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

81 he destruction VI the Dpanlsn
9 ..d,on while attempting to escape
me harbor of Santiago de Cuba
have been received:
D'- Commodore Schley's flagship, the
y.ootlvu had her usual position at
"a " s,ireme western end Of the line,
~, ~ miles from the New York and
r.,.s w. 1t is a peculiar fact that he
sould have been in proper position
-. a;,eet the movements of his flying
81 ,o,dron against the Spanish feet
.h;.h he had bottled up in Santiago
s,,bor six weeks before.
A matter Of fact, the entire
,me,;cau feet was much further off
.hore than usual when the Spaniards
made their appearance this morning.
With the exception Of the bambard-
3 r,nt yesterday morning, which re-
.n]ted iu knocking down the flag on
Mario Castle and the supposed silenc-
i, Of the batteries, which opened
S f,e again this morning, as usual, the
r,rv had done little recently to attract
Interest here, and the officers and
,,evs themselves we're watching the
Developments of the operations being
8 conducted by the army, which had
{ succeeded in reaching the very gates
4 Of Santiago, after an enormous loss in
il killed and wounded in the fighting Of
4. The past two days. Itwas not believed
that Admiral Cervera would attempt
s@to escape from his perilous position
lat this late day, but it was supposed
5,bst be would keep his ships in the
ah,rbor to shell the advancing Ameri-
i icsu army and that if Santiago fell he
would blow up or sink them before
n Permitting them to be captured by the
aee. lying outside.
q The Spanish Admiral's real plans,
ShoHeyer, were plainly not anticipated.
aHe accepted the one chance open to
Thin that Of running the gauntlet of
3the powerful men-of-war lying in front
3of the harbor and saving his ships for
future service by dashing out Of the
dtnp in which he found himself and
lsoiug to some other field of opera
atons.
4 There seemed to be but one chance
ain hundred that he would be able to
make the move successfully, but he
took that chance, and while great
apiles Of naval architecture now ground
Ito 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 bis ships to destruction.
twas about 8 o'clock this Sunday
morning when the flagship Infanta
Aara 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
RurOr and Pluton. The lookout on
the American vessels, which were
lying five or ten miles off the entrance
to the harbcr, sighted them iznnedi-
ately. Most Of the American cruisers
we're at the usual Sunday morning
quarters, without thought of anything
as surprising as the Spanish fleet
getting past the sunken collier Merri-
mae, which they had been deluded
into believing effeotually 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 OH the other vessels fired
shot after shot at long range.
AS the ships ran in towards the
shore 1t aoon became evident that the
Spanlards had noe come out to make
az aggressive fight, FOR they turned to
'ae eastward as soon .as they hdd
cleared the harbor and started on
'oelr race for safety, at the same time
sending answering shots at the Amer
lean ships as fast as the men could
,0ad and fire the guns. The Brook
yn' Massachusetts, Texas, Oregon
aod Iowa were nearer the Spaniards
'nsn any others Of the American ves-
.e's' but still most Of them were too
,a' - away to get an effective range.
iney crowded on all steam, however,
~ preparation for the chase, never
!, sss0pping their fire for one moment.
ne (Tlnncauta~ Tat Hsaaf1 ~.-l