The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1898-11-17

Castle Was Aimed at the Woodbury.
She WIN Be Assigned to Portland Sta
ton in Revenue Service.
While almost every whistle along the
water front soreeohed hearty welcome,
the II. S. revenue steamer Woodbury.
came up the harbor and anchored at 2. 80
yesterday afternoon.
She come directly from the Norfolk
Navy Yard where she has been divesting
herself of her armor ana putting on the
garb of peace. The lead color which she
wore on the Havana blockade has given
place to the white in which she was
dressed when she left here on March 10Th.
Her guns have been distributed among
other vessels until now she mounts only
one rapid fire gun, six-pounder, and
one Colts automatic gun, one of those
guns that do the rest when you press the
trigger.
On the fifteenth of May, the Woodbury.
reached the blockading line off Havana.
She was then armed with seven Hotchkiss
Rapid Fire guns and one Automatic Colt,
a kicker. On about the twentieth OF May,
when Ceryera' s feet was expected at la
vana, the Woodbury. fought night en-
gagement just after twelve o'clock, with
another vessel of the blockading fleet.
The other vessel turned her automatic
guns on the Woodbury., but the bullets
were turned by the armor plate which
covered her sides. None of the heavier
guns from either vessel took effect as the
sea was rough and the night was SO dark
that it was hard to distinguish the forms
of the opposing ships After conflict OF
about twenty minutes duration, the two
vessels got close enough to make each
other out, and, after passing hail,
hostilities were suspended.
On about the twenty-ffth of July. at
along the shore and showing no lights.
The Woodbury. fired into her, and then
she showed her lights.
In the latter part of June, one day,
three Spanish gunboats came out of Ha-
vana with the intention of attacking the
vessels of the blockading feet in sight at
the time. All the others were hull
down" to the eastward. But the Yankees
did not wait to be attacked. They went
for the superior force in such business
like manner that the Spaniards steamed
for the protection of the Havana batteries
SO fast that the Wilmington and Wood
bury could not catch them.
The Woodbury. went into Havana on
August 4th, under a flag of truce. to ar
range for the exchange of four hundred
Spanish prisoners captured by the U. S.
S. Badger at Nuevitas.
The last fire from Havana came from
MORO Castle on the day the protocol WAS
signed. 1t WAS fired at the Woodbury.,
who had gone too close to the batteries,
watching to head off an attempt at escape
which General Blanco was expected to
make
The shot, like most Spanish shots,
missed the mark at which 1t was aimed,
but fragment lodged in the stern of the
San Francisco who was lying some
distance outside of the little cutter. q
The officers of the Woodbury. at present
are: Captain John BENNETT, q. s. r.
G. s.. who commanded the q. s. revenue
steamer Galveston during the war; Lieut..
John G. Berry. U. S. r. G. s.; Lieut..
Charles Satterles, 0. 8. r, c. S.; Chief
Engineer Edward G. Schwartz, u. S. r.
c. s.; and Assistant Engineer r. z.
Wright, q. s. r @. S.
The three last named were on the Wood
bury throughout the war.
The two first prisoners of the war.
Thrall and Jones, newspaper correspond
ents, who were exchanged for some of
Blanco relatives were taken to Key
West on the Woodbury. when she went in
to coal on her first cruise on the blockade.
The Woodbury's topna sts have teen
sent down and she still mas her war rig
aIoft, stump topmasts and a signal yard.
She has been fitted with electric lights
while in the South. She will resume her
regular duties now, unless it becomes
necessary to re-establish the Havana
blockade or to blockade Cadiz, in either
of which cases, she ia ready to put to sea
at once.