The daily morning Astorian. [volume] (Astoria, Oregon) 1883-1899, 1898-05-27

was found tha, the damage TO the tank
could De- quickly repaired
The Dandy sailed from Key West early
last Friday in pursuit Of Commodore
schl.y. who had left almost twenty-four
hours before. Il was believed ~ Key
West that clenfgegos was his destination.
huf without information the Dandy was
compelled 90 go fnr 0uJ Of direct course
Loo order 10 speak the blockading squad
ron ~ Havana. The Tun 20 tho beleag-
uered city was pleasant. but the quest
was fruiiless. Tor not one Of Commodore
Watsons ships had seen a spar Of the
living squadron
Captain Murphy of the Dandy looked
grave over the prospect OF an unescorted
cruise TO C.enfuegos. where obtaining
coal would Dee Impossible while the Dan
dy's shortage Of coal would make her
escape from the Spanish gunboats known
90 be az CIenfuegos doubtful.
Early Saturday morning the sighting OF
a battleship set an eyes stralnlng to the
northward al the unpleasant possibility
of meeting q Spanish man-of-war Il
added 90 the satisfaction which resulted
v-N-- the ship was recognized as the
battleship Iowa for she had left Key
West after Commodore Schley's depar-
iurc. and was evidently on her way to a
rendezvous with the fleet. shortly after
noon the United SiHtgs torpedo boat Du-
pont which had been LEI, az Key West
with Rear Admiral Sampson. came racing
from the nor,hwlri and delivered a mes
sage 10 the Iowa
Wthpu, the loss ol moment the for
miiahlc little craft rushed on toward
Ci.rmccos and the ba,,leship with in-
Dr,asur speed headed for the waters be-
tween Cape san Antonio and the Isle or
Pines When az nigh,fall the entrance
,o The passage was reached she veered of
with the evident intention OF patrolling be-
tween the cape and the island. and there
was nothing Tor the Dandy TO do but 70
go on alone.
sunday night the weather roughened
and before Monday the damage to the
tank. which so nearly resulted seriously.
occurred. The water In the forward tank
was already exhausted and when at noon
on Sunday the chief engineer found the
after tank dry, the prospect ahead Of the
Dandy was not the brightest Hard driv-
ing against a heavy sea had eaten up her
coal almost twice as rapidly as had been
anticipated and with little fuel and no
water the chase after Schley was aban-
doned and the race for safety began.
Montego bay was the nearest friendly
spot and for that the boat headed, The
tank OF drinking water was almost empty
and the small supply of mineral water on
board was dealt out sparingiy among fit-
teen thirsty men. The weather grew rap
idly worse and by Monday morning the
Dandy was plunging through binding
tropical rain with SQUALLS which alter
mated with dense mists and rendered the
lookout almost useless Captain Murphy
had counted on reaching the coast Of
Jamaica about 4 o'clock in the afternoon
and the chief engineer who had been using
seawater In the boilers since Sunday an
nouuced that the Dandy had Just two
hours running in her and that some OF
the woodwork would have to be burned
TO make that The captain went over his
for errors and every man con-
sti,uted himself lookout, for the pros
pect Of helpless drifting in that tumbling
sea was not welcome. Ii was almost 1
o'clock when the fog lifted for an instant
and showed the shore, not two miles
away. In less than an hour the Dandy |
swung at anchor in the quiet waters OF
Nlontego bay and the next morning she
was rapiuly getting in seagoing shape,