The record-union., 1898-07-05

Continued from First Page.) ,.
had been struck. The torpedo boat
Ericsson, which also returned from the
| westward at about the same time, made
| a similar report, saying it was be-
Ileved no man was injured on board the
American ships, though another report
had it that one man was killed on
board the Brooklyn which could not
be verified as the dispatch is sent
There is no means of telling now
what the loss was, but it is believed to
have been very heavy, as the prison.
ers in custody report their decks
strewn with dead and wounded of
great numbers, and besides there is
statement that many bodies could be
seen fastened to the pieces of wreckage
heating in the sea after the fight was
over. A large number of the Spanish
wounded We're removed to the Ameri-
can ships.
There can be no doubt that Admiral
Cervera's plan to escape from Santiago
harbor was entirely unexpected by Ad-
miral Sampson, and the best evidence
of this is the fact that when the Span
ish vessels We're seen coming out of
the harbor the flagship New York vas
seven miles away, ssteaming to the
| eastward toward Juragua, the military
base, nine miles east of MORO. The
New York was out of the fight alto
gether at every stage, but she imme-
diately put about and followed
the other vessels in the race
TO the westward and overlook them in
time to join in the chase for the Cris-
tobal Colon after the other Spanish
vessels had been destroyed by the
Brooklyn, the Oregon, Iowa, Massachu-
| sets, Indiana, Texas, Gloucester and
other ships of the fleet
| Commodore Schleys flagship. the
| Brooklyn, had her usual position at
| the extreme western end of the line.
| ten miles from the New York and
| Texas. 1t is a peculiar fact that he
should have been in proper position to
| direct the movement of his fyin,
| squadron against the Spanish fleet.
which he had bottled up in Santiago
| harbor six weeks before AS a matter
of fact. the entire American fleet was
much further off shore than usual
when the Spaniards made their appear
ance this morning.
! The Spanish Admiral's plans were
plainly not anticipated. He accepted
the one chance open to him-that Of
running the gantlet of the powerful
| men-of-war lying in front of the har-
| Dor, and saving his ships for future
service by dashing out of the trap in
which he found himself and going to
some other field of operations. There
| seemed to be but one chance in a hun
| cred that he would be able to make the
move successfully, but he took that
chance, and while great piles OF naval
architecture, now ground to pieces on
the rocks a few miles from where he
started, tell the mournful story of his
failure, there are none who applaud
his conduct more than the American
officers and seamen who sent his ships
to destruction.
| II was about 9 O'Clock this morning
when the flagship Infanta Maria Teresa
| passed under the wall of Morro Cas-
tie and steamed out to sea She was
| followed by the Cristobal Colon Viz
caya and Oquendo, and last by the
torpedo boat destroyers F'uror and P.u-
| ton. The lookout on the American
| vessels which We're lying five or ten
miles off the entrance to the harbor
sighted them Immediately Most of
the American cruisers We're at the
usual Sunday morning quarters, With
out thought OF anything as surprising
as the Spanish fleet getting past the
sunken collier Merrimac, which they
had been deluded into believing effect
| ually blockaded the exit. There was
great excitement at once, and very
rapid action along the American line
| The signal for full speed ahead was
rung from bridge TO engine room Of
every ship, and the entire fleet com-
/ menced to move in shore toward the
| Spanish. and the great twelve and
| thirteen-inch guns CT the battleships
and the smaller batteries on the other
vessels fired shot after shot at long
range.
! AS the ships ran in towards the shore
1T soon became evident that the Span
/ iards had not come out to make an
aggressive fight, for they turned to
the eastward as soon as they had
cleared the harbor, and started on
their race for safety. at the. same time
sending answering shots at the Amer
lean feet as fas. as the men could load
and fire the guns. The Brooklyn.
Massachusetts. Texas, Oregon and Iowa
were nearer the Spaniards than any
Il a.