The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1898-04-04
\ FAMOUS SEA-FIGHT.
The Engagement Between Chilean
and Peruvian IrOncIads.


and Peruvian IrOncIads.
In the April Century, Claude H. wetmore
has an article on "A Famous Starlight"
describing the engagement between Chill
can and Peruvian ironclads off the coast
of Bolivia in 1879. Mr.. wetmore says:
From the first of the battle the encour-
aging voice of Grau had come to the men
in the turret through the speaking-tube
from the coming tower; but when the
Blanco crowded into the thick of il. and
great shot struck the Huascar's sides as
regularly as blows of a battering ram, the
orders of the commander were no longer
heard. The officer in charge of the turret
called to his superior. There was no an
swer, and when Commander Eliass A guer-
re ran up the narrow little ladder that led
to the tower, he STUN bled over the dead
body of his admiral. A shell had struck
the conning-tower and had taken off
Grau' S head as neatly as if the decapitation
had been by the guillotine. This shell also
killed Lieut.. Ferre, the admraPs aide
There was only time to push the corpses
aside, and the new commanding officer
pulled back the tube flap to give his direc-
gered, keeled over, then shook in every
plate, while a conclusion more terrific
than any so far told that d shell had en-
tered the turret and had burst there When
the fumes had cleared away so that per-
son could speak, a midshipman called out
that one of the great guns had been dis
mounted, and twenty men killed. The sur
vivors tumbled the bodies through the
hatch that opened into the deck below,
thus releasing the clogged machinery; and
as the corpses ratified down other men
rushed up, throwing off their clothing as
they jumped into the pools of blood to seize
hold of the gear and swing the remaining
gun into position, that it might train upon
one of the ships-they could no longer
make out which, nor did they care-7and it
was discharged, hauled in, and discharged
again.
Once more all was silent in the coming
tower. Lieut.. Palacios FASTENED there, but
before he could enter he was compelled TO
push three bodies out of the way. He had
barely given his first command when a
bullet from the weil-aimed rifle of a ma
rine in an enemy's top lodged between his
eyes. Then the fourth to command the
Huascar that day, Lieut.. Pedro Garezon.
took the place, and as he did SO he called
through an aperture, telling the quarter
master to put the helm 10 port; for he had
determined to ram one of the adversaries,
and sink her If necessary. Over and over
spun the wheel but the Huascar's head
still pointed between the Chileans.
"Portl port, l sayv' screamed the COM
mander.
"She won't answer came back tie sui
len reply from the only one of four quar-
termasters alive; the bodies of the others
were lying upon the grating at his feet.
"A shot has carried away the starboard
steering-gear, SIR" reported an ensign; and
he dropped dead as the words left his
mouth.
The Huascar now lay drifting in a hell OF
shot and flame, but all the while the red
white, and red fluttered from the peak
One by one, in twos and in threes, the mer
in the turret dropped at their posts; and al
last the remaining great gun was silent
its tackle literally choked with dead. Tho
turret could not be turned for the same
reason. Corpses hung over the military
top; corpses .clcgged the coming tower
With coats and waistcoats off, the sur.
geons had been laboring in the ward-room
upon the wounded, who, shrielxing in theil
agony, had been tumbled down the COM
panionway like so much butchered beef
for there was no time to use stretchers OF
to carry a stricken comrade to a doctors
care. Steam and smoke filtered through the
doorways. and the apartment became stiff
ling. While they were saving, amputating
and bandaging, a shell tore into the ward.
room, burst and fragments wounded the
assistant surgeons, the chief of the medi.
cal staff having been killed earlier in the
conflict. Those unfortunaIes who were
stretched upon the table awaiting their
turn under the knife, and those who lay
upon the floor suffered no more pain; they
were killed as they lay grooming. This shell
tore away ward-room and stern cabin, and
hardly a trace was left of the bulkhead
After that what little surgery was done
was performed in the coal-bunkers.
Huddled in a passageway near the en-
gine-room were score or more of non
combatants-stewards, pantrymen and
stckers. They were in a place that was
lighted only as flashes came from the
guns; it was filled with powder-smoke, and
clouds of steam that drifted from below
told that the Huascar had been struck in a
vital spot-her machinery. Suddenly they
heard a crash, followed by the rending of
the deck, and the little ironclad swayed as
il she had struck reef. Some one pa ssed
the word that the maintopmast had been
shot away. AS it came down IL brought
living men TO be dashed to DEATH also
corpses that had been hanging over the
sides of the military top.