The San Francisco call., 1898-06-08
LICK WENT HAND IN HAND
 WITH VALOR
Continued from First Page.


 cert, ''The Star Spangled Banner" was played and sung, arousing the enthu- siasm of all hands forward and aft
 Drills were incessant and these in- cluded everything pertaining to the management of a battery in action and to the day and night signal practice.
 When the Island of Luzon was sight ed, final battle preparations were made. The ships were cleared for action. All unnecessary material was thrown over board, splinter nets were rigged and the ships put into complete fighting trim above and below
 Off Subig Bay the Boston and Con- cord were sent ahead to reconnoiter, and later the Baltimore joined them, but the quest was In vain, for nothing was found Tn this inlet except few small craft. When these ships rejoined the other vessels Commodore Dewey called a council of war, and as soon as the commanding officers returned to their ships it leaked out that the Com
  intention to enter Manila Bay that night, passing this proposed anchorage on his certainty that the Spaniards. with their fatal policy of delay, would not expect him.
 The speed of the squadron was soon increased to eight knots, and, with all lights doused. the ships draw quickly under the land. The entrance was made through the chief channel - Boca Grande it is called-and it was not until after the vessels had passed the mar rowest part of this channel that a shot greeted them. A few signal rockets had been seen previously. but neither mine nor gun had been fired.
 Shortly after II o'clock, however, the sound of heavy guns and the shriek of shot far overhead showed that the nap- ping foe had been awakened and that the first hostile shot of the war in the far east had been fired.
 The Raleigh which was third in line. returned a shot from one of her 5-inch guns, and almost at the same time the Boston followed her Then came an other shot from the battery on Corregi- dor, but high over head. and the Con- cord in answer laid 6-inch shell so squarely over the place whence this gun had been fired that the fleet felt certain something must have been hit. At any rate it stopped the, fire. We learned afterward that 1t had been most eff fective
 The speed was now reduced to below three knots, as the commodore desired to reach Manila at the earliest dawn and to give his men some rest before the stout work laid out for them was to be taken up.
 When day broke at half-past 4 o'clock the ships were about six miles from town. AS they slipped along in the shadows they discovered first a group of merchant ships, and then, dimly ranged under Cavite, the Spanish squadron.
 Our vessels steamed up the roads in columns, the flagship leading, followed by the Baltimore, Raleigh, Petrel, Con- cord and Boston, in the order named
 The American squadron first passed to the north of Manila, and then shaped a southerly course toward the bay of Cavite. where the surprised and startled vessels of the enemy were massed. The senior Spanish officer was Rear Admiral Montijo Pasaron, and his flagship was the Reina Cristina, Captain Cadarzo, who was killed in the engagement.
 The other vessels were the Castilla, Isla de Cuba, Isla de Luzon, Don An tonic de Ulloa, Don Juan de Austria, General Lego and Marques del Duoro. The Velasco was also at anchor under going repairs but her battery had been removed and mounted on earthworks on shore
 In addition to all this were the trans ports Manila and Isla de Mindanao, one of which was captured and the other destroyed, and four torpedo boats, two of which were sunk during the action.
 Though inferior in strength to our ships the vessels were superior when supported by the heavy shore batteries, and the gunners knowing at all times the exact distance of our ships. had all the elements of accurate gunnery on their side.
 r Commodore Dewey kept his ships constantly moving and in all made the circuit five times in front of the enemy. As seen from the Olympia it did not appear possible that our ships could have escaped without serious damage in material and great loss of life, for the shells burst close around all the ships of our squadron. Although we knew that the flagship had escaped 1t did not seem reasonable to hope that the other vessels had enjoyed an equal fortune.
 In the beginning of the action I at tempted to count the number of shells which came across our bow or burst near us, but this soon became tiresome and. indeed, impossible work, for one ;rxA+