The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1898-08-03
ST. PAUL BOY N9MANzAN1LLo.
George II. Austin Writes To tn.
Globe

GEORGE III. Austin Writes To the
Globe.
George II. Austin, of St. Paul. who
enlisted in the navy March 81. was as
signed to duty as an ordinary seaman
on board the U. S. S., Osceola. one of
two of the smaller BOATS of the navy
1 INA mao an exciting, experience at
Manzaril!o. Mr.. Austin, in a letter to
The G o e, under date of Daiuuire
Cuba, July ~, tells the story of Their
getting into and .outl';of a trap. His
letter is as follows:
having nothing to do at tt, pr, sent time
nerer which think the mos D lular in ST
Paul, I thought l would give a minor ar.
count on on ia LITTLE engagement We had at
west of Santiago de Cuba.
we LETT Guantanamo at IL o'clock in the
evening of June a., for Santiago. to receive
orders on the 18th and then we left for Cape
Cruze. We were ordered to do b oc>a div
I tIere, Wnen we arrived We hailed the
that inside the harbor of Manzani:lo there
we're coupe of Spanish gun boats ard as
they were old ones we thought we could cap
tnre the town easy. We laid around Cape
Cruze for while and then. put off for Mar
zanil.o: Fhe water was very shallow and We
could not find suitable channel to go in
SO we went back to where we had left the
Hcrnet and she was ret there. Instead we
iCurd the Scorpion, n cha ge of Lieut. Condo
Mark. We hailed her land told the lieuten-
ant about Manzanillo. She conc uded to go
in with US and we went back, and on July 1
we found the chanrel1and sailed into the
harbor: The city presented fine picture
s [tm the -, distance Iea There We're lot Of
the prize money which eac, en- of our sips
crew would get. AS We C. M c'ose we found
that instead of two old gunhcats there wtre
four fine gun boats and large white ship
which looked like one of GU old receiving
beats. No doubt it was a S2aIislh receiving
ship shd co When we saw this Let. Mark, Of
said: All hands at their guns and ready
for action
The Scorpion had a far heavier battery
! than ours. Her battery consisted Of four
fve-inch guns and eight siX-pound guns
while the Osceola had two six FOUNDERS a
one three-pounder. We went ahead at four
| ten or eleven shore batteries opened fire on
us with big guns. We stopped there, giving
them the best we could for a half lou: or
mere.
we turned our bows out. The shot and shell
were dropping on all sides of us If ore
been the last of us, as the Osceola is o ly an
ocean tug boat What saved us from being
utterly destroyed was that one of the gun
I beats fired the first shot at us, If they had
| kept quiet they would have had US RICH .
! under their nose We went in expecting to
| take the place, but did not think for mo-
ment OF the surprise they gave us.
'sThere is something comical in every en-
| gagement and it happened in this one. A
| shell exploded close to the Scorpion and a
piece from it struck some tiles ard .glanci g
| dropped right into the middle OF pie in the
| galley. The cook felt mortified over 1t. All
the glass on the Scorpion was broken and
| the small boats were smashed from the con-
| cussion of the guns
| 1--WE came out of the eng cement decidedly
| lucky, no one hurt in either ship, ard we
| congratulated ourselves, but determined to
| come in again with a couple OF gun boats.
We left the place and 1t was our luck to
| capture barge loaded down with provisions
for the spaniards. It's value was estimated
| at $50 600. We lowed the barge back to
| Guantanamo, coaled up and then came here
| to get water, with orders to wait off San
| tiago We expect however, to act as p lot fer
a couple of gun boats into Manzanilio
and this time we will capture the place."