The Appeal. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn. ;) 1889-19??, 1898-10-22
those Which burst easily and are very diff
1erent from the armor piercing variety
which are meant for use against plated

those which burst easily and are very diff
1eTent from the armor piercing variety
which are meant for use against plated
ships. p'oo =
The armor piercing shells used by the
4 Texas had little effect unless they struck
Spanish gun or within a foot or two
of 1t. Therefore when it is remembered
tnat the battleship silenced the Spanish
battery 1t will be seen that there is a
foundation for the assertion often made.
that her gun practice that day We; til
most remarkable during the war.
Both ship and battery fired slowly the
ships gunners even more deliberately
than the gunners on the height = he
Spanish aim was better than usual.
| Shells fell close to the Texas continually.
When a 6-nch projectile struck her on
the bow, went through, cut off big
| stanchion and burst among the men who
were grouped about two 6-pounders in
| the forward compartment, few on board
| knew what had happened. Indeed, when
the smoke of the gun which fired the
she'll belched from the hill one of the of
| hcers on the Texas thought it was shell
from the ship exploding in the Spanish
work and cried out that it was a good
| shot ...
Tut man." said Capt. Philip; that
was one of their guns. A few moments
later smoke rose in clouds from the for
/ Su.
! They've hit u.s.
Questions were shouted from the bridge,
| put for minute there was no intelligent
reply. But men had already hurried to
| the pierced compartment with stretchers
for the wounded and lines of fire hose,
| and the surgeons were busy with lint
| ana bandages Before the men on the
| bridge knew the extent OF the damage
tne wounded were carried out and the
| nre ext:nguished, SO we'll did every man
know his station and his duty.
There was one man whom they could
not carry out. He had been torn to
! shreds by the shell. A man at his side
| was unhurt. A man as far from him as
was possible in the small compartment
| had a dozen wounds
! Inc word that one was dead and several
| terribly hurt vent through the ship
quickly.
Steadily the big guns took their revenge
Shell after shell went home. The fire of
! the Sacopa battery became ragged Then
| 1t ceased. The Texas steamed out pas,
| tne brooklyn and schley's men cheered
tlil SIGNAL told them man had been
killed. Then the Brooklyn asked by sig
nal If she could afford any assistance,
and added a compliment concerning the
wonderful shooting.
The Texas wants nothing, unless it be
some common SHE'LL was Philips an
sWer. Then, for the first time, the Brook
lyn's company learned that the great ex-
ecution mad been done with armor-pierc-
ing projectiles, and wondered the more at
the grim duel and it's quito ONE
! Thought Friend n Foe.
The description in the Herald of Sept.
70 OF an experience through which the
| Hagsh1p New York and the torpedo boat
| Porter passed during the war with Spain
| recalls to me a similar experience in
which the Porter's sister vessel. the Du-
pOnt, narrowly escaped destruction when
about to torpedo the monitor Puritan
The incident is vouched for by one Of
those present at the time.
| When,s on April 49, the Puritan. Am
| phltrite, Cincinnati and Machas and the
J torpedo boats Dupont, Foote and Wins
| low began patrol duty, off Matanzas,
! Cuba, they were arranged in three lines
| the torpedo boats stationed one mile
Off the entrance to the bay, the cruisers
three miles further out, and the monitors
| three miles outside the cruisers.
Each vessel was to patrol back and
forth. and not to leave station except
to intercept strange vessel, and then
to exchange signals with her. The same
| orders as were in force on the Porter
and New York were to be observed off
Matanzas. Should vessel reply to sig
nails with the same display it was re-
garded as sufficient evidence that she
| was a friend; but in the event of failure
to respond, or the display of different
signal, she was to be regarded as sus-
| picious vessele.
The vessels went to. their stations on
the night of April "a, the Dupont having
the eastern end of the inner line. No
notice had been given to her of any
| change having been made in the DISPOSE
ton Of the vessels for the night, SO when
a shot was fired and it was heard to
strike close under her stern, coming from
| the direction of the shore, the command
ing officer, Lieut.. Spencer S. Wood was
puzzled, as he was unable to see any
vessel, and did not know of any fort in
| that vicinity.
To clear up the doubt the vessel was
turned toward the direction of the shot
and the signal lights were displayed
| no response A complete circle was made
I-still no reply to the signal. Surely
something was wrong so Lieut. WOOD
decided to investigate closer, and pre-
pared for. an attack. All hands were
| called to their stations; the guns and
torpedo tubes were manned; steam pres
sure was increased, and the dupont spec
along under two boilers, making about
twenty-five knots. r.. t.. ~. -.
| When approaching the place from which
the shot had apparently come speed was
| slackened steam was allowed to bottle up,
preparatory to a DASH and every one
strained his eyes to see into the darkness.
Still nothing could be seen, when, sud
denly, out Of the blacknesss a dark mass
began to appear. 1t was vessel of some
kind, but what was it?
| Are you ready?' was passed quietly to
Ensign Clark, who was stationed at the
| port torpedo. '.. ..1
Eyes, SIR the report came back.
| Speed was increased; the boat appeared
to leap toward the strange vessel, which
| had not replied to her signal. Then two
faint white lights, in a horizontal plane,
appeared, but it was not the right signal.
No chances could be taken now. She
must be destroyed. Quicker revolved the,
screws. The Dupont must be nearer for
effective work. ..E u.
The lieutenant was about to give the
order to fire, when faint red light began
| to show between the two white ones.
Hard a-port'' cried the lieutenant. The
| Dupont passed clear, and the lieutenant,
grasping the megaphone, called out:
I''Your red light is too faint. can
scarcely make it OUT and the Dupont re-
turned to her patrol station, and the men
to lneir hunks.
/ Oil lanterns were used that night on the
i Puritan for signals, and as they We're
burning dmly this accounted for the diff
Guilty in distinguishing her lights.
j 1t was not until some weeks later that
those on the torpedo boat heard the other
side Of the story. The officer of the deck
of the Puritan had seen what he thought
a strange vessel. and, not receiving any
4 reply to his signal-the lights were too
1 dim-he had fired the shot which had
astonished the Dupont, and then gave q
general alarm, which summoned all to
their quarters. $s
! All prepared for an attack, and when
about deciding it had been false alarm
the Dupont was sighted speeding toward
them. She was not recognized, In fact,
most of the officers declared she was not
one of our boats but one of the Spanish
1 destroyers @
The moment had almost come to fire, for