The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1898-08-03

and rushed after his men, distributing the
KEYS as rapidly as possible to those al
ready standing at the box-like tops Of the
magazines, the bolts of which had al
ready been loosened. The ammunition
Whips were quickly lad out ana the
men standing with their hands on
snall lever ready to turn on the current
OF the electric HOSTS, as soon as the
matches We're Off When everything was
seen 70 be clear the endless chains of the
hoistS start with the whir of the motor
ana rolled their loads of rapid-fre ammu-
milton TO the decks above where men were
stationed 60 receive it. Down the chute
OF the S-inch gun turret. as an accompani-
ment 20 the deep rumble of the turret as
II Slowly swung from amidships to the
post or starboard, comes the command,
run charges common shot" from the
officer in charge Of the turret and the an
swer quickly goes back, AYE aye, sir"
and as a response to a lower tone of
voice quick lads. lively now" up comes
the long powder tanks and heavy go
| pound shell to the base of the turret
There the shell was quickly seized in the
tones by two stalwart apprentices, raised
and rammed home in the car: the tops of
the long copper powder tanks taken off
and the powder in two sections placed i'm
the other compartments Of the car the
signal given and both cars quickly rise to
the breech of the turret guns and are sent
back, almost quickly emptied
All this preparation of getting ready &C.
| cupied a space of four minutes time. after
all the men Went below and the hatcaes
lowered and secured The heat varies
in this steel Gage from 12O to 146 degrees
Fahrenheit, and quickly causes the men
to strip to the waist and settle down to
their work In an air tight box filled with
sweltering humanity. Dindly obeying or
ders. with unquesioning obedience and
alacritY, not knowing the cause of the
alarm, whether target practice, bonn
bardment the Spanish feet or a false
| alarm. Suddenly the report of the first
gun was heard, followed in quick sue
cesSion by another. and the battle was
on. Down the HOSTS and chutes comes
the powder smoke to add to the already
nigh temperature of the handling room
followed by The hot salpetre water from
the spOnging of the guns, making the
decks slippery and burning bisters ON
the bare backs of the men underneath,
who, cropping and choking feeling their
may through the dense smoke, go silently
and obediently about their work with hut
one thought aud aim in view; to keep
those continually empty cars and hoists
filed with powder and projectiles, not
knowing how the battle is raging until
a cheer is finally heard from deck their
spirits brighten and an Old salt will eX-
claim: 4 guess they must have hit EN-
that time" Then he goes up and spits
on a large shell for good luck or as yell
is heard "Armor piercing, quick" and
the shells are quickly changed, he takes
an Old oiley rag and rubs the cap of the
proiectile, saying, ''That'll make er
bite better" and the young boy of the
new navy, who has been in the service
as many months as the old salt has
years, eXclaims to his shipmates, "Ah,
what's he given us
That was the routine of the handling
room on the Sd of July except that once
in a while the rush was broken by care
lessiy handled shell dropping. One came
down in the forward handling room when
MIR. Hancock had charge the day of the
battle. There was the low rumble as it
dropped the forty feet STAND STILL"
shouts Hancock, but the command is su-
perfuous, for if the shell had exploded
no man in that place would have seen
daylight again. It didn't explode, and as
the handlers gasped in their temporarily
departed breath a prayer went up to
heaven, and many uncomplimentary adj
jectives to the fellow in the turret between
them and heaven.
SOME OTHER HEROES.
There were other heroes that day, men
who never see the battle, but do the work
that keeps everything in the ships in mo-
ton and take risk greater than commo-
dore or captain. When the Vizcaya had
been sunk and beached that day, Capt.
Cook having been ordered by Commodore
Schley TO cease firing, called the men from
the handling rooms and the turret to
take a breath of air, while the chase of
the Colon went on. But the battle was on
for men not visible. Down beneath the
prospective, informed only of the glories
of that days fighting by Capt Cooks bull
letin, through the speaking tube, men
worked in pit below the water in tenn
perature of over 100 degrees. From the
tunnels the black smoke pouring forth
told that stokers and coal passers and
fremen We're working like fiends TO give
the ship more momentum, so that
the foe would be captured. At the
| engines Engineer Carter and his assist
ant Mr.. Patton, watched every pulsation
and encouraged the men to greater efforts
| to produce more steam. In the stoke holds
men boiled amid fierce flames that licked
out at them each time the doors opened
for coal or the long Side bars went in.
The rush of air that comes in goes out
only through the furnaces, creat,ng what
is known as forced draught" Curiously
enough, 1t is more comfortable in the stoke
hold when forced draught is called, for
then ordinarily for the extra air forced
down helps the men, as well as the fires.
The heat, however, was intense on July
8, and several times the big steel cage
opened to let out men who had tainted.
Yet the instant they were recovered, back
they went, with as much esprit de corps
as any one on deck
Slowly the Brooklyn gained on the Co
lon, until the last Spanish flag went down.
SO did the Oregon. The fire and engineers
corps of the two ships had won the day
and caught the last of the Spanish fleet.
VI DIR