The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1898-05-14

Another Account of the Fight at Car
denas-The City Partly Burned.

ON BOARD THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
DISPATCH BOAT KATE SPENCER, off
Cardenas, May Is (via Key West 1.-THE AS
ISOLATED Press dispatch boat Kate Spencer
this morning reached the scene of the
heartbreaking fight which occurred on
Wednesday between the little torpedo boat
Winslow and the three Spanish gunboats.
supported by shore batteries and several
hundred Spanish riflemen, in Cardenas har-
bcr. The gunboat Wilmington, whose four
inch shells at last silenced the guns of the
enemy and allowed the torn, blood-smeared
and powderbegrimed torpedo boat to be
hauled off by the little converted revenue
cutter Hudson, was lying majestically in
side the lower bay in command of the sit
uation. At the upper end of the harbor the
partly burned city of Cardenas, set on fire
by the Wilmingtons shells, still smoldered,
while within a cables length lay the ruins
of the signal station upon Diana Cay,
which had been destroyed after the en-
gagement by force of marines from the
Machias.
Words cannot express the praise which
Captain Todd and the officers of the Will
mington bestowed upon Lieutenant Berna-
dou for the gallant manner in which he
handled and fought the Winslow as she lay
a cripple, exposed to the pitiiess fire which
was concentrated upon her; nor their keen
regret for the death of Ensign Bagley and
the men who fell at his side. Reckless it
may have been to send the Winslow into
the jaws of such a death trap; but bold
men at sea in active service can no more
resist the spirit of adventure than can the
small boy restrain the impulse to stir up a
hornets nest with stones. 1t is such fire
test as Lieutenant Bernadou endured that
singles out the famous sea captains of the
future.
Cardenas bay in which the encounter
took place. is picturesque harbor, seventy
miles west of Havana. 1t is broad and shall
low, with two jutting fargs of land close
at the mouth and picket line of coral keys
outside, and its surface is studded with
other green-crowned keys. through which
the tortuous channel, scarce two fathOms
deep. winds and twists its way to where
the city of CardenaS lies nestled under the
angle OF the sloping hills, fully seven miles
from the entrance
The Spaniards, since the blockade was in
augurated, have gradually withdrawn,
abandoning their lighthouse at the entrance
to the bay, and destroying all the buoys
and other aids to navigation as they went.
Two sloops, whose naked spars emerge from
the water, were sunk in the main channel
to prevent the entrance of invading ships,
but the Spaniards left enough space between
the Instructions to allow the passage of a
friendly vessel. if such could get through
the blockade, provided it was guided from
the signal station in operation in Diana
bay Until Wednesday it was supposed, also,
that mines had been planted.
When Captain Todd, of the Wilmington
and Commander Merry, of the Machias, de-
cided to run into the harbor on Wednesday
it was with the intention of destroying the
signal station and rounding up the three
little gunboats which had chased the Wins
low to the mouth of the harbor on Sunday
The American ships went in with the Wins
low in the van, the Hudson next. followed
by the Wilmington, and the Machias bring
ing up the rear. The Machias, however
which draws thirteen feet, soon found the
water too shallow and gave it up The
Wilmington, which draws but d fraction
over nine feet, steamed to within 1880 yards
of the water front of the city. when her keel
scraped and she could go no further. The
Winslow, followed closely by the Hudson.
ton. The three Spanish gunboats, which
had been sighted sneaking about among the
keys when the ships entered the harbor
considering discretion the better part of
Valor, had skunk away, and when the Will
mington grounded Were huddled like storm
driven sheep to the shelter of the WharVeS
and moleS which line the water front.
Captain Todd signaled the Winslow TO
proceed and she moved forward until within
less than 1000 yards of the gunboatS, and
some of the Wilmington's officers say the
distance was less than 800 yards. 1t was
then that the first shot was fired, whether
from one of the gunboats or from gun
mounted in of the warehouses on shore
reports conflict. 1t may have been the first
shot, it certainly was among the first three,
that carried away the steam steering gear
of the WinSlow. and a minute later, while
the quartermaster was engaged in hooking
up the hand gear, it too was shot away, the
explosion of the shell severely wounding the
quartermaster in the breast The WinSow
at the very outset of the engagement which
lasted over an hour, was therefore almost
helpless, wreck at the mercy of the gum
boats and shore batteries, whose firing was
searching her VitaS. But the intrepid COM
mander, severely wounded in the leg though
he was from a piece of a shell that ex-
= oar oil
stopped the flow of blood by means of
tourniaua, frightened with loaded one
pound shell. and remained puckily at his
post, directing the fire of the Winslow's one
Founders and maneuvering his little craft
as best he could by means of her screw
propellers. With the fire from the gunboatS,
the guns mounted in warehouses and fusil-
lade of Mauser rifles, the air was as full
of lead as a shot tower.
The Wilmington Steaming back and forth
across the line over radius of LOCO yards,
was smashing four-pound shells into the
warehouses and dropping them over the
moles, behind which were gunboats. AS her
broadsides swung she let go starboard and
then port. Her machine guns in her tops
We're useless at the distance. The little
HUDSON, with her siX-pounders, stood loyal
ly by the Winslow throughout the action,
but the Spanish fire was almost entirely
concentrated on the WinslOw. A perfect
death hail fell upon her. The projectiles
from the Spanish guns went through her
several times, putting both her forward
boilers and engine out of commission.
which We're being used.
The accuracy of the Spanish gunners in
this case is accounted for by the fact that
buoys in concentric circles have been To-
Gated in the upper bay to give them an ex-
act range: When their guns were trained
on the Wilmington they either overshot or
their shells fell short. Fragments of BURST
in6 Shells however, were time and again
showered upon the decks of the Hudson and
Wilmington, but not man was touched
aboard either ship nor a piece of rigging
carried away. Two dents We're found on
the Wilmington near the port bow after tine
action. but Captain TODD thinks they were
made by shells bursting in-shore. He says
he fired over a hundred shots before the
guns were silenced.
Tho shore guns used smokeless powder
the flashes AS the fire of the Wilmington
was directed at them and at the gunboats
lying in the shelter of the moles, many of
her shells plowed their way through the
lower part of the city which was all abIaze
when the action ceased and the Hudson
towed out the crippled torpedo boat. The
fire spread through the city and for half
the night the lurid glare of burning build
ings dyed the heavens a blood red. Far
out at the crimson glow must have
been seen by the Hudson as she sorrowful-
ly bore the dead and wounded back to Key
West. Considering the fact that a perfect
storm of shot and shell was being poured
in upon the WinSloW, the officers of the
Wilmington consider her escape from COM
plete destruction little short of miraculous
Had any of her torpedoes exploded or had
the shot which penetrated her forward
boiler passed through the one in use she
would have been blown to atoms.
The engagement seems to have demon
strated the advantage of the of smoke
less powder in shore batteries in the pres
ent state of naval warfare which involves
fact that the Spaniards. unless their har-
bors are mined or the range accurately de-