there, with an unspar-
ing alertness, they waited for that prom
Used dash which all hoped for, but feared
might never come. A little after three
bells in the forenoon watch the inspec-
ton of the ship had been concluded, and
as Lieutenant Van Duzer, the officer of
the watch, was relieving the navigating
officer, Lieutenant Scheutze, then officer
of the deck, he heard quick cry to call
the captain, followed by shout, There
come the Spaniards out Of the harborl'''
The trained eye of the alert officer had
marked the thin trail of drifting smoke,
and before the signal, ''Clear ship for
action, had been given the bows of the
Spanish vessels, rushing in "line
ahead" were seeu darling around So
capa point for the open sea.
In moment all was hustle and eager
energy. Men rushed to their quarters,
guns were trained, and in less than 20
seconds the whistling shrek Of rapid
fire gun warned the startled feet of the
hot work awaiting. In two minutes ev-
cry gun on shipboard was cast loose,
manned, loaded and ready for the long
expected signal to fire. At the yardarm
of our battleship string Of signal flags
warned the fleet the enemy was trying
to escape, but even before the answer
ing pennants of the other ships an.
nounced their understanding Of. the
message every vessel was dashing to the
stations long before allotted for the
emergency which had come at last.
TWAS splendid spectacle The Span
iards with bottled steam cleared the
harbor's mouth seemingly in moment.
Under their eager prows column Of
foam whitened the long pillows, and
their bubbling wakes left furrow as
straight and sharp as a racing yacht
making winning run for the finish
line. Their course was shaped for the
westward, but as fast as they sped in
their desperate break for freedom faster
few the shells of the pursuing Amer
leans. The first heavy shell from the
Iowa's battery fell short, and then, by an
unlucky nischance, so did the second,
but afterward the rain of shot fell sure
~ and unsparingly upon the fleeing foe
Not whit behind in this eager fusil-
lade roared the batteries of the Spanish
ships. Their port broadsides famed and
grumbled, but it was more a splendid
display Of fireworks than successful
effort to damage the unframed targets
of the Yankee ships In 10 minutes aft
er they were discovered the four Span
ish armored cruisers had cleared the
wide entrance, and five minutes later the
torpedo boat destroyers, hugging the
beach and seeking the sheltering broad
sides of their sister ships, flew into the
turmoil Of the action. At this time ev-
cry gun Of the American squadron that
could be brought to bear was pumping
projectiles into the enemy. In an in
slant it almost seemed one ship of the
Vizcaya class burst into flames, caused
undoubtedly by long, sure shot from
the Oregon or the Texas. A minute
later 10 inch projectile sent from the
Iowa's forward turret struck the flag
ship Maria Teresa near her after smoke
pipe. A tremendous explosion followed.
Then she was shrouded in smoke and
was lighted with lurid flames, and then
when the powder cloud blew down the
wind she was seen, helm hard aport,
rushing for the beach.
Twenty-Five minutes after the first
ship had been sighted half the Spanish
feet had surrendered or was on fire. Az
our vessels rushed toward them every
ship was hulled time and again, and il
almost seemed in the sureness and di-
RICHNESS Of our batteries ais if it were
the target practice Of a summer morn
ing and not the humiliation of squad
ron. Even this interval would have
been shortened measurably, for aiding
them and hindering us was the cloud OF
smoke which often concealed and at the
best only half revealed the wrecked enc
my. It was a grand, sad sight, a pa.
thetic one to seamen, who know how
much patient thought and patriotic
effort had gone into the construction OF
these splendid vessels, now lying,
bruised and burning, on the shores they