The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1898-04-07
.SPANIARDS AT THE GUNS
THEIR FARCICAL BOuBARDMENT OF
VALPARAISO AND CALLAO.
Spanish Gunners Fired Three Broad
gle shot Was Effective.



and Peru The fact that our government
had delivered an ultmatum to Spain that
the conflict in Cuba must cease led Pay Di-
rector l.. G. Billings, United States navy,
to describe to-day the farcical naval opera
| tons of the Dons against Caliao and VAL
paraiso in May, 1866. Mr.. Billings was an
eyewitness to the bombardment of Val
| paraiso, and watched from the deck Of the
United States ship Wateree the complete
| discontinue of the Spanish fleet in it's at
| tack on Callao
1.-THE gun practice OF the Spaniards has
always been wretched," said Mr. Billings,
land even their modern gunnery, as shown
in target shooting, according to known
records, cannot be compared with the ac-
curacy of aim shown by our gunners dur
| ing the civil war. This was illustrated in
the attempt to destroy Valparaiso and
Callao. After bombarding Valparaiso for
hours the fire of the Spaniards did very lit
tie damage, but in the assault on Callao
three broadsides were fired from the frigate
! Alemancia upon an old Peruvian brick fort,
and not shot touched the walls of the cas-
| tie. as it was called. AT the time this ex-
ample of poor gunnery made Spain the
| laughing stock of the world, and it was re-
marked then that similar incident had
never occurred before 1 believe that 1t has
never occurred since.
1.-THE war which Spain was waging fol-
! lowed soon after Chile and Peru had gained
| their independence and the mother country
| was trying to enforce demands for excessive
| indemnity At the time that the lombard
ment of Valparaiso was contemplated the
| United States had fleet in the harbor COM
| posed of the Vanderbilt, which was the flag
! ship of the admiral, Fighting John
Rodgers; the sloop of war Dakota, and the
double-turreted monitors Monadnock, Suwa-
nee, Wateree and Mohongo. The British
were represented by only one vessel the
''The Spanish fleet was believed to be one
| of the most powerful that that nation had
| ever assembled. 1t was composed or the
| Numancia, of 5000 tons, an ironclad carry
ing an armament of tfty-six guns. and tve
| other double-banked frigates carrying from
thirty-siX to forty-six guns. The Spaniards
had taken great care in fitting out the
| that it would soon reduce the belligerent
lsSouth American republics. The ships were
in comamnd of Mendez Nunez, then lieu
| tenant commander He was young man
then and believed to be capable OF brilliant
when the Spanish fleet appeared in the
| harbor of Valparaiso, Admiral Rodgers and
| the British commander Immediately notified
| Nunez that they would not permit the bonn
| declaration was that the Chileans had not
| been able to fortify the port An interna-
| tional agreement existed forbidding the
| Smelling Of unfortihed places ana the span
| ish admiral was warned that he must live
/ up to it's terms. In the event of the refusal
| of Nunez to need the warning the American
| admiral and the British commander notified
| him that they would fire on his fleet.
''Nunez replied to this ultimatum in per-
| son. The British officer was aboard the
| Vanderbilt in company with Admiral Rod
! gers when Nunez arrived. The manner OF
| the Spanish commander was brisk. He
| spoke in English, directly and to the point
| Turning to the British commander he said
| that the Englishman represented a flag
| which foated over possessions upon which
| the sun never set. Nunez said that he thor
oughly appreciated the power of Great
Britain and the chivalry of her subjects.
THE BRITON WEAKENED.
'"Then, speaking to Admiral Rodgers, the
Spaniard said: You, sir, have already won
| great honors in the war of the rebellion
just ended in your country. am a young
man and have only my duty to perform
You declare that if / lombard Valparaiso
you will intervene by force of arms. If you
do 1T is possible that this will be my last
naval operation, but have only one course
to pursue. L shall lombard Valparaiso at 10
o'clock tomorrow morning. With that he
returned to his fleet
Fighting John Rodgers wanted nothing
| better than the alternative that was pre-
Sented to him. But the English commander
weakened. He pointed out that the British
flag was represented only by the Shear
water Besides, the Englishman had grave
| fears as to the wisdom of the policy of in
| reference, and was safraid that his govern
ment would not back him up. The argu-
ments of Admiral Rodgers were of no avail.
We'll, if you will fire only one shotted
| gun finally cried out our admiral, and
thus take part in the engagement, I will
engage to go out with only one vessel, the
Monadnock, and sink every Spanish ship by
II O'clock
Even this proposition did not strengthen
the backbone of the Englishman, and he
presently returned to his ship. The Shear
water soon went to sea-
True to his word, Nunez opened the bonn
bardment of Valparaiso at the hour stated
Admiral Rodgers concluded that it would
of Great Britain and therefore lay by while
the SpaniardS shelled the city Our officers
watched the gunnery of the Spaniards with
the greatest amusement. Half of the shots
struck the water and others flew anywhere
but in the direction intended. I don't be-
lieve that one shell in fifty exploded, and al
though the Spanish gunnerS paid particular.
attention to the custom house they were not
able to destroy it. Mind you, it was Just
like shooting at a target because the fire
was not returned, and the Spaniards could
take their time about working their guns
don't believe that much more than 500 900
worth of damage was done during the hours
of bombardment.
1.-THE Spanish fleet then sailed complacent-
ly away, heading for Callao. They had not
secured any real results at Valparaiso, but
NuneZ was anxious TO engage the fortifca-
tionS at the Peruvian port 1t was there
that he met with such utter defeat The
Bay of Callao is in the form of a horseshoe
and on one of the points had been erected
an ironclad turret. 1t open at the top
and not movable But under the direction
of Major Wilson, who had served in the
Federal army, two 3O0-pounder Armstrong
guns had been mounted, and when the
Spanish fleet hove in sight the Peruvians
We're ready for them. Major Wilson was in
command of the defensive operations, and
with him were associated a number Of ex-
Confederate officers. A 500-pOund Armstrong
gun had been placed in position abreast Of
the custom house. This cannon at the time
the largest the world had ever known.
SPANIARDS BEATEN.
Approaching for the attack the Spanish
fleet separated into two divisions. The
Numancia, with Nunez aboard, the Bren-
gula and the Vencedora formed the star
board division, and the Vile de Madrid
then one of the finest frigates afioat, the
Allemancia and the Blanca were in the
port division.
THE American fleet had followed. of
course. / was aboard the Wateree, which
steamed close to the scene of the conflict
though out of the line of fire. The engage
ment began at 10 o'clock, when the Nh
ma1cia opened fire. The other ships fol-
lowed the fagship'S example and hurled
tons of iron at the turret But not one shot
struck 1T. The first Peruvian shot was df-
rected at the Vile de Madrid. The vessel
was not yet in range and the shot fell short
THE next shot settled the Vile de Madrid
The American gunners behind the Peruvian
cannon did not make second error. The
shot passed clear through the ships steam
chest and out the other side. Over $50 men
were scalded bv the escaping steam and