The Houston daily post. [volume] (Houston, Tex.) 1886-1903, 1898-05-20
THE JACKlES LAUGHED
AIM or THE PORTO RICO FORTS
So WAS VERY DEFECTIVE.
The Sailors Paid No Attention 10 II
Whntevcr-Thc Bravery of the
Dctroits Crew.

Key West. Fla. May 19.-An onlookor
OF the honbordment OF the Notifications at
Porto Rico on May IL b the fleet OF Rear
Admiral sampcon gave the following de-
tails OF that engagement. He said
The most remarkable feature about the
bcmbardment was the escape of the fleet
with so few casualties. The enemy's tire
was heavy and continuous. and the cleva-
| ton Of their batteries gave them ire
incrdous advantage. How they missed
| hitting the ships no one understands Their
shots fell ell around and their guns mad
capacity for twice the range. yet they only
Handed two projectiles with any serious
effect The San Juan battle strengthens
tho opinion that well placed batteries are
hard task for a floet to overcome When
properly manned.
The smoke was dense. Drifting In front
of the turrets 1t made the handlers OF the
| big guns liable to lose all sight OF land.
| The admiral and his assistant chief OF
| stan, stanton. were on the superstruc-
| ture on the lee of the coming tower. They
| did not go inside the coming tower which
| VIII probably not be used IN action unless
| tnt Hlt IN tOHllHR rum DUN dlutSs ~ IuI
| 1t has proved rather useless institution.
On the forecastle in the Ice of tho forward
| Finch turret were Lieutenant Marsh. dag
secretary, aud En8ign Bclnett, flag leu
| tenant, both Of whom with Stanton, &c
companled the admiral from the New YORK.
Bernet had signal 5uoys with him. His
| flags In their canvas bags were made fast
with u line which ran loosely around the
turret barbotte. This was TO prevent them
| from ben.g SHOT overheard.
| 1T TOOK about four brcadgldes TO wake
| the Spaniaidj up In the mcnntlme great
| yollowish clouds were rising from tho hill
| side. marking whore our shells had fallen.
| Then few puffs of white smoke tame
| from Eooks OF bluffs. The water spUrtal
4 few hundred yards from the Iowa and
| everyone was glad. because every one knew
the enemy was returning the ire Before
the jacks had been gum. by this time
the smoke was heavy. Marine glasses had
to be wiped every few minutes. The mems
faces were grlmy and their mouths were
bitter from the saltpeter. Wner tho biz
guns in the turrot were fired II seemed cs
II the ship vas almost drawn rom the
water In strnlning effort TO follow the
rrojectil's as they wh:zed sh0rcward. Be
sides. the lndinuaG port side looked like
huge fork her own smoke completely
hiding her starboard side.
when the Iowa turned TO 40 back TO
the starting point the entire line WINS ca
gagged The New York. stately standing
high out of the water and showing alt her
efacelulness, hut making an easy target,
slowly ran the gauntlet Of two mles
while the tnemy's hre was at the hot
test two tackles stood a. the Iowas bows
without any cover, heaying the lead. They
worked irst as calmly as If in New York
harhor.
They can't hi MS, by George snng om
one of the men. Just then shell whihhcd
by. Rig line to that thing laughed the
nna In the chains pointing derislvuly to
the water that spurtcd up fifty yards away
THE feature most discussed was the
wonderful pluck Of the Detroit aud her
marvellous escape from being hit. Shells
simply raincd around hcr rs she lay with.
In 800 yards OF the forts and hlazed away
with her 5-inoh battery.
The Amphitrite's trouble with her aft
tnr,ctS was caused by an accident to the
| gear which supplies the turret power
Several light accidents occurred In the
| ships. but on the whole they were not Az
numerous as generally happens during
heavy target practice.
The strain on the men was rather hoavy.
| The sun was intensely hot The work done
by the engineer officers even in the IN
tense heat can not be too highly praised
Tho firing OF the monitors seemed hard.
W up tc tho r'ark of the other ships. the
heavy swell causing thm trouble ANA pre-
venting any degree Of accuracy OF aim"