The herald., 1898-04-29

Of the New York and a shrapnol sneH ex-
ploded above her.
1t took the three ships just eighteen min
utes to silence the batteries.
The last shot that was fired by the Span.
ish came from Point Rubal Caya. The Pur-
itan replied with one of her 12-inch guns.
The shell struck the battery with wonder
full accuracy and blew up a portion Of it.
After waiting in vain for the Spanish to
renew the engagement the ships withdrew.
leaving both batteries in ruins.
When Rear Admiral Sampson. on the
flagship New York, left the cruising ground
| to pay visit to Matanzas and Cardenas.
| he made up his mind something had to be
done with the very aggressive Spanish ar
| tillerymen who were manning the bat
| teries out that way. They had twice fired
on the torpedo boat Foote and were very
| busy erecting fertifications and placing
guns in position.
At Matanzas the New York found the
monitor Puritan and the cruiser Cincin-
natl, that have been blockading that port.
Admiral Sampson decided to make recon-
noissance in force for the purpose
of locating the batteries, discovering the
| kind of guns they mounted and If possi-
BILE stopping the work of forttfying. Ma
tanzas lies at the head of bay about four
miles from the sea. This bay at It's mouth
is three miles wide. On the west side of the
bay is Point Rubal Caya and on the east
side Point Maya.
These points have very slight elevation
above the sea, but the confguration of the
harbor Is such as to give the batteries on
them O commanding position. Stretching
back from these batteries are towering
hills, and it was believed the guns had
been mounted somewhere there, concealed
by the shrubbery.
The New York led the way into the bay
of Matanzas. The Puritan was a few hum
dred yards astern on the port side and the
| Cincinnati remained behind a slightly
greater distance astern on the starboard
side Lines drawn from ship to ship would
have made an almost perfect triangle.
At a few minutes before l o'clock there
was puff of smoke from the east shore
and an S-inch shell whizzed toward the
New York and fell short. Scarcely had
the report died away than another puff of
smoke f1oated upon the Point Maya side
and easily blew away. This shell also fell
| short.
The range of the east battery was nearly
1000 yards but the flagship promptly open
| ed fire with one of her S-inch guns. The
engagement in few minutes became gen.
eral and shore and bay were covered with
the windblown smoke, while the hollow
between the hills roared with the cannon
| aiding.
| Continuing to cut loose with her guns
| starboard and port as we'll as fore and aft,
the New York steamed quickly in and cir
cled around to the westward toward Point
Rubal Caya, while the Puritan swung to
starboard to engage the Maya batteries.
The Maya battery was the more formid-
| able and the fire from 1t was more fire.
quent but the shells fell short. The New
| York ignored this battery after a minute
and proceeded to pay all her attention to
| the battery on Rubal Caya, which was being
pushed to completion. 1t was a beautiful
| sight to see the target practice of the New
York. A big balloon of smoke would sud-
denly rise from her side. The eye, follow
| ing the direction of the shot would see an
instant later a great cloud of dust and frag-
ments of concrete and mortar flying high
in the air. Then would come the roar of
| the piece, sullen and heavy.
| The New York had soon reduced the
range from 1000 to 5000 yards and soon was
tossing shells into Rubal Caya at the rate
| of about three a minute with wonderful
precision and apparently great destruct-
iveness. In the meantime the Puritan was
taking care of Point Maya. 1t was a
long shot to that battery. 1t was so well
masked that the only target was the infre-
ouent smoke from the battery. But when
the Puritan got range her shells burst
| every time within the fortification and
great was the explosion thereof.
l l,,to ha oivx ni,1A n1n ~
dust-atoms of the Spanish fort-looking
| for all the world like the explosion Of a
magazine of brown prismatic powder.
| The Puritan was doing fully as much
harm on the east side of the bay as the
New York was doing on the west side. All
this time the Cincinnati had remained out
| of action.
Captain Chester signaled for permission
to engage and it was granted by the flag
ship. The Cincinnati steamed up to with
| in 1000 yards broadside on and began to let
| fly with her guns.
| The batteries were silenced and the New
York was just giving the signal to retire
when one defiant shot was fired from
Rubal Caya. 1t was the last shot that bat
| terry was ever to fire.
! One of the big guns on the Puritan an
swered back. 1t was the best shot Of the
day. 1t struck the battery just where the
gun was, tore It's way into the earthworks
and exploded, doing great destruction.
| Captain r. MacHugh, an artillery officer
of the British army, who was spectator
of the engagement, said 1t was one of the
best shots he had ever seen made.
| Having practically demolished the Span
ish batteries the ships stood out to sea. Not
a shell had struck one of them, but there
had been three narrow misses of the New
| York.
| The Spanish fired shrapnel once which
had burst above the ship A shell had
struck just fore of her and another struck
| just aft.
| The fact that the Spaniards failed to
strike such large target as the New York,
| towering as she does like a house out of the
water, was taken as evidence that they are
not good marksmen.
| On the other hand, every shot that the
New York fred after she got the range
was pitched right into the batteries.
| In point of time the engagement lasted
| Just eighteen minutes.