Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1898-08-05
NAVAL BATTLE
In Which the Yosemite
Fought Against

\ Fort, Battery, and Three GunbOats.
and in Addition Beached Transport
Valued at S15O,OOO.-A BrattlebOrO
Boy on the Yosemite Writes TO His
Sister Of the Fight.
Orvice Il. Leonard former well known
Brattleboro boy, who left a profitable mu-
sic publishing business in Detroit to 90
nto Uncle Sans service with the Michi-
gan naval reserves, has written long and
Interesting letter to his sister, Mrs Leo
pold Rettng. 1t is dated of san Juan
Porto Rico, July S. 1t first describes the
trip there from Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
The Yosemite, the auxiliary cruiser on
which MI Leonard is stationed, relieved
The ST. Paul, Capt Sgsbee's vessel which
had fight with the torpedo boat Terror
disabling her, as is supposed. When the
st. Paul started north the Yosemite was
eft alone, the entire duty of blockad'ng
san Juan devolving upon her Mr.
Leonard writes.
Tuesday, June 18th. was the day that
will ever be vivid in my mind. Unless
lose my reason this days work will ever
Oe the memorable one of my life. About
3 S. NJ. as We were coming toward shore
from our regular night out at sea, our
lookout sighted a steamer coming from the
westward doing the coast. trying TO get in
80 the harDJr She proved To- be a vessel
of good size, and We at once gave chase.
We were both under full steam, she try
ing to head for the harbor, and We trying
10 cut between Der and the fort, heading
in shore.
We knew that our only hope lay In keep
ing ahead Of her. so as TO keep her from
getting under the fire OF the guns from the
forts. as they have a range of eight miles.
we were unfortunate in not sighting her
until She was nearer to the fort than was
good tor our position, but our duty was to
keep her from entering If possible, and as
she had a spanish flag we knew we ought
10 keep her out.
When about five miles from her we fired
a shot across her bow. trying to make her
heave to. bat she was stubborn and we
fred another in the same place, As she
still refused we fired a solid shot al her
and she chose the wiser course and headed
tor the shore. We still plugging at her and
hitting her often. When we were about
FIVE and One-hait mile, from the fort the
fort opened fire on MS and the three boats
came out from the inner harbor. and all
began firing on us. The guns at the fort
are heavy eight inch guns and are good
for eight miles. 1t takes some time for
guns of this size, al this range. 10
get good sight, bu, when they DO it is good
bye for some part of the ship.
The three boats came ont in easy range
and We are sure we did them some damage
how much We shall never know. Dur
ing our firing on the transport ship she
tried TO land some OF her troops in small
boats, and some OF them were SMASHED by
our shots. OF course we didn't know the
exact amount Of damage we did to either
transport or gun5oa,s, but the transport is
stiR on the beach and apparently useless
The winds and waves will finish The work
we started.
Surely the Lord was with US in this fight
and every man on board feels this in some
way. The most remarkable instance of
all was this. During the first of the firing
from the fort, about the time she should
have got our range tat this time she had
men posted on the hills to find orr range
with glasses a rain storm set in which hid
rs completely from the fort, and vet the
sun was shining brightly all around us. il
did seem as though the good Lord had a
hand in this fight.
a any rate We fired at at least one fort.
three gunboats and a sand battery. besides
taking care of the ship we beached. and
received shots in return from each and all
of these. You can see what odds we had
to fight against and yet strange as il NAV
seem not one shot hit a man or even hit
our ship Several hit within 30 feet and
two so near that we could feel the water
they threw.
We could hear them flying through the
air over oar heads and all around us, and
not one man was injured. No battle has
been fought in this war, and mighty few
in any war, where the odds were so great,
and yet the ship was without a scratch.
The ship We beached was the Antonis
Lopez, and she carried a rich cargo of
arms and ammunition. If we could have
met her five miles further up the coast we
could all be worth several hundred dollars
more than now.
1t is estimated that she was worth $50
900, cargo and all. This you see is a tidy
sum % distribute among a crew of this
size, even after the government had taken
its share. They fired about 10 shots at
us and we fired 332 at them.
on viii remember that at the time the
Oregon and Marietta made their remark
able run around the cape from the Pacific
The navy department was very much afraid
of the torpedo boat Terror, She is here IN
lhe harbor, but we have not seen her,
and don't want TO.
As have told you before ! am on one
of the big five-inch guns on the upper or
spar deck, THIS gun is a rapid firer,
shooting as fast as we can place the shell
in the breech and pull the lanyard.
During the fight we probably used our
gun 40 times and she became overheated,
so,much so that the muzzle became warped
then transferred to the surgeons depart
Enent, but luckily had no call. Since then
The muzzle has been sawed off, so that my
gun is again ready for business ] will
try to send you a photograph of one of
these guns, but will tell you the barrel is
five inches in diameter and about - feet
long. Shell weighs about 12j pounds
range of gun, about five miles,
SATURDAY. July IL.
We are at St. Thomas for coal and sup
plies. l have no time to finish this letter.
Good bye, and God bless you.