The evening times. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1895-1902, 1898-04-30
SEEN BY A BRITISH OFFICER
The Engagement of Mntanzas De-
scrihed by an Expert.


was written by the correspondent of the
London Daily Telegraph, who is an Off
Ger in the volunteer artillery of Great
Britain. especially competent and I'M
partial:
Matanzas Bay, off the coast of Cuba,
via Key West, Fla.,, April 2S.-The nrst
engagement of the war was concluded at
o'clock this afternoon. An hour before
that the cruisers New York and Cfncln-
natl and the monitor Puritan steamed IN
to the bay off Matanzas, drew the nre
of the forts at Cardenas and Punta Goroa
and returned ii with what appeared at
least to be Disastrous, results to the nat
ter.
There were municipalities on board the
American ships. dnd hone of them was nit
with projectiles. Il.
For some days The cincinnati, which has
been blockading Sthe ,port, noticed that
large bodies of man W re engaged In erect
ing new batteries on n low, sandy point
that runs out near the entrance to the
port. A report of this circumstance was
sent to Admiral Sampson, together with
notification that the torpedo boat Du-
pont had been fired on by a concealed bat
terry whose location had not been DIS
covered. Today'S action shows that the
admiral resolved to draw the fire OF the
batteries so as 10 discover their where
that were in construction.
The dispatch boat sommers N. Smith
on board Of which ! was. picked up and
spoke the flagship about ten miles east
of Havana early this morning. She was
then in company with a torpedo boat.
| but soon left the latter and steamed
eastward at a rapid speed.
We followed, and after run Of about
thirty miles we sighted the Cincinnati
and the Puritan. lying off MatanZas, and
the three vessels Immediately stood
close in shore at half speed, line ahead,
the New York leading and the Cincin-
natl in the rear.
Matanzas itself is a town of about 40, 900
inhabitants, lying on the western side
of river where II empties into the bay.
The entrance to the harbor is about four
miles wide. and on both sides the Span
ish have erected batteries and stray
Notifications. the exact location of
which was not known 10 the blockading
squadron.
The New York and her consorts stood
straight in until the flagship was almost
between the points OF Punta Gorda and
Cardenas on the opposite shore. She
then headed westward and ran slowly
along the shore about 1900 or 1900 yards
distant from il. 1t was possible 10 make
out every point with the utmost clear
ness. and we could see the new soil of
the new earthworks. with groups of men
standing watching the ships
1t was a beautiful afternoon, and the
palm-clad slopes OF the hills with the
tail peaks OF the Camanaco Pass in the
background could be seen with great
distinctness. The only vessels in sight
were the warships and the Sommers n.
Smith Suddenly the New York checked
her speed. Nearly four miles away
blue jet rose out of a patch OF red earth
and presently projeetile struck the
water about mile short on the mont
| tors port beam.
The Puritan then stopped. with her
! stem pointing directly into the harbor.
! and sent q few shells against the Car
| denas battery that had opened fire. They
! too. fell short. and then she fired two or
/ three Pinch projecties. which took eff
! feet close to the battery. but did il no
/ damage. as far as | could see with my
/ glass.
/ a shell. which I did not think was
more than a 4-inch one. fell about one
J hundred yards astern of the New York
! and a second later a second gun in a
/ different battery sent one screaming over
tire flagship TO fall within short dis
lance of my vessel
As soon as the batteries opened fire
] the New York signaled to the Cincin-
natti. and the latter ran forward and
! placed herself about n thousand yards
I to the ives ward of the New York. Both
vessels lay port sidei 10 the land. between
J three and four thousand yards distant
I from X. and opened a vigorous cannonale.
! The flagship used five of her S-inch
I guns and all of her 4-inch quick frers
Z that would bear. while the Cincinnati fir
( ed G-inch and 5-inch guns. and the fire was
exceedingly heavy. az both ships and
/ shore batteries burned cocoa powder
( a heavy band Of smoke almost hid the
/ the land from sight. Through il. how
ever. | was able again and again 10 see
/ sand and bushes around the gun post
tons rising in clouds while the water
( around the flagship was splashing fire.
/ quently into columns of spray. where the
Spanish projectiles were falling
/ So far as could be made out. the whole
I of the Spanish fire from Punta GOrda
was directed at the. New York. She was
not, however. struck once during the en-
gagement. l believe ,the Spaniards fired
only solid shot, as no burst of shells was
seen by any one. After the fight | was
told that one shrapncl burst about one
hundred feet above the flagship. but
only one observer on the ship herself
renorts IT.
The fire of the American ships was ex-
cellent and there must have been heavy
loss in the Spanish works. After about
twenty minutes fire the batteries were
silenced and the ships ceased firing.
The monitor, which had been marking
the Cardenas battery with an intermit-
tent fire, was signaled to close up. As
she came round a small gun was fired at
her and the projectile dropped between
her and the New York. Almost instantly
the Puritan replied with a 12-inch shell,
which plowed directly into the very spot
from which the Spanish gun was fired.
The huge prOjectile exploded with ter
sixty feet in the air. leaving a gap be-
hind that showed nearly half the bat
terry had been demolished. This was the
last shot fired. and the ships drew slowly
off for about three miles.
We hailed the flagship and learned that
there had been no casualties on board
any of the ships. If the action is TO be
taken as a measure of the accuracy of
the Spanish gunnery, the American fleet
will not have difficult task in reducing
Havana and the other Notifications on
the Cuban coast. The New York and the
Cincinnati, both very large ships, lay
broadside on the batteries at MatanZas
today for twenty minutes at three thous-
and yards, offering a target that any ex-
pert gunner could hardly have missed,
but no shell came nearer than one hun
dred yards, and some of them fell nearly
a mile off.
The American sailors are full of enthus-
iasm over the fight.