The Kootenai herald. [volume] (Kootenai, Idaho) 1891-1904, 1898-06-11
Then Touch the Button.

torpedoes work or not.
Then Touch the Button.
"By this time l calculate the six men
will be in the dingy, and the Mer1imac
will have swung athwart the channel to
the full length of her 300 yards of cable,
which will be paid out before the anchors
are cut loose. Then it is my time to
touch the button. / shall stand on the
starboard side of the bridge. The ex-
ploson will throw the Merrimac on her
starboard side. Nothing on this side of
New York city will be able to raise her
after that"
"And you expect to come out of this
alive?" asked a companion OF the lieu
tenant.
Never Thought of the Risk.
"Ah! that is another thing" said the
lieutenant. He was so interested in the
mechanical details of the scheme that he
scarcely stopped to talk of possible death.
In reply to frequent questions, Hobson
said:
81 suppose the Estrella battery will
fire down on us bit, but the ships will
throw their searchlights in the gunners'
faces and they won't see much of us.
Then, if we are torpedoed, we should even
then be able to make the desired position
in the channel. 1t won't be easy to hit
us, and l think the men should be able
to swim to the dingy. l may jump before
l am blown up. But l don't see that it
makes much difference what / do. / have
fair chance of life either way. If our
dingy gets shot to pieces we shall then
try to swim for the beach right under
MORO castle We shall keep together
at all hazards. Then we may be able
to get back to the ship. We shall fight
the sentries or squad until the last,
and we shall only surrender to over
whelming numbers, and our surrender
will only take place as a last and as
most uncontemplated emergency"
Lieutenant Hobson might have been
lecturing to a class of cadets on the the
DRY of how to build ships so deliberate
was his manner. He was lately at Annap-
oils, in charge of the postgraduate course
in naval construction, and is accounted
one of the most able naval constructors in
the service, being entirely wrapped up in
his profession
The preliminary work of this desperate
undertaking was a strain upon the Of
fcers and men. On Wednesday morning,
directly after Rear Admiral Sampson ar
rival and as soon as he was certain the
/ Spanish fleet was in the harbor, the prep
arations to scuttle the Merrimac in the
channel were commenced. All day long
crews from the New York and Brooklyn
were on board the collier, never resting
in their efforts to prepare her. She lay
alongside the Massachusetts discharging
coal when the work was first begun. The
news of the intended expedition travelled
quickly through the fleet, and it soon
became known that volunteers were
needed for a desperate undertaking.
Volunteers by Hundreds.
From the lowa's signal yard quickly
huttered the announcement hat she had
40 volunteers, and the other ships were
not far behind. On the New York the
enthusiasm was intense Over 200 mem
bers of the crew volunteered to go into
that narrow harbor and face death. The
junior officers literally jumped over each
other in their eagerness to get their
names on the volunteer list.
Commander Miller, who had charge of
the Merrimac, pleaded with the admiral
to let him go, but the latter thought he
had better not. When it was learned
that only six men and Lieutenant Hobson
wer to 90 there was considerable disap-
pointment on all sides and when the New
York's contingent went over the side lat
er on Wednesday night some of those
who were left were almost ready, brave
and strong as they were, to sit down and
cry.
All Wednesday night the crews worked
aboard the Merrimac which then lay close
to the New York, and the other ships as
they passed the collier before shutdown
cheered her with the same spirit that
the British man of warsman cheered the
American sailors heroism at Samoa.
Lieutenant Hobson paid a short visit to
the flagship shortly before midnight and
then returned to the Merrimac on board
of which craft he had been all day AS
he started down the sea ladder there were
many hands stretched out TO grasp his
) and many quiet spoken earnest wishes for
his success. 1t was thought then Hob
son would take the Merrimac in early in
the morning.
AT 3 o'clock the admiral and Flag Lieu
tenant Staunton got into the launch to
make an inspection of the Merrimac. The
, working gangs were still on board of her
and on board the New York the officers
of the faoshin stood ON the quarter decl,