Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1898-07-10
THE SPANISH WRECKS
CERyERA's ONCE-FINE FLEET NOW
ONLY CHARNEL-HOUsEs.
DESOLATION, RUIN, And DEATH.
Horrible Pictures Presented by the
Interiors OF the Huge Steel Collins
Burial of Some of the Dead by
Americans
A Americans.

Copyright 1898. by the Associated Press)
OFF SANTIAGO DE CUBA, July Z, by
the Associated Press Dispatch-Boat
| Dauntless. via PORT ANTONIO, July S.
by way of KINGSTON, July s, H. 80 p.
| M.-The vessels which composed Admiral
| Cervera's squadron, converted into wreck
ed charnel-houses, are littering the Cuban
coast, and the scenes they present Of DESC
! lation, ruin, horror, and death battle de-
| scription.
At the entrance to the harbor of San
| tiago lies the Reina Mercedes, sunk at
midnight, July 3. Westward, five miles
from the harbor, is a torpedo-boat de-
| stroyer, stuck fast in the rocks, close in
shore, and battered by the surf Rocks,
jutting out of the water just in front of
where she lies, hide her hull from view.
Her dayits and the top of her coming
tower alone mark her resting-place.
SPANS FORMER PRIDE.
Visible from the sea- few miles further
west in an inlet embraced by two mighty
arms Of black rocks, that extend half a
mile into the sea, are the remains OF
the twin cruisers Infanta Maria Teresa
and Almirante OGuendo. formerly the
pride of the Spanish navy.
On beyond lies the Vizcaya a mass or
ruins, and forty-two miles away from
Santiago the Cristobal Colon lies helpless
on her sides. with her smokestacks under
water.
The Infanta Maria Teresa and the Almi-
rante Oquendo stand upright, stuck fast
on the rocky shoals. All that is left OF
them is their outer hulls. the heavy
armor defylng total anihilatlon. In
side of them the work of destruction IS
complete. Their boilers, engines, bunk
ers and magazines have been blown into
unrecOgnizable masses of twisted, melted
iron. Exploded shells, burned rifles, and
revolvers, pieces Of yellow brass-work.
and gold and silver coin, melted by the
intense heat, are strewn all over the re-
mains of the once proud armored cruisers,
whose protective decks only stand in |
places.
HORROR OF THE SIGHT.
But the most shastly, horrible sight in |
those silent steel collins are the mangled. |
SCARED, and charred bodies Of hundreds I
of brave sailors. sacrificed for their coun-
try. Buzzards are feeding or the dead.
and others are lowering over the wreck. |
on the beach other fiocks of vultures
sit in silence, waiting for the sea to give
up its dead. Every tide adds 10 the tale
of horror. washing up such objects as.
for instance, a sleeve enclosing wasted
arm. others portions of human bodies
gnawed by sharks and countless relies of
the battle.
Attention has been given to the burial
OF the dead of the enemy, and over 100
bodies taken from the ships or washed
ashore have been inferred upon the beach.
by Rear-Admiral SIMPSONS orders.
Those which now remain are either al
most totally consumed by fire, charred
beyond recognition. or lie in the depths
Of the sea. These form the food Of the
buzzards, which keep constant vigil all
about the wrecks.
The buried remains lie in a confused
mass, unnumbered and unnamed. in a
huge pit dug in the sandy beach. where
he vessels went ashore. A rude wooden
,ross from the wreckage alone marks the
grave. grave over which Spain may
we'll mourn.
SPANISH LOOTERS.
Copyright. 1898. by the Associated Press)
WITH THE FLEET OFF SANTIAGO
DE- CUBA, July s. noon. by the Asso-
Hated Press dispatch-boat Cynthia H..
ia PORT ANTONIO. July 9. 10 A. NJ, by
vay of KINGSTON. JAMAICA, July 8.
OILS A. M.-Boat-erews from the Texas
I'D the Associated Press dispatch boat
anded this morning on the wrecks OF the
-Imirante oQuendo and Infanta Maria l