The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1898-05-09

ploJed ies than fifty feet on the port
quarter
The small shot ratified against sher side
Ii was close can.
Two more shots followed Ia quick suc-
cossion, both shrapnel One burst close
under The starboard quarter filing the
ensine room with the smoke Of the eXpio-
sion Of the shell, and the other like the
FIRST. passed over and exploded just De-
yond.
The Spanish guuners had the range and
their time fuses We're accurately set The
crews Of both ships were at their guns.
Lieut.. Craig, who was in Charge of the
bow 4-inch rapid-nre gun of the Morrill,.
asked for and obtained permission to re-
turn the fire.
A the first shot the Vicksburg, which
was in the wake OF the Morrill,, slightly
in-shore. sheered off and passed TO wind
ward under che MorrilPs stern.
In tho meantime Capt. Smith also put
his helm TO port and was none too soon.
for as the Morrill, stood off, solid S-inch
shot grazed her starboard quarter and
kicked up tons OF water as It struck a
wave 100 yards beyond.
Capt. Smith said afterward that this
was undoubtedly an S-lnch armor pierce
ing proieotile and that It would have
passed through the Morrilrs boilers had
he not changed her course In the nick OF
time
All the guns of the water battery were
now at work. One Of them cut the Ja-
eobs ladder OF the vicksburg adrift and
another carried away a portion Of the
rigging.
As the Morrill, and the Vicksburg steam
ed away their aft guns were used. but only
a few shots were fred
The Morrllls six-inch guns were elevat-
ed for four thousand yards, and struck the
earthworks repeatedly.
The Vicksburg fired but three shots from
her six-pounder.
The Spaniards continued to fire shot and
shell for twenty minutes, but the shots
were ineffective Some OF them were so
wild that they aroused tho American
"Jackies' TO jeers.
The Spanards only ceased firing when
the Morrill, and VlcksbRrg were com
pletely out OF range.
If all the Spanish gunners had been suf-
fering from strabismus their practice could
not have been worse.
The officers of both the Morrill, and
Vcksburg frankly admit their own reck-
lessness and the narrow escape OF their
vessels from destruction.
They are firmly convinced that the pur-
suit Of the schooner was neatly planned
trick which almost proved successful.
II any one of the shots had struck the
thin skin Of either vessel It would have
offered no more resistance than a piece of
paper to a rifle bah.
The accurate range of the first few shots
is accounted for by the fact that the Span
ish officers had ample time to make obser-
vatlons
The bearings of the two vessels We're
probably taken with a range finder al the
Santa Clara battery, and as this battery
is probably connected by wire with MORO.
they were enabled to take bearings from
both points, and by laborious calculations
they liked the positions Of the two ves-
sells accurately.
With such opportunity for observations
IL would have been no great trick for an
American gunner to drop a shell down
the smokestack of a vessel.
As soon as the ships sheered off after
the first fire, the Spanish gunners lost the
range and their practice became ludicrous.
If they had waited five minutes longer be-
fore opening fire, Capt. Smith says, 1t
would have been well nigh impossible 10
have missed the target.
Later In the day the Morrill, captured
the Spanish schooner Espana, bound for
Havana, and towed the prize to Key
West
on Friday the French schoolship frig-
ate Do Bourdieu. carrying thirty gums In
all, entered the harbor of Havana. She
was stopped by the Morrill,, and two sa-
Iutes were fired by the Annapolis before
she showed her flag