The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1898-08-14
STRUCK THE SAN FRANCISCO.
IIAFANA's MORRO CASTLE FIRES
ON BLOCKADING SQUADRON.

A Shell Tears Through the Stern of
the san Francisco As She Turns TO
Get Out of Range-SquadrOn Lying
Within Mile of the batteries
Friday Morning Commodore
HoweIrs Quarters Wrecked, But
No One Injured-SyIvia and Mian-
t0nOmOh Escaped Uninjured - A
Shower of She'll With Only One Ef-
fectiVe.
Key West. Fla, Aug. 1S, p. m.-The
flagship San Francisco, the monitor Man
| tanomoh and the auxiliary yacht Sylvia
were fired upon by the Havana batteries
shortly before o'clock yesterday morn
ing.
! One 10 or Pinch shell struck the San
Francisco's stern as she turned to get out
of range. and tore hole about a foot in
diameter, completely wrecking Commodore
Howelrs quarters. and smashing his book
case to fragments. Nobody was injured,
and being under orders not to attack the
| batteries, the ships retreated as fast as
their engines would carry Them.
The flagship and the Sylvia lay parallel
to each other not more than a mile from
Moro Castle, and separated from each
other by a distance of between three
eighths and one-quarter of a mile.
The Miantonomoh lay about three-quar-
ters of a mile to the rear of the others.
All were within range of the Spanish
batteries and the temptation was too
strong to be resisted.
While the ships Of the Havana block
ade squadron have been keeping at a dis
tance of six miles or more during day
light, they have been accustomed to
drawing in much closer at night Moro
Castle light has burned steadily through
out, serving as a good beacon for the
American ships.
Thursday evening the warships of the
squadron Immediately off Havana were
the San Francisco. Sylvia and Miantono-
moh, and with nightfau they drew in
closer to the shore than ever before ard
took positions as before stated
All night the ships rolled at their sta
tions. with lights out, according to the
blockade regulations. Another twelve
hours dreary duty had passed with tne
| same unvarying monotony and what hap
! pened soon afterward was unexpected as
| 1t was unWelcome.
The first glimmer of dawn was break
ing through the eastern skies, when, with
| out an instants warning the lookout on
| the flagship saw a jet of smoke puff from
| one of Morro's big guns. Almost before
| he could pull himself together sufficiently
! to make a report of the incident 10 and
| 12-inch shells were screaming all around
| the ship
parently were grimly in earnest in their
| last efforts to wreak injury to their too
| mighty enemy.
1t was, however, almost as futile an
effort as in every preceding struggle.
| Shells fell between the San Francisco and
| Sylvia, some fell short a few went over
! them, and still others fell short.
The flagship signalled the Sylvia to get
! out of range without delay and both ships
| swung round and made for the sea.
/ 1t was then that the shell struck the San
| Francisco's stern and sent its fragments
into the after cabin. wreclling Commodore
| Howefs library. The commodore was on
deck with Capt. Leary when the shell
| struck.
The Minatanomoh was In less danger
| than the other two ships, being farther out
at sea, but when the firing commenced they
all moved out about three miles.
Here the men on the flagship
W
lily put to work patching the ragged hole
! which she'll had torn in the San Francis
| cos stern. The damage was found to be
| trihing.
All the shells fired at the vessels were
| from 10 or 12-inch guns, and there were
exactly twenty-five in number. AS they
fell around the ships one of the Sylvia's
men stood calmly on the deck of the yacht,
watch in hand and counted them MORO
Castle fired several of the missiles, but
how many is not known. The others came
from two sand batteries east of Moro.
The firing lasted twenty minutes. No at
tempt was made 10 return the fire the
blockading squadron being under specific
orders not to make any sort of demonstra-
ton against Havana, partaking of the
nature of an attack. Even If such
had not been the case it would have been
almost suicidal for the three ships, one of
them a yacht to have faced such odds as
the land batteries offered The big tur-
ret guns of the Miantonomoh and the San
Frauciscos main battery of 6-inch guns
could nave done much damage; but the
Spaniards had the range, and to attempt
to combat the almost impregnable fortih-
cations of Havana would have been hope
less.
The one-slded engagement had scarce
ly ended when Capt. Boilers was given
packet of private documents which he was
ordered to take into Havana under flag
of truce. This was done without incident
the Sylvia delivering them to the officer of
the Spanish gunboat Martin y Pinzon.
The big Spanish transatlantic liner
Montserrat is sim bottled up In Matanzas
narbor.
GARCIA DEMANDING A SURRENDER.