The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1898-08-03

amidships to the post or starboard comes
the command, Full charges, common shot.
from the officer in charge of the turret
and the answer quickly goes back Aye.
aye, sir, and as a response to a lower tone
OF voice, quick lads. lively now" up
comes the long powder tanks and heavy 250-
pound shell to the base of the turret.
There the shell was quickly seized in the
tongS by two StalWart apprentices, raised
and rammed home In the car; the tops of
the long copper powder tanks taken off and
the powder in two sections placed in the
other compartments of the car. the signal
given and both cars quickly rise to the
breach of the turret guns and are sent
back almost as quickly emptied.
All this preparation of getting ready &C.
cupled space OF four minutes time, after
all the men went below and the matches
lowered and secured. The heat varies in
Fahrenheit and quickly causes the men to
strip to the waist and settle down to their
work in an air-tight box filled with swelter-
ing humanity, blindly obeying orders with
unquestionng obedience and alacrity, not
knowing the cause OF the alarm, whether
target practice, bCmbardment, the Spanish
fleet or false alarm.
Suddenly the report of the first gun was
heard, followed in quick succession by an
other, and the battle was on. Down the
hoists and chutes comes the powder smoke
to add to the already high temperature OF
the handling room, followed by the hot salt
petre water from the sponging of the guns.
making the decks slippery and burning bis
ters on the bare backs of the men under
meath, who. cropping and choking, feeling
their way through the dense smoke. go ST.
lently and obediently about their work with
but one thought and aim in view; to keep
those continually empty cars and hoiSts
filled with powder and proJectiles, not
knowing how the battle is raging until
cheer is finally heard from deck. their spir-
it's brighten and old salt will excla1m:
Il guess they must have hit EN- that time.
Then he goes up and splits on large she'll
for good luck or as yell Is hear re 6rv
changed, he takes an old oily rag and rubs
the cap of the projectile. saying: Thatu
Ii he hflNy
of the new navy, who has been in the serv-
ice as many months as the OLD salt mas
years. exclaims to his shipmates. 'Ah.
what's he given uS?"
This was the routine of the handling
room on the Sd of july except that once
in while the rush was broken by care
down in the forward handling room, when
Mr.. Hancock had charge the day of the
6 battle There her f0ry he
shouts Hancock but the command is SUI
perfiuous, for if the shell had exploded no
man in that place would ever have seen
daylight again 1t didn't explode. and as the
handlers gasped in their temporarily de-
parted breath, prayer went up to heaven
and many uncomplmentary adJectlveS TO
the fellow in the turret between them and
heaven.
who never see the battle but do the work
that keeps everything in the ships In mo-
ton and take risk greater than commo-
dore or captain Mnen tnS Vlzcaya doi mao Coolt
having been ordered by Commodore Schey
to cease firing, called the men from the
handling rooms and the turrets to take
breath of air while the chase of the Colon
went on. But the battle was on for men
rot visible. Down beneath the. protective
deck, informed only of the glories of that
days fighting by Captain Cooks bulletin
through the speaking tube, men worked in
a pit below the water in a temperature
of over 100 degrees. From the tunnels the
black smoke pouring forth told that stokers
and coal-paSsers and firemen were working
like fiends to give the ship more momentum,
so that the foe would be captured. At the
Mr.. Patton watched every pulsation and
encouraged the men to greater efforts to
produce more steam. In the stoke holds
men toiled amid fierce flames that licked
out at them each time the doors opened
for coal or the long slice bars went in.
The rush of air that comes in goes out
only through the furnaces, creating what
is known as forced draught. Curiously
enough it is more comfortable in the stoke
hold when forced draught is called for than
ordinarily, for the extra air forced Gown
helps the men well as the fires. The heat
however, was intense on July and several
times the big steel cage opened to let out
men who had tainted. Yet the instant they
were recovered back they went with as
much esprit de corps as anyone on deck.
Slowly the Brooklyn gained on the Colon
until the last Spanish flag went down. So
did the Oregon. The fire and engin er
corps of the two ships had won the day
and caught the last of the Spanish fleet.