Peninsula enterprise. [volume] (Accomac, Va.) 1881-1965, 1898-07-02
FIERCE NAVAL FIGHT
THE wYoMlNG'S HEROIC BATTLE
WITH THE JAPANESE.


Against Overwhelming Odds the American
Commander NIcDu.all Fought One of the
Most Daring and Successful Engage
ncnts In the History of Marine Warfare
Strange us it may seem, tho Wyo-
ming's oriental battle is an almost I'M
recorded chapter of our naval annals,
though franks even higher i'll point of
daring and success against oyerwhclm-
ING odds than the defeat of the Ala
balna by the Wyoming's sister ship, the
Kearsarge But the Wyoming never
was in very great luck as Il naval star
She had her part throughout the civil
war in al the hardest OF bloclladlng and
cruising service, and fought we'll when
ever she had the chance, but she did
not have the luck Of getting into the
papers. She WAS sent off at the samo
time rs the Kcarsargc to cruise for that
scourgc of the seas the Alabama, and
Just missed her by the interest chance
on two occasions III the China seas.
1t was i'll 1865, toward the end of the
dual reign of the tycoon and the mika-
do, when Japan WAS i'll tho throeS of
civil war, and the forces of the rebel
princes were resisting to the last tho
passing of the old feudal system. Tho
Prince of Nagato was one of these, and
from his tiny kingdom that fronted on
tho straits of Simonoseki ho declared
himself lord paramount of everything i'll
sight, including the neighboring seas,
from which he took generous toll rs did
ever the pirate chiefs of Tarifa. He
had laid violent hands and hot shot
upon the vessels Of various powers, IN.
GLIDING Great Britain, France, the
Netherlands and the United States.
Meantime Prince Nagato throve and
hourished by the strait of Simonoseki,
and falling one day TO wiring tribute or
blaclmail by any other means he fired
,, on tho American merchantmen Penn
broke and killed 4 couple of her crew.
There was another diplomatic protest of
the combined foreign representatives TO
the japanese government, and Com
mander McDugall, who happened to be
in port with the Wyoming, suggested
that if the mikado could not take fall
ont of his rcbcllious subject the Wyo-
ming could and would without much
urging. This struck the government rs
good thing and IN easy way out OF the
international difficulty, so McDugall
was given carte blanche TO settle &C
counts with the Prince of Nagato i'll be-
half of all the powers concerned, and
he forthwith sailed away.
1t was the middle Of July when the
Wyoming found herself i'll the strait
of Simonoselli and III sight Of the shore
batteries which We're 4 part of tho
princes defenses TO seaward Before
She had timo to open on the batteries
two Japanese gunboats doomed up, enc
ahead and one astern i'll the narrow
strait, and presently 4 third came cruis-
ing out from among the neighborinS IS
lands. 1t was Il nasty place for fight,
NIcDugall being without charts or pi-
lots. and the odds Were more than
enough for Nelson himself, being as
guns of the three japanese vessels TO the
26 of the old Wyoming, 10 say nothing
of the batteries on shore. There was
still Il chance to run, barring some dan
ger of grounding il thenarrow channels
among the islands, but the idea does not
seem to have occurred to any one aboard
the frigate.
Working to windward of the nearest
japanese, the Wyoming opened at long
range and worked down on her till,
when close aboard, there was nothing OF
the enemy left standing above decks.
The other two vessels had come up in
the meantime and engaged the Ameri-
can on either side, but she lay to and
gave them shot for shot, port and star
board, till her gunners were smoke
blind and the flame Of the guns no lon
ger served to light the battlecloud that
rolled in white pillows over the smooth
waters Of the strait. 1t was desperate
work in the shallow water, but the
Wyoming was the best vessel, and she
outmaneuvered her two opponents from
start TO finish, though twice aground
and once afire with as many men knock
ed out from splinters and heat as from
the enemy's shot.
Fighting themselves out of one
smoke patch into another, the three com
batants circlcd around like two crows
and kingbird till they had drifted
down in range of the shore batteries,
which gayly took hand in the game.
But McDugall ran across the bows OF
one OF his enemies, raked her as he
went and left her Il floating wreck, and
then turned his attention to the bat
teries. The Wyoming's men rugged the
smiths forge on deck and tossed hot
shot into the works ashore till they set
them afire and the soldiers fed, and the
other .Japs on the remaining cruiser, de-
Gliding enough was as good as feast,
followed their example.
So McDugall mended his rigging and
patched his bulwarllS, and meanwhile
sent word to the recalcitrant prince to
come down and settle or he would sail
inland and shell the royal palace about
its royal owncr' 5 ears
The prince, who was no less discreet
than Colonel Crocictt's coon, came
down promptly, and Of the resulting in
lemnity $500, 600 fell to the lot of the
United States. 1t was many years be-
fore this money got into the treasury of
the United States, but meantime the
state department had charge Of it and
had invested it so well that there was
very little short of 50, 600, coo finally
turned over to the government, which,
after all, was pretty good pay for one
days fighting, with a loss of only five
killed and six wounded. Washington
Post.
n Dutcl, Ironc!ad.
1t is of interest to note that according
to some authorities the Dutch were tho
I Il II Ia 10,