El Paso daily herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1881-1901, 1898-07-19
FROM THE RNT.
Interesting Letter Eronchrf FeWel

FROm NE ftNT.
Interesting Letter Eronchrf FeWel
The following extracs are from a
letter that Major Fewereeeivd from
his son Chris. who was n the Hornet
and in command of the b,tteG when
she was disa bled in theight with gun
boats and land forces MaZanillo,
Cuba:
U. S. 5. Hornet.
Off Baiquiri, Jly Phi, 90.
We left Guantanamo I'D reprted TO
the admiral at Santiago Or6rs had
been issued to us to retur to TIE north
coast, but they were chtRed ana we
were put On blockade aty I'll cape
Cruz, Cuba, at the eunnce TO Inc
channel of Manzauillo, abut D miles
away.
We arrived off Cape Ctz June ZoIn'
On the 26th we csplureda: schooner
on the 9th we caught n sail ste amer.
/ We put q prize crew 90 hem un9er
| command of Ellis and sdhtthemto hey,
| West.
The next few days psss -ather slow.
Then again on the Both we SSptureo
another schooner, soon ater WI, ch tsas
U. S. S. Hist (convered yacht ara
the U. s. S. Wampatucktug bostlcame
up with oroers for the three OF US 10
go up and attack Mapzanillo..
We started about a. m. anC ct elev-
en- we ran into Limona and attacked a
lone gun boat. The Wsmpatuck drew
too much water and stayed behind.
The fight with the gunboat was very
unsatisfactory for US, as the Hist led
and stayed right between US and the
enemy most OF the time. The Spaniard
made very pretty fight. He came
out from behind cay firing his two
guns like clock work and made q run
of about mile, turned into q creek
and beached his boat. We could not
get near him on account of FshoS.,l
water, but we think his boiler WAS hit,
which disabled him. Neither tie Hist
nor the Hornet was struck. lost of
the shells hit the water near tie Hist
and ricOchetted over the HorneA
We fired in this engagement ABOUT
fOrty-fve. times. After the Spactsrd be-
ached his boat we made track to Man
zanillo, and arrived there abe Ut 3:45 p.
m. and on our arrival there ponmenc-
ed the warmest half hour of9y life.
We knew that there werf soldiers
there and some gun boats, bat didn't
know how many there wers1of either.
We went into the fight W ftb the Hist
leading, the Wampstuck following.
and the Hornet next. About the time
we arrived, at 3:45, they opened fire on
us and it seemed to me tina; the whole
water front on the beach w,s one con-
tinous line of puffs of smoe.
There were four gun bots mounting
two guns each and one hulk with ten
guns on it and a yacht-loking affair
whose battery / don't kn,w, in addition
20 the soldiers who had .un their field
batteries and mOrtars down on the
beach and opened on us
The Hist has five gus and only one
# these seemed to work. The Wam-
,atuck has three and two of these can
re used at once ard these two got
ranky. The Hornet has six, four of
which could be used at the same time.
The Spaniards socn discovered that
re were doing most of the shooting,
therefore, they concentrated their fire
n US. About 3:55 they hit US in the
,ain steam pipe amid the Hornet was
isabled. Three men were badly
calded by the exhaust steam, and one
eriously, though not considered in
anger. Then it was, that we COM
fenced to shoot. We sunk one gunboat
eed firing at US with rifles. We think |
lat we sunk another gunboat.
Lieutenant Junger, in COMMAND OF
he Wampatuck, is gallant man. We
lme along side, took us in tow, am
wed US out in the outer harbor out o. II
Inge of the Spaniards.
During the fight our battery fired 162
K Founders, ia one Founders and SO
ON the 97.43 millimeter rapid fire
IN, making q total of 429 shots in the
IF hours engagement.
The other two ships fired probably
.lf that number. | estimate that the
,snish boats tout side of the field
.tteries and mortsrs on shore) fired
lily 1000 rounds, most of which was
ed at us after the steam pipe was hit.
lie Wampstuck being alongside was
turally part of the target. l had
neral charge of the battery while
lsign Earl and the skipper were on
2 bridge.
hear lots of people talk about hav-
? some fun, really wonder if they
d it funny? | didn't, l wore a smile
,st of the time as I saw a few anus
z things, but generally speaking l
uld not go into a battle looking for
The Spaniards seemed to have bad
they wanted for one day, and made
attempt to follow u.s. We anchored
1t night and put blank hange on
r steam pipe and were ready for an
Ter trial, but just at present we are
und for Guantanamo for repairs
70 Wampatuck is preceding us with
r last prize in tow.
land in Cuba for the first time to- ,
Y with army mail.
Smiths Creamery is open again.