Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1898-06-10

States ships, which are not armored
vessels, they would have Jared rather
badly.
The wardroom of the Olympia was
turned into sick bay and the chaplain
and some others who were on duty
there had narrow escape They were
watching the progress of the fight
through large port holes when
A SEVEN-POUND SHOT
fired at 1900 yards range, exploded
against the side of the ship. The chap
lain received a few. scratches. At
range of 1000 yards this would have
exploded in the wardroom and done
tremendous damage.
The day of the fight was a perfectly
beautiful Sunday, an ideal first of May
The sky was clear, the sun was pour
ing down its scorching rays. and the
bay was like a large blue lagoon. AS
the sun went down in the west it Show
ed up the poor battered hulls and with
cred tunnels and masts of Spanish
ships. Far away on Bacoor shore, the
Isla de Mindao, destroyed by the Con-
cord sent up huge column of smoke
broken from time to time by myriads
of sparks and long tongues of fame as
bulkhead after bulkhead collapsed and
the fire spread from stem to stern. At
| Cavite the wooden hull of the old Cas-
tilla burnt and smouldered long into
the night, sending up into the midnight
air lurid glare, beside which all other
the arsenal, seemed puny guttering
flashlights.
The gradual destruction of the arse
nal was long drawn out series of
pyrotechnics. About eight o'clock a
! tremendous explosion occurred, the
flames shooting up into the air about
100 feet and for many seconds later
loud thunderous roar travelled across
the bay. 1t was fine spectacle, terri
BILE in its exemplification of the disas-
trous effects of modern warfare The
Maine disaster had been terribly aven-
ged.
The Spanish admiral, when the Reina
! Cristina caught fire, transferred his
! flag to the Isle de Cuba Finding the
American fire too hot he considered it
useless to further expose the lives of
! his men and gave the signal
'SCUTTLE AND ABANDON
None of the Spanish vessels struck
their colors. All went down with the
. proud flag Of CASTLE flying at the main
Commodore Dewey had not even the
satisfaction of capturing his brave adj
versaries. Admiral Montejo was in
the arsenal when the bombardment of
Cavite occurred. With the remainder
OF his officers and men the admiral,
who had been slightly wounded in the
left thigh by an iron splinter, escaped
by the road to Manila
A survey of the remnants of the Span
ish fleet after their surrender revealed
a sight of desolatioa. Three large
cruisers, eight gunboats and two tor
pedo boats had been sunk. In the
smoking hulks of the remainder of the
fleet floating everything was in the
greatest confusion, a large number of
crews having deserted and left articles
of great value behind Dead bodies
and wounded men were also strewn
about the decks and bodies We're float
ing in the water. A large number of
Americans sustained slight injuries
from splinters, but nothing of seri-
GUS consequence.
The naval arsenal at Cavite, con-
trary to previous reports, is well equip
ped with the latest types of munitions
of war and the stores are well filled
with coal The mining of the chan
nels in Manila harbor was considered
by officers a regular farce. One of the
channels was five miles wide and too
deep for any mines or torpedoes to be
laid.
After the cessation of hostilities the
Baltimore and Raleigh sailed down
the channel between Corregidor Bay
and the mainland and the officers were
afterwards told that the Spaniards in
the forts, which had ceased to modest
the Americans, had 5Hsen holding up
their hands in horror and fear of the
result. IF the channel had been min
ed" said one of the officers, sit had
not been mined by experts The
sight of another man-of-war in the
offing
RAISED THE PROSPECTS
of another fight, but she was discover
ed to be a French man of war which
had gone down to Manila to look after
the welfare of the French nation.
Very little damage was done to the
American feet. Four or five shots
struck the Baltimore and some of them
had taken very cratic courses.
A sad incident occurred aboard the
revenue cruiser Hugh McCuplloch. AS
the squadron was making its way
through the south channel between
Corregidor Island and the mainland