The Black Hills union. [volume] (Rapid City, Pennington County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1889-1904, 1898-08-05

Joseph GOlOSmlCn, an Omana boy
who is second machinist on the battle
ship Oregon, describes in the following
letter the destruction of Cervera's fleet
The letter Is to his mother, Mrs. Fan
ME Goldsmith, of 1919 Dodge street:
I'VE didn't do a thing to them, did
we? And the Oregon did nearly all OF
it. We were lying about four miles
straight out from the fort, and all
dressed in clean white clothes, ready
for quarters Sunday morning, when the
captain always goes throughout the
ship and inspects her and the men az
they stand in divisions at $50 q. m.
But at 800 the chief Quartermaster
aid to the officer Of the deck:
They are coming out. sir"
The officer laughed at him, but be-
fore five minutes more had passed the
lookout sang out:
Sail o, sir; two points off the port
bow, sir"
The officer of the deck smiled again,
but looking ahead a moment later saw
a mast, then two stacks and another
mast coming out of the harbor. Every
man laughed and leaped with joy.
Call the captain" was the first or
der.
Captain Clark, in undershirt and
trousers, came on the bridge. Then
the orders came quick, but quiet and
LA ASA> SANS ~HS~AA NAS A0 - PSNSAF
called -four bells ahead; full speed.
Put on forced draught. Sound general
quarters" and every man was at his
place in an instant. AS we plOWed
through the water straight for the
Spaniards, we fired a six FOUNDER and
blew our whistle Is a signal to the
rest Of the fleet, for we had no time to
hoist regular signal flags. The Ore.
o fired the first shot Of the great Sd
Of July. A six-inch, then a couple Of
eight-inch, then u great thirteen
inch guns sent their great bass notes
echoing around the harbor as they
threw over a ton Of metal at the Da-
goes, and the fight was on.
AS soon as they got out of the har-
Dor they turned to run westward along
the shore. We turned west, too, and
gave them broadside after ~broadside.
There were two torpedo boats. I be-
lieve they made a run for the Ore
gon, but the nearest they got to us
was when the range was called out:
Seven hundred yards"
Then the rapid-fre s~ix-pounders, six
inch and eight-inch CUR popped as fast
as a bunch of f1re-crackers. One tor
pedo boat was split wide open and the
other riddled so that it turned and ran
to the beach, where it sank. Now we
were fairly after the ships, and the
Oregon showed that she was the best
n fastest battleship afloat and pos
sessed the best of captains, engineers
n crew, equal to any in the world.
The firemen deserve great credit, as
they really won the day. That is how
a battleship caught the fastest Of their
cruisers.
AS we came to them, and about q
mile farther out from the shore, we
pounded shot and shell into them, with
the Brooklyn a little ahead of us and
farther out, and the rest of the fleet
following as we passed the Iowa and
the Texas. The Oregon kept pouring
shell into them until the Maria Teresa
and Almirante Oquendo were driven on
the beach. The Vizcaya and the Cristo-
the Vizcaya was not out Of range, and
so We gave 1t to her, and soon she
had to turn and run for the beach.
SET HER ON FIRE.
I was on deck at the time and saw
our eight-inch gun fired, and it went
straight to the mark. Then our thir-
teen-inch guns forward let go. The
first shell fell short, but the second
struck just astern and ricocheted from
the water (this Is the best shot that can
be made) and when the water came
we saw the Vizcaya on the beach. Her
flag and mast were down and she was
on fire.
The Oregon never stopped. There
was the Cristobal Colon, the finest of
the fleet, about three miles ahead of
us and about a mile toward shore, 80
we left the Vizcaya to the rest Of our
fleet, then miles astern of us, except
the Brooklyn, who was just ahead and
a little farther off than we. We we're
gaining on the Colon. We saw
that her firemen were playing out, and
SOC let go our thirteen-inch guns at
her. The first shell fell about 300 yards
short, and the next about 100 yards
short. and then an eight-inch shell
went clear through her and a thirteen
inch shell fell just alongside the Colon.
and that settled 1t.
She ran for the beach. and Just after
this they sent for me to come down
into the engine room. I had been sta
toned OF the orlap deck, port side, in
charge of the eight-inch turret engines,
but as the port battery was not being
used I had received permission to 60
on deck. That is how I came to see
so much Of the fight.
LIVELY BELOW DICKS.
When I got down to the engine there
were the great 5000 horse power e
gines, turning % revolutions a minute,
and engineers, machinists M others
working like the dickens. The sweat
was pouring from them. The temper
ature was 126. Both engines were run
ming well, and so in spite of sweat
and work the men smiled. Mr.. john
son, the chief machinist Of the watch,
asked me to watch for him, and he,
getting permission from the engineer
to have a look and a breath of air on
deck, left me in charge.
I had been on watch for twenty min
utes when we received a signal from
the deck to slow up, and then another
to stop, and as I had handled the star
board engine at the time, ! had the
honor Of finishing the greatest chase
ever made by a battleship. The first
assistant engineer fairly danced with