The record-union., 1898-04-25
BATTLESHIpS IN ACTION.
WHAT HAPPENS DURING AN
ENGAGEMENT AT SEA.
Stories OF the ChileaE-Peruvian
Fight and the Battle OF the
YaIu Told by Eye-Witnesses.

YaIu Told by Eye-Witnesses.
The most remarkable sea engage
ments of the past twenty-five years
were fought off the west coast Oh South
America and in the yellow Sea. Ihe
earlier conflict. known as the Batlle
of the Angamos or Mejillones, was the
singIe-handed fight Of the Peruvian
single-turreted ram Huascar against
three Chilean ships-the casemated'
sea-goiag ram Almirante Cochrane, the
corvette OHiggins and the armed
transport Lea 1t was tremendous
struggle against odds. but the splendid
intrepidity Of Admiral Grau ana his
officers won the enduring gratitude or
Peru and the unstinted praise of the
victors.
The battle was fought on the morning
of the Sth Of October, 1879, off the
northern boundaries Of Bolivia. In the
beginning it was a duel between the
Cochrane and the Huascar ana the
first shot was fired by the latter When
1000 yards distant. 1t was miss, but
the second shot riCOchetting ahead OF
the Cochrane. entered her unarmored
bows. and after smashing the galley
fell on deck without exploding Al a
distance of 1000 yards the Cochrahe
opened fire and then it was hammer
an anviaI-a veritable devils tattoo or
bursting shell. One of the first SHOTS
penetrated the Huascars armor, ana,
exploding, entered the turret chamber
where it killed and wounded twelve
men. and so iammed the turret trucks
that they were rendered useless for a
season. Within half an hour after the
beginning the coming tower OF the
HuaScar was struck by shell, Wmch
exploded and blew Admiral Grau TO
pieces. only one foot and a few frag-
ments of his body being recovered. he
was fighting as usual, for he had beeh
often under fire. with his head ana
shoulders exposed above the tower ana
the shell probably hit him in the waist.
The conclusion of this hot killed Lieu
tenant Diego Ferre, the AdmiraFs AID,
who was standing at the fighting wheel.
When subsequently examined. no single
wound was found upon his body.
DEATH AND DESTRUCTION.
The death of the Admiral did not
cause the combat to cease, and one
after another of the officers took com
fourth officer, Lieutenant Pedro Care
zOn. Death and destruction were eV-
erywhere. The ship was a shamble, a
mere fighting log, rolling in the water.
But even then these gallant Peruvians
refused to surrender. Garezon called
a council of the surviving officers and
sent one of the juniors to the chief
engineer with orders to sink the vessel
by opening her valves.
Lieutenant Mason Of the United
States Navy, who has written a very
graphic account of this war; states that
Chief Engineer Mcmahon and his as
sistants succeeded in partially accom-
plishing this by opening the circulating
valves of the cOndensers; but while
they were at work on the bonnet of
the main injector valve Lieutenant
Sampson of the Cochrane, who had
boarded the hulk, interfered with re-
volver in hand. While this was going
on below some of the men forward
crawled up through the fore hatch and
by waving towels and handkerchiefs
caused the Chileans to cease firing. The
flag was then hauled down. unknown
to the officers and without their con-
sent. It was a gallant fight. a bitter
cans engaged that in the admirine
plaudits of the world the vanquished
were the victors.
To those who picture the glory of ma
val warfare this description of the
Huascars condition may be of interest.
THE scene" writes Lieutenant Mason,
ION board the Huascar was terrible.
There was hardly a square yard of her
upper works that did not bear marks
of having been struck with some spe-
cies of projectile Her smokestack and
coming tower were nearly destroyed,
her boats were gone and davits either
entirely carried away or bent out of
all shape. Her mast was riddled and
port chain carried away, but, strange
to say, no rigging was cut. The bull
warks, poop. fOrecastle and hatch
cOamings were much injured. The
capstan was struck and knocked over
board by shot.
THE Chilean fire must have been ex-
tremely accurate. a fact which is not
surprising, as the Huascar was re-
duced during the latter part Of the
fight-in fact. from the time the Coch-
rane took up her position on her quar-
ter-to little more than an armored tar
get. Below, the scene was much more
terrible. Everywhere were death and
destruction, caused by the enemy's
large shells Eighteen bodies were
taken out of the cabin, and the turret
was full of remains of the two sets
of guns crews.
The light woodwork, ladders and
bulkheads were all destroyed 1t was
claimed that many valuable documents
were captured. Among the papers
found were complete working drawings