Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1898-06-13
HEROES OF THE MERRIMAC.

driven luLO lu0 UOUulO vi OduLldSO 0O
Cuba, and the Spanish feet could not
be more secure Were the entrance to
that harbor doored, barred and doub-
led locked anu the key dropped Into
the botto mIess depth of the sea.
Lieutenant Richmond P. Hobson of
the flagship New York, with a volun-
teer crew of seven men, under cover
of the darkness after the moon had
set, ran the big collier Merrimac into
the throat of the harbor, swung her
broadside to across the channel, and
then exploded and sank her. He sue
ceeded in this desperate enterprise
under the fires of the batteries and
forts which guard the entrance with
out support from the feet.
Ensign Powell, also of the New
York, with a steam launch, crept
close under the guns of Moro Castle
to take off the heroes Of the Merri-
mac and remained there pluckily un-
TIL daylight discovered his position,
without seeing trace of the Merri-
macs daring crew. To have remained
1OuS0I WOuIO udFO OOCd OAOOA 11<@o
ness. AS it was he retired under a
heavy fire from Mauser rifles and the
heavy guns of the batteries.
Lieut.. Hobson and his men are now
Spanish prisoners, as flag of truce
announces, and will be exchanged in
due course of time; but that their
mission was successful admits of no
doubt. Ensign Powell distinctly saw
the spars of the wrecked ship in the
middle of the channel. Lieut.. Hobson
planted her at the very point he had
selected.
Cushing's memorable feat in blow
ing up the Confederate ram Alber-
marie is overmatched by HI obson's
act, for Cushing's men crept up AL
bermarle Sound at midnight, and fell
upon an unsuspecting foe. Hobson
took his ship, over 800 feet long, into
the very focus of a dozen batteries
with the enemy at the guns, and blew
her up. Discovery at the end of this
journey was inevitable and death was
almost certain. No name, therefore,
can be written higher on wars temple
of fame than his.
Like Cushing's deed, Hobson's des
perate undertaking was conceived by
him who executed il. When Rear
Admiral Sampson joined Commodore
Schley on Wednesday, the latter had
already ascertained that it would be
impossible for the fleet to crawl into
the rat hole in which the Spanish feet
had taken refuge. The mines across
the entrance and the batteries which
commanded it made the mere con-
temptation of it n act of folly.
Commodore Schley was inclined to
think the dynamite cruiser Vesuvius
might be able to countermine, but the
ships would have to go in single file
and if one were sunk in the channel
the progress of the others would be
blocked. 1t was then that Lieut.. Hob
son conceived the scheme of sinking
a big collier across the harbor en-
trance and asked to be allowed to ex-
ecute it himself. 1t seemed certain
death and almost certain failure, as
the odds were overwhelmingly against
reaching the entrance before discov
cry; but Hobson was SO enthusiastic
that his confidence was infectious and
the admiral finally reluctantly gave
his consent.
Lieut.. Hobson's chief anxiety was
that in the dark he might miss the
narrow gut and run on to the shoals
at the west of the entrance. To pre-
vent the possibility of this, the plan
of allowing the Merrimac to run in
under the Spanish flag with the feet
in feigned pursuit firing blank car
tridges and blazing the truth to the
harbor entrance with searchlights,
was considered but abandoned, be-
cause, among other reasons, Lieut..
Hobson and his volunteer crew did
not want to die, if their lives should
be sacrificed, under false colors. They
wanted to go down with the stars and
stripes floating proudly from the
Merrimac. The Merrimac started in
shortly after O'Clock.
Slowly the seconds of fate licked on
as, for an hour, 5000 strained eyes
strove to pierce the deep veil Of night.
Suddenly several blood red tongues
of flames shot down from the rocky
eminence on which MORO Castle is
situated. They were followed by jets
and streams of fire from the batteries
opposite. The Merrlmac had reached
the entrance of the harbor. She must
have passed so close that stone
loosened from the frowning parapet |
of the castle would have fallen on her |