The times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1897-1901, 1898-08-29
Sinking HIS Flagship.

Sinking His Flagship.
THE ch.o beng cut of control. the
hull. smokepipe and masts r'ddled with
sfho.s, the men confused with the cries
Of the wounded. half of our crew out or
action among whom were seven officers
gave The order ito sink and abandon
the ship before the magazines should ex-
plode making signal at the same time
to the Cuba and Luzon to assist in saving
the rest eff the crew, which they did. aid
ed by others from The Duero and the ar
senal
81 abandoned the Christina, directing be-
forehard 10 secure her flag. and. accom-
panied by my staff. and with great sor-
row. / ho.stdd my flag on the cruiser
Isla Ge Cuba. 1
''After having saved many men from
the unfortunate vessel, one she'll destroy
ed her heroic commander. Don LUIS
Cadsrso, who was directing the rescue
The Uiloa, which also defended hef-
self firmly, using the only the two guns
which were available, was sunk by
shell which entered the water line put
ting out of action her commander ana
half of her remaining crew, the only ones
remaining for the service of the two guns
STATED.
breathing spell.
'"The Castillo. which fought heroically,
remained with her artillery useless, ex-
cept one stern gun. with which they
fought spiritedly. She was riddled with
shot and set on fire by the enemy's shells,
then sunk and was abandoned by her
crew in good order, which was directed
by her commander. Don Aionzo Aigado.
| The casualties on this ship were % killed
| and so wounded.
1.-The Austria very much damaged and
| on fire went to the aid of the Castillo
! The Luzon had three guns dismounted
| and was slightly damaged in her huh.
| The Duero remained with one OF her en-
| gines useless, and the bow gun of twelve
centimeters and one of the redoubts
| LAT o'clock in the morning the enc
my's squadron having suspended its fire
| ordered the ships that remained to US
| to take position in the bottom of the
| roads at Bacoor and there to resist te
| the last moment and that they should OF
sunk before they surrendered.
The Enemy Returns.
"At 1880 the enemy returned, forming
! a circle. to destroy the arsenal and tn
ships which remained to me, OPENING
! upon them a horrible fire, which we an
| swered as far as we could with the few
cannon which we still had mounted.
| There remained the last recourse Il
sink our vessels, and we accomplished
| this operation. taking care to save tn
flag, the distinguishing pennant, the mon
BY in the safe. the portable arms, tn
| breech plugs of the guns and the sigma
| codes.
| "Afterward / went with my staff to tn
| convent of Santo Domingo de Cavite I,
be cured of wound received In the lief
| leg, and TO telegraph a brief report o
| the action, with preliminaries and results
The End, and why.
1T remains only to say that all tn
chiefs, officers. engineers. quartermasters
gunners. sailors and soldiers rivaled on
another in sustaining with honor the goo,
name of the navy on this sad day.
1.-The inefffciency of the vessels which
composed my little squadron. the lack o
| all classes of the personnel, especiall.
| master gunners and seamen gunners, tn
| inaptitude of some of the provisional ma
| chinists, the scarcity Of rapid-fre can
| non, the strong crews of the enemy, an'
| the unprotected character of the create
| part of our vessels-all contributed L
| make more decided the sacrifice which W
| made for our country and to prevent tn
| possibility of the horrors of the lombard
ment of the city of Manila, with the con
| viction that with the scarcity of on
| force against the superior enemy we wer
/ going 10 certain death and could expect
loss of all our ships.
| 'Our casualties, including those of tn
| arsenal. amounted to 3Sl men killed an
wounded"