The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1898-08-16
ENEMY HAD THE RANGE
AND THEIR SHELLS SCREA Il
ABOUT TIE SHIPS.
SAN FRANCISCO ALONE WAS TOUCHED
And the Damage Done her was 'rlfi'ng-- Ihree
of our Vessels Were in Range, and
There Were Twenty Two Shells
brown.

Key West. Fla. August 80 p. NJ
The flagship San Francisco, the monitor
Niantonomah and the auxiliary yacht
Sylvia were fired upon by the Havana
batteries shortly before > o'clock ycster-
day morning. One ten or twelve men
shell struck the San Francisco's stern
as she turned to get out Of range, ana
tore a hole about Il foot i'll diameter,
completely wrccking Commodore How
ellis quarters and smashing his book case
to fragments. Nobody was injured, and,
being under orders not to attack the bat
tcrics. the ships rctrcatcd as last us
their engines would carry them.
The flagship and the SYLVIA lay parallel
to each other not more thar Il mile from
MORO Castle. and separated from each
other by Il distance of three
Fights and one quarter OF . mile. The
Miantonumah lay about three quarters
of Il mile to the rear Of the others. All
were within range Of the Spanish bat
tcricS. and the temptation was too strong
to he resisted.
While the ships of the Havana block
AIDE squadron have been keeping at Il
distance Of six miles or more during day
light they nave been accustomed to draw
ing in much closer ut night. MORO
Castle light has burned steadily through
out. Scrvin" as Il good beacon for the
American ships.
Thursday evening the WarShipS of the
squadron Immediately off Havana were
the San Francisco, Sylvia and the Man
onomah and with %nightfall they drew
in closer to the shore than ever before,
and took positions rs before stated. All
night the ships rolled ut thor stations
with lights out. according to the block
AIDE regulations. Another twelve hours
of drcary duty had passed with the
same u~nvarying monotOny, and what
happened soon afterwards was as I'M
expected as it was unwelcomc.
The first gIimmcr of dawn was break
ing through the Eastern skies when
without an i%nstant'S warning the look
out on the flagship saw a jet of smoke
puff from one of Morro'S big guns. Al
most before he could pun himself to-
gethcr sufficiently to make Il report of
the incident ten and twelve inch shells
were screaming all around the ships.
The SpaniardS had the range, and ap-
%parcntly were grimly in earnest in tLL"ir
last efforts to wrcak injury on their too
mighty enemy. 1t was. however, almost
as futile an effort as III 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.
IT was then that the shell struck the
San Francisco's stern and sent its frag-
mentS into the after cabin. Wrccking
Commodore Ilowcll's library. The COM
modorc was on deck with Captain LCary
when the shell struck.
The Miantonomah was in less danger
tran the two other ships. being farther
out to sea; bat when the firing com
mcnced they all moved out about three
miles. Here the men on the flagship
were speedily put to work patching the
ragged hole which a shell had torn in
the San Francisco's stern. The damage
was found to be tritling.
All the shells fred at the vessels were
from ten or twelve inch guns, and there
were exactly - 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. Ne
attempt was made to return the fire.
the hlockadin@ squadron being undo
specific orders not to make any sort OF
demonstration against Havana partak
ing of the nature of an attack. Even il
such had not been the case it would
have been almost suicidal for the three
ships, one of them q yacht, to have
faced such odds as the land hatteric,
offered. The big turrct guns of the
Miantonomah and the San FranciSco'>
main battery of 6-inch guns could have
done much damage: but the Spaniard>
had the range, and to attempt to combat
tho almost i~mprcGnablc Qualifications o
Havana would have been hopeless.
The onc-sidcd engagement had scarcely
ended when Captain BelIcrs was givcl
a packet of private documents whicl
he was ordered to take into IIavan;
undo Il flag of truce. This was don,
without incident, the Sylvia deliycrin:
them to the officer of the Spanish gun
boat Martin \. Pinzon.
The big Spanish transatlantic line
Montscrrat is still bottled UP in Ma
tanZas harbor.