Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1898-06-08
WERE HEROES, EVERY ONE
Sampson Calls for Seven Men
and 1000 Volunteer.
CREW OF MERRIMAC.
A Collier Sunk in Santiago to Prevent
Cervera's Escape-A Perilous
Mission.

On Board the Associated Press Dispatch
Boat Dauntless, off Santiago de Cuba,
June 2.-(Via Kingston, Jamaica, June 4.
Rear Admiral Sampson, during Friday
morning decided to close the narrow har-
Dor entrance of Santiago de Cuba by
sinking the collier Merrimac, loaded with
COAL in the channel.
He called for volunteers to go to almost
certain death and 1000 men offered them
selves
Lieut. Hobson and six men were chosen
and at 3 a. m. Friday morning the Merri-
mac, under her own steam, entered the
channel under a terrible Spanish fire.
The vessel was riddled with projectiles,
but she anchored and swung around.
Lieut.. HObSOn then set off an internal
torpedo with an electric attachment, there
was an explosion, the Merrimac sank,
the channel was closed and, apparently,
Admiral Cervera will be unable 10 eS-
cape.
Kingston, Jamaica, June 4.-Hobson
and the hero crew of the Merrimac were
saved IN the following manner:
Unable, after the sinking of their yes
sci, to make their way back through the
storm of shot and shell, they rowed into
the harbor to the Spanish flagship and
were taken on board unframed. The
Spanish admiral, under a flag of truce
admiral that he offered to exchange the
prisoners, adding that in the meanwhile
HObson and his party would be treated
with the greatest kindness.
Who the Heroes Are.
Washington, d. c., June 4.-Careful
search of the records of the navy depart
ment fail to show any such name as
Hobson aboard the Merrimac up to May
5--the date of the last muster roll. 1t
of first 10 oT11a o.
be that of an officer of the volunteer
navy who entered the service with his
ship, the Merrimac, but this proved to
be untrue. Naval Constructor HObson is
said by Capt. Sigsbee to have been on
| board the New York, but he would not,
ordinarily at least. have been placed in
command of the ship, being a staff Of
| fcer.
The last possibility is that the person
referred to is Lieut.. Albert d. Hodgson,
who volunteered from the fleet at large.
Il is believed he commanded the Merri-
mac on her perilous mission. He is
lieutenant and was appointed from Geor-
gia. He has been in the service since
1871 and was attached to the Brooklyn,
| Commodore Schley's flagship. He was
| formerly attached to the San Francisco
on the European station, but was in
valided home. EIe was next assigned to
the naval academy, but became i'll again.
He has the reputation among his ship
| mates, some of whom are at the depart
ment, of being man of the greatest cool
ness and bravery and prepared to take the
| greatest chances. His health is poor his
| lungs being supposed to be affected, but
he was always foremost in any service of
| risk and danger.
! Philadelphia, Pa. June 4.-Ensign John
Russell Young Blakeley of the Merrimac
| who is reported to have been captured by
the Spaniards at Santiago yesterday is a
| Philadelphia, son of John Blakeiey, pub
| Usher of the Evening Star of this city.
| When war with Spain was declared he
was assigned to the Merrimac, on which
| vessel he was navigator.
Kansas City, Mo. June 4.-Commander
James NJ. Miller of the Nlerrimac, report
ed sunk in Santiago harbor, is from Lib
erty. Mo, where his mother, Mrs. Ann
Miller, is still living. He has seen over
| thirty years of service in the navy. having
| been appointed midshipman in 1868. He
| rose through successive grades and was
appointed commander last year. just after
| he had brought home the Yantic from
| South American waters. For six years
| he was in the Asiatic station, where he
saw the naval battles of the Chinese-Jap-
anese war. Before his assignment to
the Merrimac with the flying squadron at
| Hampton Roads. Commander Miller was
on duty at the Brooklyn navy-yard.
| The officer hero Of the Merrimac occa-
sion is an assistant naval constructor and
| hence attached to the staff and therefore
not ordinarily engaged in line duty
He entered the naval academy from AL
ALBANIA in May. 1885, and is now
% years old. He graduated in 1899
! 1t the head Of his class and as 4 conse-
| quence of this distinction was sent to
| France by the government to take a
course in naval architecture, in pursuance
| of a policy to give a few cadets of the
highest standing chance to acquire the
highest possible knowledge in skill. He
attended the Ecole Polytechnique and re-
turned to the United States in 1893.
| He served for a time in the bureau Of
construction in Washington and then went
to the navy yard at New York. Later he
served with Admiral Bunce on the North
Atlantic station and thence went to the
naval academy to take charge of a post
| graduate course OF instruction in naval
| construction.
When the war broke out he applied for
active duty and was sent with three ma
val cadets under his charge to the flag
ship of Admiral SIMPSONS squadron. He
| is described as tall, athletic build. very
quiet and unassuming in manner and
would not be picked out ordinarily as
having the high bravery his intimate as
sociates know lay beneath the modest
| manner