The sun., 1898-05-29
HAVANA; IT'S DEFENCES
Plenty of Good Guns on the Water
Front ifThey Were Properly
Handled.


Front if fThey Were Properly
Handled.
!, The defences of Havana, as shown b,
he latest information in the hands O
Rear Admiral Sampson which has bee,
published, are sufficient to make tn,
city nearly mpregnable if the guns wer
supplied with proper ammunition ant
well handled.
within two miles and a half of th,
main part Of the city there are mounted
along the coast nine l2-inch rifles, ter
lGlnch rifles, eight short S.27-inch guns
two S-lnch rifles, and four 6-inch guns
besides numerous cannon of smaller
callore and more or less antiquated pat.
tern. At Cabanas Castle, half wav
through the mile-long narrow entrance
to the big harbor of Havana are fiftv.
nine old-fashioned muzzle-loading can.
non and five l0-inch mortars, equally
antlquated. Perhaps the most effective
battery OF the lot is one that is about a
mile and quarter to the west of the en-.
trance of the harbor where five l2-incb
guns have recently been erected.
The range of these guns. properly
handled, is greater than that of any an
attacking fleet could bring to bear, be-
cause the gunner on shore can elevate
the mug lie OF his piece far more than is
posslble'for the gunner afoat. There are
two more Pinch guns two miles west of
the harbOr entrance, and still another
pair OF them a little over mile to the
east. These are understood to be all of
them flrst-rate modern guns and should
have an effective range of seven miles.
AT least, that is what the American gun
ners at Sandy Hook say they can get out
Of their l2-inch rifles.
There is a formidable battery, COM
posed of guns whose calibre and power
IS not known, at little promontorv lass
than mile from the mouth of the har.
Dor, and Admiral SIMPSONS map shows
a continuous string Of batteries toward
the west. Since the information on
which this map was based was received,
1t Is known that much other work has
beeH done for the defence of Havana.
Back half mile from the coast, at about
the distance of mile and a half from
the mouth of the harbor and to the west,
Is the old fortress San Nazario 1t is not
supposed to have any guns that are at all
enectlVe. quarter OF mile behind it
is Principal Castle. The Spanish resi-
dent OF Havana is very fond of telling
the stranger that the guns in these two
old forts could pulverize the entire town
II the enemy should succeed in invading
1t, and could then hold out for an in.
deilnlte time as a sort of citadel ior the
fleeing residents. As matter of fact.
they are not much better fitted for such
duty than those on Castle Williams
would be to destroy New York.
AS Tor the famous Moro Castle and La
Punta, ON the opposite sides of the
mouth of the harbor, they are hardly
worth the powder it would take to blow
them up. La Punta has, it is believed,
some embankments which mask a lot of
small calbre rifles. Moro is nothing
more than signal tower, dungeon,
and picturesque relic of the days when
Havana was periodically assaied by
pirates. 1t is hardly necessary to say
that the harbor OF Havana is known to
be full OF mines and torpedces. The |
crisis began with the most ac-
curate of information in this particular.
The main part Of the city of Havana,
where the Government buildings, hotels,
theatres, warehouses and stores are stu
ated, IS but little larger than that part of
the borough OF Manhattan south of
Duane street.
This part OF Havana is built on blunt
peninsula which has the Gulf of Mexico
for its northern boundary and the mar.
row-necked harbor on its northeast
corner. The harbor itself, which isthree
miles in circumference, is on the east and
southeast side. To the west along the
seashore there are miles of dwellings, the
ample, substantially built homes OF the
wealthy. These are part of the city, al
though the maps do not indicate them.
They are called the vedado, and, as lnay
be seen from the navy map of the cty's
lefences, are everywhere surrounded by
batteries.
That part of the city usually spoken of
rs the suburbs, ,howeveri is the rowof villas
md more or less pretentious residences
scattered four or five miles or more along
he Calzeda del Cerro and Calzeda Girls
ina. These widen out at short intervals
nto considerable towns. The summer
home of the Governor-General is in this
part of the city. Directly across the rar-
'ow neck of the bay from the main city
s the Casa Blanco, where are the main {
barracks. On the southeastern side of
he big harbor is the suburb of Regia,
where are the railroad terminus and big
II
The approach to the city from the sea l
displays Havana to imposing advantage. t
The houses of the old city, as that part s
Which was originally surrounded by {
vail is called, were built almost al
ogether of limestone and marble.
The palaces of the luxurious Spanish t
merchants and Governmental officials
we're erected on the same scale and plan
hat their builders would have adopted {
II Spain. r
The residences, most of them two c
tories in height, are built around central s
ourtyards, which have pools of running t
Vater, surrounded by dark foliage, palms |
nd walls painted in every conceivable j
of brilliant colors.
The Spaniard in Cuba never lacks t
lopey-he would not have gone to Cuba il
'ith any other purpose than to gather it t.
q. a
The prevailing solidity Of construction {
nd the small extent to which wood has
cen used in the principal buildings s
lake old Havana to a certain extent an t
xpensive place ESQ far as expenditure Of