The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1898-08-02
SIMPSONS Ships Did Little Damage to
the Qualifications and Earth
works of the Spaniards.
VIEWS OF NAVAL OFFICERS
WHO SPENT TWO DAYS IN EXAMIN-
ING THE HARBOR DEFENsES.
Greatest Havoc Was Wrought by the
Dynamite Cruiser Vesuvius-EI
MOrrO's Obsolete Guns.
Correspondence of the Associated Press.

Correspondence of the Associated Press.
SANTIAGO, July ia party of naval
officers, anxious TO see the effect of the four
or five bombardments of the defenses of the
harbor by the fleet under Admiral Sampson,
made a two days tour of the batteries, fin
ishing their work to-day One of them
made the following statement to the Asso-
ciated Press correspondent who accompa-
MED the party: "Over two million dollars
worth of ammunition thrown at the bat
teries defending Santiago harbor was abso-
lutely harmless in it's effect, so far as the
reducing of the batteries was concerned,
and while it may have given the Spaniards
a wholesome respect for us, simply bore
out the well-known fact that it is waste
of time and money to lombard earthworks. -
Entering the harbor ON a steam launch,
the party made a close inspection of the
cruiser Reina Mercedes, sunk in the harbor
the night of July 4, the day after Schley
sunk Cervera's fleet The Reina Mercedes
lies on her starboard SIDE about half under
water. The majority Of her large guns
have been taken ashore but her rapid-fre
guns were left and torpedoes were in her
tubes. She is not in the channel, and the
reason for this is very apparent. She has
at least five big she'll holes in her from
the Massachusetts and the Texas, and the
way they are placed is a splendid tribute
to the fine gunnery of these two battle
ships, which had to fire up the narrow har-
Dor mouth in the dark or with the light
of the Massachusetts, searchnght A sin
gular thing about the hits is that one has
gone through the wardroom and one just
forward of it, cleaning out everything. but
just missing the little room used for devo-
X
all the usual adornments of the Catholic
Church.
Landing at the foot of Moro the party
made the ascent with some difficulty. The
path was strewn with ammunition for
Mauser rifles boxes containing thousands
of them lying all about. AT the foot of the
hill to the rear of the Moro, where the
path of ascent begins, was well-built and
equipped electrical station, from which to
set off the mines in the harbor entrance
Concealed partially behind bluff the op-
orator in this house had a lookout from
which he had clear view of the angle
on which lay the mines controlled by his
key. Near him were telephones connecting
with similar house on the opposite shore
If a ship had tried to cross the mines he
would nave pressed a button that con-
nected with the mines and the man opposite
would have pressed the other button con-
nectlng the circuit and a ship on the angle
would have received the bombs. Eight con-
tact mines were takensfroma the harbor IN
the the last two days and to-day Lieutenant
electrical mines. The mine house was
equipped with the best of electrical appara-
tus and everything was in good condition.
demonstrating that 1t would have been i'm
possible for the fleet to have entered the
harbor without losing some ships. Lieut.
Commander Delehanty said to-day that the
pounds of gun cotton, more than four times
what the ordinary mines are usually filled
with.
A GREAT SURPRISE.
Arriving on the hill top the party pro-
ceeded at once to the eastern battery, where
great surprise awaited them This was
the battery close to Moro which the COM
mander of the Suwanee had reported to
Admiral Sampson as containing several very
dangerous large modern guns and against
Which Admiral Sampson had four times
mased the flower of the fleet, the New
York, Oregon, Iowa, Scorpin, Massachusetts
and Gloucester, and sometimes the Indiana.
In rudely constructed earthworks, but with
excellent and deep runways for the gunners
10 bring ammunition along or run for shell
ter were four muZzle- loading bronze can
non, and two caSt-iron eight-inch mortars.
They were brave men who stood upon the
parapetS to load these cannon and mortars
and under a heavy fire it is not wonderful
that they did not answer with much celebrity.
The cannon are very handsome old pieces,
cast In 1887, and named after prominent
Spaniards. The inortars are dated 1895 and
were evidently cast at Havana. They have
no sighting arrangement and only point in
one direction so that unless a ship entered
their zone they were not dangerous. There
were two little three-pounder field pieces
also, but they were evidently brought there
to repel an expected land invasion. On the
MORO itself are two bronze cannon of the
same make and several old-fashioned small
hut of old-fashioned kind, the bombs having
wooden plug time fuses.
Although our fleet had bombarded this
place three times and the New Orleans alone
once. there was little or no damage done
except the dismounting of an old gun, the
destruction of the lighthouse and a small
frame house near The damage was all done
by the dynamite shells of the Vesuvius and
at night. The shells had landed between
the house and the lighthouse and had torn
a great hole. completely demolishing the
house. leaving but a pile of debris, and tore
out the side of the lighthouse. The gun
nearby had evidently been wrecked by the
American shells could be found about and
quite a number of big shells that had not
exploded were gathered up and put togeth-
shells landed in the earthworks just below
the crest of the hill, showing that the Amer
leans fired well, but outside of blowing up
the earth there was no result When the
shells hit any building they created great
havoc and traces of many were visible on
the MOTTO ana some or the OHlcerS quar-
tiers. where immense gaping holes were torn
in the stonework. Old Morro's drawbridge
was shot away and one whole wing or tower
was cruplbling to pieces from the effects OF
thirteen-inch shell from the Oregon.
A CRTTMBLING RUIN.
On coming down from MORO, which, at
the best is crumbling, dirty ruin, with no
touch of modern upon it, the party stopped
at the Estrella and Catalina batteries,
which had been visible just inside MORO
point, on the east. 1t was discovered that
Catalina was a crumbling ruin without a
gun and that Estrella, an old time brick
fort, had two mortars, one of which was
fully in place. A large amount of ammuni-
ton, however. filled a house in this battery
A large shell struck the rock just above
this place and had knocked down q big Sec
ton that almost filed the magazine and
otherwise wrecked the building.
The second day was devoted TO an inspec-
ton of the western battery which had main
ly been attended to by the Brooklyn, Texas
and Vixen with occasional assistance from
the Suwanee. While the ships did no more
damage TO the earth works on the west than
did the ether ships on the east, 1t was quite
apparent where the vigorous answers came
from one of which hit and killed a man on
the Texas and wounded many. and kept uI
fusillade against the Brooklyn. The earth
works of this battery are very similar to
those of the east, but there are two six and
four ten-inch Hontoria rifles with breech
loading mechanism and steel shields. The
very formidable. They are supposed to be
part of the main battery Of the Reina Mer-
cedes and, 1t is believed, were manned by
sailors There were also two large mortarS