Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1898-07-27

of the chase she was making sixteen
and one-half knots and was rapidly
closing on the Cristobal Colon. She
was not at any time within range of
the Spanish heavy ships and her only
part in the firing was to receive the
undivided fire from the ports In pass
ing the harbor entrance and to fire a
few shots at one of the destroyers,
thought at the moment to be attempts
ing to escape from the Gloucester.
6.-The Spanish vessels upon clearing
the harbor, turned to the westward in
column, increasing their speed to the
full power of their engines. The
heavy blockading vessels which had
closed in towards the MORO at the
instant of the enemy's appearance,
and at their best speed delivered a
rapid fire, well sustained and destruct-
i've, which speedily overwhelmed and
silenced the Spanish fire. The initial
speed of the Spaniards carried them
rapidly past the blockading vessels and
the battle developed into a chase in
which the Brooklyn and Texas had at
the start the advantage of position.
The Brooklyn maintained this lead.
The Oregon steamng with amazing
speed from the commencement of the
action, took first place. The Iowa and
the Indiana having done good work
and not having the speed of the other
ships, were directed by me in success
sion at about the time the Vizcaya was
beached, TO drop out of the chase and
resume blockading stations. The yes
sells rescued many prisoners. The
Vixen finding that the rush Of the
Spanish ships would put her between
two fires, ran outside of our own col
umn and remained there during the
battle and chase.
THE skillful handling and gallant
fighting of the Gloucester excited the
admiration of every one who witness
ed ii and merits the commendation Of
the Navy Department. She is a fast
and entirely unprotected auxiliary
vessel-the yacht Corsair-and has a
good battery of light r. F. guns She
was lying about two miles from the
harbor entrance to the southwark and
eastward and Immediately steamed in.
opening fire upon the large ships An
ticipating the appearance of the Plu-
ton and FurOr, the Gloucester was
slowed, thereby gaining more rapidly a
nigh pressure of steam, and when the
destroyers came out she steamed for
them at full speed and was able to
close TO short range, where her fire
was accurate, deadly and Of great
volume. During this fight the Glou-
cester was under the fire of the Soca-
pa battery. Within twenty minutes
ha-r
Santiago harbor the careers of the
Furor and Pluton were ended and two
thirds of their people killed. The F,I-
ror was beached and sunk in the surf:
the Pluton sank in deep water a few
minutes later. The destroyers prob
ably suffered much injury from the
fire Of the secondary batteries OF the
battleships Iowa and Indiana and the
Texas. yet I think very considerable
factor in their speedy destruction was
the fire at close range of the Glouces-
ter's battery. After rescuing the sur
vivors OF the destroyers, the Glouces-
ter did excellent service in landing and
securing the crew of the Infanta Maria
Teresa.
S.-The method Of escape attempteH
by the Spaniards-all steering in the
same direction and in formation re-
moved all tactical doubts or difficult
ties and made plain the duty OF every
L. S. vessel to close in Immediately.
engage and pursue. This was prompt
" and effectively done. AS already
stated, the first rush Of the Spanish
squadron carried il past number of
the blockading ships, which could not
Immediately work up to their best
speed: but they suffered heavily in
passing and the Infenta Maria Te-
resa and the Oquendo were probably
set on fire by the shells fired during
the first fifteen minutes of the en-
gagement II was afterwards learned
that the Infanta Maria Teresa's fire
main had been cut by one of our first
shots and that she was unable to ex-
tinquish fire. With large volumes OF
smoke rising from their lower decks
Continued on Second Page.