The Houston daily post. [volume] (Houston, Tex.) 1886-1903, 1898-06-13
ANOTHER NARRATION
OF THE TERRIFIC BOMBARDMENT
OF SANTIAGO DE CUBA.
The FrigbtfuI Explosion of the Mig
shells from the American Fleet
Caused Terrible Havoc.

| Copyrighted, 1895, by Associated Press)
OF Santiago de Cuba. June 6. via King
ston. Jamaict. June delayed In trans
mission. The Spanish water batteries de-
| Tending Santiago de Cuba were badly
wrecked today by the American fleet In
bombardment lasting from shortly after
| o'clock until some time ettcr 10 O'Clock this
| morning.
| orders for the attack were issued on
! Sunday night. All the men were warned
10 retire carly and preparations were made
for breakfast at $40 a. m. That the firing
of the SPANISH forts would be severe was
generally conceded. but snatches of song
| and the strurming OF guitars and man
dolns from the ships gave anything but
| the impression of deadly warfare.
Early on the morrow the officers gath
cred on the quarter decks and discussed the
situation and possible effect of shots. 1t
was agreed that the earthworks would be
hard to destroy and that great deal Of
ammunition would be wasted, especially as
the Notifications were situated on high
ground.
To the contrary. the fact that the ships
were not 10 move and were to stand III at
5000 yards. made them a fair target and 1t
was judged that the drop of shcts from
the forts would be destructive in case of
hits.
The distance fought at made the second
AIRY batteries of rapid fire guns useless and
they were sienced.
| The line OF battle planned was the same
as in the movement Of Saturday afternoon.
| The big battleships Texas, Massachusetts,
| Oregon and Iowa moved in a straight line
| from the south. The Brooklyn, Marble
head and Vixen moved in a line on slight
angle. the Vixen close inshore and the
| Brooklyn next to the Texas. in the most
dangerous place on the line. because both
she and the Texas faced 10 the harbor,
which rounds northeast
On the other angle TO the west. were the
New York. New Orleans and Yankee. They
faced the northwest battery opposite Moro
Castle while the Brooklyn. Marblehead and
Vixen faced the Estrella battery, Moro
castle. the Catalina battery and two earth
work batteries on the western bank and q
couple of neW shore batteries
The morning opened with heavy show
ers and no breeze. Not favorable out
look, because the smoke from the big guns
would hang over the ships like a pail and
dlsarrange the aim of the gunners, while
the shore batteries, having smokeless pow
der would be able to fire at the patches
OF smoke with little inconvenience.
Towards $50 the skies lightened and a
good breeze came along At 6:32 the order
to move into land was given and as the
columns formed beautiful and inspiring
sight was Witnessed
Forming in two columns at a distance OF
six miles, the ships moved towards the en-
trance OF the harbor. the Brooklyn lead
Ing one column and the New York the
other. Slowly they moved up until within
four miles Of the forts.
Then they turned, the Brooklyn to the
west followed by the Marbehead Texas
and Massachusetts,, and the New York led
TO the east, followed by the Now Orleans,
Yankee. Iowa and Oregon.
When the ships had all turned into line
formation they moved in a battery line TO
wHhin 5000 yards of tie batteries in the
POSITION originally detailed
Tho Vixen and Suwanee went on tho
left flank to look cut for riiemea or rifle
pts and the Dolphin ana the torpedo tolt
Porter did the same duty on the right
flank.
The forts remained silent, but at pre- ise-
" 7:4l o'clock 12-nch gun on the Iowa |
shattered the silence and from one end OF |
the line to the other there was instant re- |
slonse to the firing.
Through clouds of smoke the 12-inch !
"iNV4iS VI Aut loNd CUulI ne seen Striking |
on the base of the Estrella battery. SOM |
of the batteries on the hill opened at once,
but their good aim Of last week seemed
destroyed by tho shells from the lee..
for the Spanish return shots flew far from
the mark
The great difficulty seemed 50 far as
the American ships we're concerned. to b.
me dense clouds Of smoke which obscured
the gunners and range finders aim. but,
even |
was splendid.
inc l3-inch ehells from the Massachu-
sets and Oregon struck into the hills rear
the batteries and threw up mountains Of
earth everywhere.
me moral effect of the terrible rover
must have been great. for battery after
battery was deserted by the Spanish
me Texas, with two Pinch guns and
ne Iowa, with her four big guns r-kaa
, . entire hillside, while the Brooklyn nd
New YORK poured in heavy fire from that
destructive and 5-inch guns.
me Brooklyn headed in further with
leE squadron OF fighters, when the smote
oecame TOO dense and then oh aining a nav
'ange, the ship poured In a c-allv 49, -,
'-inch and 5-inch shells. c
In the meantime the shells from, III.
spanish forts on the water front ,, {
ulles OH Moro Castle, opened IN az
,uwanee under the command Of Liente,sn. I
,,oln'hanIer Deihanty and the Vixen unser {
,uputi'na OF Lieutenant Sharp, and thev
nevra IN and with hot ire frsm mn. c
mai MAJ guns soon silenced them. ''''' {
me gre1 earthworks on ths hi, .h. l
, ian putting shells In so cl3se 70 ne
'tooklyn and Massachusetts tina, II ua Y
mined 70 silence ttgm il pnssibIc
~ was difficult Job. because ira err, q
'oshs were $50 feet above the water ,,no g
lmu II REQUIRED great elevation of ~ s
. o ~ S;22 after three-quar,ers Of mn {
our our OF firing Commodore schley ord , "p (
cease nring" and the ships on Tho W.
SEQ Toe Sor .nrtssr in until they had good :
sat MINUTES later the command "a \
rssh away s'hs began to
roiiowing the whistle OF the s-ipch sh.,,
rem the Hrcoklyn's after turrct in sneli s
r.. L ,r Rush. there was burst 81 Of a
ma rom a block house neer this ba.tarv ,
zen seconds later the Massaeh,.,. r
aneed two lo-inch shells almost IN NJ ,ns r,
aine spot and signallcd thai the ha,, .ne I,
vas silenced. Rig guns coula s.t, o't'sFy .,