The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1898-07-27

one of the destroyers thought at the mo-
ment to be attempting to escape from the
Gloucester.
6. The Spanish vessels upon clearing the
haroor, turned to the westward in column,
increasing their speed to the full power of
their engines The heavy bockading vessels
which had closed in towards the Moro, at
the instant of the enemy's appearance, and
at their best speed. delivered rapid fire,
we'll sustained and destructive which speed
lily overwhelmed and silenced the Spanish fire.
The initial speed of the Spaniards carried
them rapidly past the bockading vessels, and
the battle developed into a chase, in which
the Brooklyn and Texas had at the start the
advantage Of position. The Brooklyn MAIN
tanned this lead. The Oregon, steaming with
amazing speed from the commencement of
the action, took first place. The Iowa and
the Indiana having done good work, and not
having the speed of the other ships, were
directed by me, in succession, at about the
time the Vizcaya was beached, to drop out
of the chase and resume blockading stations.
These vessels rescued many prisoners. The
Vixen, finding that the rush of the Span
ish ships would put her between two fires
ran outside of our own column and remained
there during the battle and chase.
GLOUCESTER'S GOOD WORK.
7. The skillful handling and gallant fight
ing of the Gloucester excited the admiration
of every one who witnessed it, and merits
the commentator of the navy department.
She is a fast and entirely unprotected auxil-
larry vesseEthe yacht Corsair-and has a.
good battery of light rapid fire guns She was
lying about two miles from the harbor en-
trance, to the southwark and eastward, and
Immediately steamed in, opening fire upon
the large ships. Anticipating the appearance
nj p1tJtnn md
slowed, thereby gaining more rapidly high
pressure of steam, and when the destroyers
came out she steamed for them at full speed,
and was able to get close to short range.
where her fire was accurate, deadly and of
great volume. During this fight the G!ouces-
ter was under the fire of the Socapa battery.
Within twenty minutes from the time they
emerged from Santiago harbor, the careers of
the Furor and the Pluton were ended, and
two-thirds of their people killed. The Furor
was beached and sunk in the surf; the Pluton
sank In deep water, few minutes later. The
destroyers probably suffered much injury
from the fire Of the secondary batteries of the
battleships Iowa. Indiana and the Texas yet,
l think, a very considerable factor in the
speedy destruction was the fire at close range
of the Gloucester's battery. After rescuing
the survivors of the destroyers, the Glouces-
ter did excellent service in landing and Sc
curing the crew of the Infanta Maria Teresa.
s. The method of escape attempted by the
Sraniards-all steering in the same direc-
ton and In formation, removed all tactical
doubts or difficulties, and made plain the
duty of every United States vessel to close
IN. Immediately engage and pursue. This
was promptly and effectively done. AS al
ready stated, the first rush of the Spanish
squadron carried it past number of the
blockading ships, which could not immed-
lately work up to their best speed; but they
SUFFERED heavily In passing, and the Infanta
Maria Teresa and the Oquendo were prob
ably set on fire by shells fired during the
first fifteen minutes of the engagement. II
was afterwards learned that the Infanta Maria
Teresas fire main had been cut by one of
our nrst Shots and that she was unable to
extinguish the fire. With large volumes of
smoke rising from their lower decks. aft.
these vessels gave up both fight and fight.
ana ran IN on the beach-the Infanta Maria
Teresa at about 10:15 a. M, at Nina Nina
six and one-half miles from Santiago harbor
entrance. and the Almirante Oquendo at about
1890 a. M. at Juan Gonzales, seven miles
from the port.
VIZCAYA FIRE.
g. The vizcaya was still under the fire OF
the leading vessels, the aCristobal Colon had
drawn ahead, leading the chase, and soon
passed beyond the range of the guns of the
leading American ships. The Vizcaya was
soon set on fire, and, at 11:15 she turned in
shore and was beached at Acerraderas,
fifteen miles from Santiago, burning fiercely,
and with her reserves of ammunition on deck
already beginning to explode. When about
ten miles west of Santiago the Indiana had
been signalled to go back to the harbor en-
trance, and at Acerraderos the Iowa was
signalled to resume blockade station" The
Iowa, assisted by the Ericsson and the Hist.