The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1898-07-13


have been received:
Commodore Schley's flagship, the
Brooklyn, had her usual position at
the extreme western end Of the line,
ten miles from the New York and
Texas. It is peculiar fact that he
should have been in proper position
to direct the movements of his flying
squadron against the Spanish feet
which he had bottled up in Santiago
harbor six weeks before.
As matter of fact, the entire
American feet was much further off
shore than usual when the Spaniards
made their appearance this morning.
With the exception Of the bambard-
ment yesterday morning, which re-
suited in knocking down the flag on
Moro Castle and the supposed silenc-
ing Of the batteries, which opened
FIRE again this morning, as usual, the
navy had done little recently to attract
interest here, and the officers and
crews themselves were watching the
developments Of the operations being
conducted by the army, which had
succeeded in reaching the very gates
of Santiago, after an enormous loss in
killed and wounded in the fighting of
the past two days. Itwas not believed
that Admiral Cervera would attempt
to escape from his perilous position
at this late day, but it was supposed
that he would keep his ships in the
harbor to shell the advancing Ameri-
can army, and that if Santiago fell he
would blow up or sink them before
permitting them to be captured by the
feet lying outside.
The Spanish Admirals real plans,
however, were plainly not anticipated.
He accepted the one chance open to
him-that Of running the gauntlet of
the powerful men-of- f-war lying in front
of the harbor and saving his ships for
future service by dashing out Of the
trap in which he found himself and
going to some other field of opera
tions.
There seemed to be but one chance
in a hundred that he would be able to
make the move successfully, but he
took that chance, and while great
piles of naval architecture now ground
to pieces on the rocks few miles from
where he started tell the mournful
story Of his failure, there are none
who applaud his conduct more than
the American officers and seamen who
sent his ships to destruction.
It was about 8 o'clock this Sunday
morning when the flagship Infanta
Maria Teresa passed under the walls
of Moro Castle and steamed out to
Sea. She was followed by the Cristo-
bal Colon, Vizcaya and Oquendo, and
last by the torpedo boat destroyers
Euror and Pluton. The lookout on
the American vessels, which were
lying FIVE or ten miles off the entrance
to the harbor, sighted them immedi-
ately. Most of the American cruisers
were at the usual Sunday morning
quarters, without thought Of anything
as surprising as tie Spanish fleet
getting past the sunken collier Merri-
mac, which they had been deluded
into believing effectually blockaded
the exit. There was great excitement
at once and very rapid action along
the American lines. The signal for
full speed ahead was run from bridge
to engine room Of every ship and the
entire feet commenced to move in
shore toward the Spanish, and the
great twelve and thirtcen-inch guns
of the battleships and the smaller
batteries on the other vessels fired
shot after shot at long range.
AS the ships ran in towards the
shore it soon became evident that the
Spaniards had not come out to make
an aggressive fight, for they turned to
the eastward as soon as they had
cleared the harbor and started on
their race for safety, at the same time
sending answering shots at the Amer
lean ships as fast as the men could
load and FIRE the guns. The Brook
lyn, Massachusetts,, Texas, Oregon
and Iowa were nearer the Spaniards
than any others of the American yes
sells, but still most Of them were too
far away to get an effective range.
They crowded on all steam, however,
in preparation for the chase, never
stopping their fire for one moment.
The Gloucester, fast little yacht
that cannot boast of any heavier bat
terry than several 6-pounders and B.