Graham guardian., 1898-08-19
HAVANA FIRES.
Last Desperate Effort to Harm us--Moro
And Two Other Batteries Work Their
Guns,
The flagship San Francisco, tn

Guns.
The flagship San Francisco, tn,
Im0nitur Nrantonomah and th,
auNlUory yacht Silva were free
upon by the Havana batteries
shortly before s o'clock last Satur
day morning, even though the
Spaniards knew that peace had beer
practically declared. One 10 or IL
inch shell struck the San Francis
co.'s stern, as she turned to gel
away out of range and tore q hole
about a foot in diameter, complete
ly wrecking Commodore Howelis
quarters aud smashing his book
case into fragments. Nobody was
injured, and being under orders not
to attack the batteries, the ships
retreated as fast as their engines
would carry them.
The flagship and Silvia lay par,
allel to each other, not more than
a mile from Moro Castle, and sep
Grated from each other by a dis.
tance of between three,eighths and
one-quarter of a mile. The Mian-
tonomah lay about three-quarters
of a mile to the rear of the others.
All were within range of the Span
ish batteries, and the temptation
was too strong for the Spaniards
to resist. The first glimmer of dawn
was breaking through the eastern
skies when, without an instants
warning, the lookout on the flag,
ship saw jet of smoke puff from
one of Moro's big guns. Almost
before he could pull himself to-
gether sufficiently to make report
of the incident, 10 and 12-inch
shells were screaming all around.
The Spaniards had the range and
apparently grimly in earnest in
their last efforts to wreak injury
on their mighty enemy. Shells
fell between the San Francisco and
the Silvia. Some fell short, some
went over them. The flagship sig,
nailed the Silvia to get out of
range without delay, and both
ships swung around and made for
the sea.
1t was then that the shell struck
the San Francisco's stern. Com.
modore Howell was on deck with
Capt. Leary when the she'll struck.
With the utmost speed the feet
moved out about three miles. Here
the men on tie flagship patched up
the ragged hole IN the vessels
stern. All the shells fred at the
vessel fell around the ships.
One of the Silvia's men stood |
calmy on the deck of the yacht,
watch in hand, and counted them.
Moro Castle fired several of the
but how many is not
known. The others came from
two sand batteries near Moro. The
firing lasted twenty minutes.
The one-sided engagement had
scarcely ended whsn the men of
Silvia were treated to another sur
prise. The little yacht gunboat
is manned by the New York naval
militia. Her crew had barely re-
covered from the excitement when |
the flagship called the vessel over,
and Crpt. Beller was given a pac.
ket of private documents which he
was ordered to take to Havana un-
der flag Of truce. The white flag
was hoisted over the Silvia, and |
she steamed towards the guns
which had just given her such
noisy greeting.
As the Silvia approached to with |
in a mile of Moro the character vfI
the flag floating from her foremast |
was discerned and the castle sig. |
nailed: What is your purpose?"
To this the Silvia answered: eve
have papers to deliver"
Moro did not resume the conver.
sation, and for seme time the gun.
boat rocked on the waters almost
under the still smoking cannon of
the enemy. Presently, however
a Spanish gunboat drew out Of the
harbor and came close to the Silvia.
1t was the Martin y Pinzon, and |
carried a much stonger battery
than the American ship.
The customary formal saIuta.
tions were exchanged, and Lieut..
G. Ford, the executive of
icer of the Silvia, boarded the
Pinzon and delivered the docu-
ments. The ceremony occupied
no moro time than the physical act
Involved. The American officer
returned to his ship, and the YES.
sells went on their respective ways.
-
Enterprise Canal Meeting.
Notice is hereby gwen that