Omaha daily bee., 1898-05-09

fore the city and faced the enemy In column
line.
The order Of battle taken up by the Span
iards was with all the small craft inside
the harbor. The large ships OF Spain
cruised off Cavite and Manila. The Ameri-
can fleet entered Manila bay on Saturday
night with the greatest Of ease. The Span
iards had not established patrol and there
were no searchlights at the entrance of the
bay. In fact the American ships would
probably have passed inside the bay with
out any challenge had 1t not been that some
sparks flew up from the McCullochs run
mel. Thereupon few shots we're exchangnd
with the batteries on Corregdor island, Dut
the fleet did not slow down and soon took
up position near Cavite, awaiting dawn
in order to commence hostilities.
The early hours of the morning revealed
the opposing ships to each other ana the
Spanish flagship opened fire. Its action was
followed by some of the larger ships anu
then the Cavite forts opened up and the
smaller Spanish vessels brought their guns
into play
The American squadron, which had been
led into the bay through the channel by the
nagship Olympia. did not reply, though the
shells of the Spaniards began to strike the
water around them, but moved ma)esticaiy
onward. When nearing Baker bay sudden
upheaval of water short distance ahead
of the Olympia showed that the Spaniards
had exploded mine or torpedo. This was
followed by a second and similar explosion
They were both utterly unsuccessful. Inc
American fleet was then drawing nearer and
nearer to the Spanish, whose gunnery was
very poor, the shots from the Cavite batter
les and from the Spanish ships being equally
badly aimed, either falling short or going
wide OF the mark.
Made Every Shot Tell.
Though the Spaniards had opened fire at
5000 yards, the Americans reserved their
fire until within 1000 yards OF the enemy,
when the real battle began The Reina
Christina, Castillo, Don Antonio de Ulloa,
Isla de Cuba. Isla de Luz0n and the Min
dano were in line of battle outside OF
Cavite at that time with four gunboats and
the torpedo boats inside the harbor. The
American ships then passed backwards ana
forwards six times across the front OF the
Spaniards. pouring in upon the latter per-
feet hail of shot and shell. Every American
shot seemed to tell, while almost every
Spanish shot missed the mark.
After having thus scattered death and
Generalization among the Spanish fleet and
in the Spanish batteries the American fleet
retired for breakfast and incidentally a
council Of war was held on board the
Olympia.
By this time the Spanish ships were in a
desperate condition The flagship Reina
Christina was riddled with shot and shell,
one of its steam pipes had burst and 1t was
believed to be on fire. The Castillo was GER
tainly on fire, and soon afterwards its condi-
tion became worse and worse until it was
eventually burned to the waters edge.
The Don Antonio de Ulloa made most
magnificent show Of desperate bravery
When it's commander found 1t was so torn
by the American shells that he could not
keep it anoat he nailed it's colors to the
mast and it sank with all hands fighting to
the last. Its hull was completely riddled
and its upper deck had been swept clean by
the awful fire of the American guns, but
the Spaniards, though their vessels were
sinking beneath them, continued working
the guns on its lower deck until it sank be-
meath the waters.
During the engagement Spanish tor.
pedo boat crept along the shore and round
the ofiing in an attempt to attack the
American store ships, but 1t was promptly
discovered, was driven ashore and actually
blown to pieces. The Mindano had in thu
meantime been run ashore to save 1t from
sinking and the Spanish small craft hat
sought shelter from the steel storm b6hint
the breakwater. t.'s =
Pats on E1n1SA1nx IOucneBs
The battle, which was started at abou
$50 a. m and adjourned at $3.50 a. m, wa
resumed about noon, when Commodore
Dewey started in to put the finishing
touches on his glorious work. There wa
not much fight left in the Spaniards by tina
time and at 2 p. m. the Petrol and Con
cord had shot the Cavte batteries int
silence. leaving them heaps of ruins ant
o.. t1n x,,Htf 40 Cnoyr rtotN n
boats were then scuttled, the arsenal wa
on fire and the explosion of Spanish maga
zine caused further mortality ashore
A shot which struck the Baltimore ex
ploded some ammunition near one Of tn
guns and slightly injured half a dozen O
the crew. Several shots passed danger
ously close to Commodore Dewey, but littl
or no damage was done on board the flag
ship.
On the other hand, about 150 men. are sal
to have been killed on board the Spanis
flagship, which was totally destroyed. Ad
miral Montejo. the Spanish commander
transferred his flag to the Isla de Cub
when his ship caught fire, but the latte
was also destroyed In due course OF time.
The Reina Christina lost its captain
lieutenant, chaplain and q midshipman b
one shot, which struck its bridge. Abou
100 men were killed and sixty wounded o
board the Castillo. Indeed, some estimate
place the number Of Spanish wounded dur
ing the engagement at over 900 men.
The Olympia was struck five times abor
its upper works and whale boat Of tn
Raleigh was smashed
The terms of the capitulation were sti
unsettled when the McCuloch left Manil
and it was said Commodore Dewey feare
riotlng upon the part Of the insurgents
he attempted bombardment of the remair
ing Notifications at Manila. The forts
the entrance Of the bay were dismantled G
Wednesday. after they had capitulated.
1t is said the American commodore OF
dered the cable to be cut because the Spar
ish refused to permit him to use it pent
ing the complete surrender of the city.
The Petrol. chased gunboat up Il
river Pasig and the Spanish captain came
boat to negotiate conditions of surrende
The American captain replied: "Uncond
tional surrender or fight"
To this the Spaniard answered: 1--WE a
willing to fight. Please allow us to sci
for ammunition because our store is g.
D., hausted.'