Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1898-07-13
IAN SAVE THREE SHIPS.
Colon, Maria Teresa and Vizcaya
May be Raised.
SCENES AT WRECK,
The Wrecked Armada is a Fleet of
Steel Coffins-Vultures
Hover About.

Washington, D. c., July 9.-Admiral
Sampson has cabled the navy department
, that in his opinion three of the Spanish
vessels may be saved. The Colon is GER
tainly in good condition, he reports, and
there are reasonable hopes of saving the
Maria Teresa and the Vizcaya. This is
the only news received from Sampson in
a day or more, the cables apparently be-
ing interrupted or in bad working order.
1t is expected at the navy department that
the onslaught on the forts at the entrance
to the harbor of Santiago will begin today.
Washington, d. c.. July 9:-The text
Of Admiral Simpsons dispatch is as fol-
lows:
Playa del Este, July S-Secretary of the
Navy, MISUNDERSTANDING report
from board ordered to examine wrecks,
states that wreckage appliances should be
about saving ViZcaya, Maria Teresa and
Cristobal Colon, If haste be made. Colon is
much the most valuable, being in perfect
order. Would recommend most perfect APP
planes be sent at once. SAMPSON.
The department had already arranged
with the Merritt Chapman Wrecking
company to undertake the salvage OF
these vessels and two of the vessels of
that company are now on their way to
Santiago.
much stronger possibility of saving the
ships than was supposed a copy of it has
been sent to the contractors with the re-
quest to hasten the work and to be pre-
pared to send additional assistance ii it
be found necessary.
No Reference to Hostilities.
The two dispatches that came from
Shafter over night made no reference TO
the resumption of hostilities on his part,
nd TO fn1n ole hn1
come from him. The statement tele
graphed the press from the army in the
field, to the effect that the Cubans I'M
der Garcia have undertaken to designate
a governor for Santiago after it falls has
attracted a good deal Of attention here.
The dispatch went on to state that the
man chosen for the place was Col. Deme
trio Castillo of Garcia's army, and that
Gen. Shafter, upon being notified of the
choice, had referred the matter to Wash
ington. No such reference has been mace
and the officials here do not expect for an
instant that Gen. Shafter will make it.
If Santiago falls under his attack, Gen.
Shafter and no one else will assume cons
mand of Santiago and retain that COM
mand as long as he stays in that vicini-
ty and until he is relieved by orders from
Washington.
1t is not contemplated here to turn the
captured communities over to the Cubans
W vi
consequences involved, not only from the
point of moral obligation upon the United
States as civilized nation, but also from
that of sound political considerations.
The reports that are reiterated as to
the brutal attitude Of the Cubans toward
the Spanish who surrender near Santiago
have caused a great deal of disQuet here
and it is believed that our military and
naval commanders will be expected to see
to it that the Cubans are held to the
strictest observance of the rules of civil
lied warfare under pain of being severely
dealt with.
A Visit to the Wrecks.
Off Santiago, July 7.-(By the Assoc
ciated Press Boat Dauntless, via Port An
tonic by way Of Kingston, July S, 11:5O
p. 1.-THE vessels which composed Adj
mral Cervera's squadron, converted into
wrecked charnel houses, are littering the
Cuban coast and the scenes Of desolation
and death battle description.
At the entrance of the harbor of San
tiago lies the Reina Mercedes sunk at
midnight, July 3. Westward, five miles
from the harbor, is a torpedo-boat de-
strOyer stuck fast in the rocks, close in
shore, battered by the surf. Rocks jut-
ting out of the water in front where she
lies hide her hull from view. Her davits
and the top of her coming tower alone
mark her resting place. Visible from
the sea a few miles farther, in an inlet
embraced by two mighty arms of black
rocks that extend half a mile into the
sea, are the remains of the twin cruisers
1nfanta Maria Teresa and Almirante
Oquendo, formerly the pride of the Span
iSh navy.
On beyond lies the Vizcaya, a mass of
ruins, and forty-two miles away from
Santiago the Cristobal Colon lies help
less on her side, her smOkestacks under
water.
The Infanta Maria Teresa and the
Almirante Oquendo stand upright stuck
fast on the rocky shoals. All that is left
of them is their outer hulls, the heavy
armor defying total humiliation. Inside
OF the work of destruction is complete
Their boilers, engines, bunkers and maya
zines have been blown into unrecogniz-
able masses of twisted, melted iron. Elk
ploded shells, burned rifles and revolv-
ers, pieces of yellow brass work and gold
and silver coin, melted by the intense
neat, are streWn all over the remains Of
the once proud armored cruisers. whose
protective decks only stand in places.
Huge Steel Collins.
But the most CHASTITY, horrible sights in
those steel collins are the mangled
SCARED and charred bodies of hundreds Of
brave sailors sacrificed for their country.
others are lowering over the wrecks.
On the beach other hocks Of vultures
sit in silence waiting for the sea to give
up its dead. Every tide adds to the tale
OF horror, washing up such objects as,
for instance, sleeve enclosing a wasted
arm, other portions of human bodies
gGawed by hungry sharks, and countless
relics Of the battle.
Attention has been given to the burial
of the dead of the enemy, and over 100
bodies taken from the ships or washed
ashore have been inferred upon the beach
by Rear-Admiral SIMPSONS orders
Those which now remain are either al
most wholly consumed by fire, charred
beyond belief or lie in the depths of the
sea. These form the food for the buz-
yards, who keep constant vigil about the
wrecks.
The buried remains lie in a confused
mass, unnumbered and unnamed, in a
huge pit dug in the sandy beach, where
the vessels went ashore A rude wooden
cross from the wreckage alone marks the
grave, grave over which Spain may
well mourn
Killed by a Fall.
ND1