The evening times., 1898-07-07
STORY OF THE SEA BATTLE
A Technical Description of the
Fight OF Santiago.
WRITTEN BY 4 NAVAL EXPERT
RObley Evans, Commanding the
IOyva, GraciOusly Refuses to Take
tain E0late, of the Vixcaya-HOw
.t. ..tT
Spain's Fleet Was Destroyed.

morning publishes the following story,
written presumably by a naval officer on
board the battIeship Iowa, giving tech
ncal account of the great sea fight OFF
Santiago. The dispatch is dated from
.On Board the Iowa, Off Santiago. July
l." and says:
On Sunday morning. July 3, our watch
ing ships lay rolling in the easy surges of
the entrance of the harbor of Santiago.
Their distances from the guarded haven
varied from four to six thousand yards,
and there, with an unsparing alertness.
| they waited for that promised dash, which
all hoped for but feared might never
come.
A little after three bells in the forenoon
watch the inspection of the ship had
been concluded and as Lieutenant Van
Duzer, the officer of the watch. was re-
ieving the navigating officer, Lieutenant
Scheutze. then officer of the deck he
heard a quick cry to call the captain. fol-
lowed by a shout, There come the Span
iards out of the harbor."
The trained eye of the alert officer had
marked the thin trail of drifting smoke
and before the signals. Clear ship for
4
Spanish vessels. rushing in Line ahead
were seen darting around Socapa Point
for the open sea.
In a moment all was hustle and trained
energy. Men rushed to their quarters
guns We're trained and in less than
twenty seconds the whistling shrek of
rapid-fire gun warned the startled fleet of
the hot work awaiting. In two minutes
every gun on shipboard was cast loose,
fn- he
expected signal to fire
AT the yardarm of our battleship a
string of signal flags warned the fleet the
enemy was trying to escape. but even
before the answering pennants of the
other ships announced their understand
ing Of the message every vessel was dash
ing to the stations long before allotted for
the emergency which had come at last
1t was splendid spectacle. The Span
iards with bottled steam cleared the
harbor's mouth seemingly in a moment.
Under their eager prows a column of
foam whitened the long pillows and their
bubbling wakes left furrow as straight
and sharp as a racing yacht making a
winning run for the finish line
Their course was shaped for the west
ward. but as fast as they sped in their
desperate break for freedom, faster flew
the shells of the pursuing Americans.
The first heavy shell from the Iowa's
battery fell short. and then. by a lucky
mischance so did the second, but after
ward the rain of shot fell surely and un-
sparingly upon the fleeing foe
Not a whit behind in this eager fusil-
lade roared the batteries of the Spanish
ships. Their port broadsdes famed and
grumbled. but II was more splendid
display of fireworks than a successful eff
fort to damage the unharmed targets of
the Yankee ships. In fifteen minutes af-
ter they We're discovered the four Span
ish armored cruisers had cleared the
wide entrance and five minutes later the
torpedo boat destroyers hugging the
beach and seeking the sheltering broad
side of their sister ships. flew into the
turmoil of the action.
At this time every gun of the Ameri-
can squadron that could be brought to
bear was pumping projectiles into the
enemy. In an instant IL almost seemed
one ship of the Vizcaya class burst into
flames, caused. undoubtedly. by a long
sure shot from the Oregon or the Texas
A minute later a Pinch projectile sent
from her forward turret struck the flag
ship Maria Teresa near her aftersmoke
pipe. A tremendous explosion followed
Then she was shrouded in smoke and
was lighted with lurid flames: and then
when the powder cloud blew down the
wind she was seen helm hard a-port
rushing for the beach.
Twenty-Five minutes after the first
ship had been sighted half the Spanish
fleet had surrendered or was on fire.
As our vessels rushed toward ths9n
every ship was hulled time and again.
and it almost seemed. in the sureness and
directness of our batteries as il it were
the target practice of a Summer morn
ing, and not the annihilation of a saua-
dron
Even this interval would have been
shortened measurably. for aiding them
and hindering US was the cloud of smoke
which concealed. and at the best only
half revealed the wrecked enemy
II was a grand sad sight. n pathetic
one to seamen who know how much pa
tient thought and patriotic effort had
gone into the construction of these splen-
did vessels. now lying. bruised and burn
ing. on the shores they had hoped 10 de-
fend.
There was no time however. to indulge
in emotions of sympathy or of pity. for
still rushing eagerly westward closely
followed by the New York, and at a fur
ther distance by the Indiana. came the
torpedo destroyers.
In the hot eagerness of destruction we
turned loose our smaller guns on these
loudly heralded and ineffective craft. and
finally by lucky hit dropped I2-inch
shell into the bow of the leading de-
stroyer. At the same instant the little
Hist was rapidly closing upon them.
pouring sickening fire into their frag-
lie huHs.
The Gloucester Joined in this splendid
assault, and so sure and SO effective was
their raid Of fapid-fire projec.aes that
both torpedo boats swung their helms
hard aport ran for the shore. and buried
what was left of them among the pitiless
rocks of the coast.
Il
after the other Spanish ships. then about
four miles ahead. and busy with hot re-
plies to the determined assault of the |
Oregon, Texas and Brooklyn
bending every energy to overtake the |
Colon. which was then five miles away. |
and perhaps two miles ahead in a direct |
line. ard mile and half further in |
shore. we picked up the flying Vizcaya
The game must have seemed up to her |
then, for with a quick turn to starboard |
she ran shoreward. and we saw in an in |
stant that she was flaming fore and aft. |
A beautiful Spanish flag floating from her /
gan. and another higher still. from her |
maintopmast head, showed her to be the
flagship of the second in command She |
Jagged heavily in the water; no longer
did she carry a bone in her teeth. and |
her foaming wake was gone
When we drew near we saw something
had gone amiss with her. for Just as we |
swung with touch of our helm to give
her finishing broadsde the beautiful |
flags drifted from truck and gaff end and |
the white flag of surrender went up and !
the cheers of our ship went with it.
We stopped our engines when close |
aboard and hoisted out our boats to save !
her people. We received on board $50 of |
her crew, the Hist took another hundred. /
and that was all that was left of them.
for the other hapless sailors were living