The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1898-07-14


would have been most difficult to rec
ognize it as a United States battle-
ship.
Blood was all over her usually
white quarterback, and 272 naked
men were being supplied with water
and food by those who few minutes
before had been using a rapidfire on
them. Finally came two boats with
Captain Eulate, commander of the
VizcaYa, for whom chair was lower
ed over the side, as he was evidently
wounded. The captains guard of
marines was drawn up on the quar-
ter-deck to salute him and / stood
waiting TO welcome him. As the chair
was placed on the deck the marines
presented arms. Captain Euiate
slowly raised himself in the chair
saluted me with grave dignity, un-
buckled his sword belt, and, holding
the hilt of the sword before him,
kissed it reverently, with tears in his
eyes, and then surrendered it to me.
"Of course, | declined to receive his
sword, and, as the crew of the Iowa
saw this they cheered like wild men.
As | started to take Captain Eulate
into the cabin to let the doctors eX-
anime his wounds the magazine on
board the Nizcaya exploded with a
tremendous burst of flame. Captain
Eulate, extending his hands, said:
'Adios. Vizcaya. There goes my
beautiful ship, Captain, and so we
passed on into the cabin, where the
doctor dressed his three wounds. In
the meantime 30 officers of the Viz
caya had been picked up beside 272
of her crew. Our wardrOom and
steerage officers gave up their state
rooms and furnished food, clothing
and tobacco to those named officers
from the Vizcaya. The paYmaster
issued uniforms to the naked sailors,
and each was given all the corned
beef, coffee and hardtack he could
eat The war had assumed another
aspect.
"As | knew the crews of the first
two ships wrecked had not been Wis
tied, by any of our vessels, l ran down
to them. | found the Gloucester,
with Admiral Cervera and number
of his officers aboard, and also a large
number of wounded, some in a fright
fully mangled condition. Many pris-
oners had been killed on shore by the
fire of the Cubans. The Harvard
came off, and | requested Captain
Cotton to go in and take off the crews
of the Iufanta Maria Teresa and the
Almirante Oquendo, and by midnight
the Harvard had 976 prisoners aboard,
a great number of them wounded.
For courage and dash, there is nc
parallel in history to this action of
the Spanish Admiral. He came, as
he knew, to absolute destruction
There was one single hope: that was
that the Cristobal Colon would steam
faster than the Brooklyn. The spec.
tacle of the two torpedo boat destroy
ers, paper shells at best, deliberately
steaming out in broad daylight in the
face of the fire of battle ship, can
only be described in one way: 1t was
Spanish and it was ordered by Blan-
co. The same must be said of the
entire movement.
I'm contrast to this Spanish fashion
was the cool, deliberate Yankee work
The American squadron was without
sentiment apparently. The ships
went at their Spanish opponents and
literally tore them to pieces. But the
moment the Spanish flag came down
it must have been evident that the
sentiment was among the Americans,
not among the Spaniards.
Il took Admiral Cervera aboard
the Iowa from the Gloucester, which
had rescued him from the dead, and
received him with a full admiral's
guard. The crew of the Iowa crowded
aft over the turrets, half naked and
black with powder. as Cervera stepped
over the side bare-headed Over his
undershirt he wore a thick suit of
flannel, borrowed from Lieutenant
Commander Wainright of the Glou-
cester. The crew cheered vociferous-
ly. Cervera is every inch an Admiral,
even If he had not any hat. He sub
mitted to the fortunes of war with a
grace that proclaimed him a thor
oughbred."
Captain Evans is intensely proud
of his ship and her men. The Iowa
fired 81 12-inch, 4S S-inch, 270 4-inch,
1860 6-pound and 120 1-pound shots.
THE officers of the Vizcaya said
they simply could not hold their crews
at the guns on account of the rapid
fire poured upon them. The decks
were flooded with water from the fire
hose, and blood from the wounded
made this dark red. Fragments of
bodies floated in this along the gun
deck. Every instant the crack of ex-