The Wilmington daily Republican. (Wilmington, Del.) 1890-1902, 1898-07-27

entirety unprotected auxiliary vessei-
the yacht Corsair--and has a good bat
terry of light rapid hire guns. She MA
lying about twotmiles 'ftom the harSo
n entrance, to the sAuthyaTd land tast
II ward, and Immediately steamed In
II Hl1enh1g diTe upon the large ships. An
tidipathg The appearance Of the Plu
II ten and TirBr. the Gloucester wa
slowed, thereby gaining more rapid.
n high pressure Of steam, and whel
the idestroyers .eHme out She ,steamdt
for them at 'f,ill speed, and was abb,
to close at short range. where her tfrt
was accurate. deadly and of great vol
ume. During tits hight the Gloucester
was under the fire Of the Socapa bat.
terry. Within '20.miniteB from the time
they emerged from Santiago harbor the
careers of the Furor and the .Pluton
were ended. and twotKirda Of their
\ people killed. The ,FuIor was beached
n and sunk IN the surf; the 7Plut0n sank
II In deep water a few minutes later. The
! destroyers probably suffered much in
il Jury from the fires Of the secondary
I batteries Of the 'hzttlsships Iowa, Tn
diana and the Texas, vet j think a
very considerable factor in their speedy
destruction was the fire, a.t close range,
of the 'Gioucester.s battery. After res
cuing the survivors or the .dsstroyers
the Gloucester did excellent service in
landing and securing tine crew OF the
Infanta Maria Teresa.
The method Of escape by the Span
iards-all steering IN the same 7direc-
ton. and IN formation, removed all
Nun noJ faa,r Arr, a.,
plain the duty of every limited States
vessel to clone lin, immediately engage
and pursue. This WIS promptly and
effectively done. Az aheatly stated,
the first rush Of the Spanish squadron
carried 1t past a number of the block
aiding ships. which could not innnedi-
ately work up to their hest spesd. hut
they suffered heavily in passing. and
the InfaIrta Maria Teresa ind the
Oquendo were probably set IN fire by
shells fired during the first is minutes
OF the engagement. It WAS afterwards
learned that the Infanta Maria TeEesats
fire main azad been cut by one OF our
first sfInts, iand that she was unable to ;
extinguish the fire. With large vol
u1nss Of smoke rising from their lower \
decks art, these vessels gave I'D both 4
fight and flight and ran In on the 4
beach-the lnfaGta Naria Tsrem Mt
about 10:a5 q. m, at Nina Nina, SIX
! and .oae-hhK miles from Ssntiagp bar
Dor entrance, and the ,Almirante Oquen- Il
do at about 10.a0 a. m, at Juan Con- Il
gales, Isepen miles from the port.
! Increasing the Blecxade's vi9slance. Il
: The Vt8caya was still under the hrc II
of the leading vessels. The Cristohal 4
Colon had drawn ahead, Leading the II
chase, and soon passed beyond the \
range of some of the guns iof the lead \
ling American ships. The Vizcaya was /
soon set on fire, and ut Hills she turned 4
i'm shore and was beached at Ascerra-
tderos. Is miles from Santiago, burning
Ffiercely, and with her reserves Of am
on deck already beginning to
sexplode. When about ten miles west |
,of Santiago the Indiana had been sig
nailed to 60 back to the harbor en-
trance, and at Ascerraderps the Iowa |
was signaled to resume blockadins i
station" The Iowa, assisted by the
Ericsson and the Hist, took off the |
crew Of the vizcaya, while the Har-
ward and the Gloucester rescued those
of the Infanta Maria Teresa and the
Almirante Oauendo. This rescue of
prisoners, including the wounded from
the burning Spanish vessels, Was the
occasion of some of the most daring
and gallant conduct of the day. The
ships were burning fore and aft, their
guns and reserve ammunition were ex-
ploding ana It was not known at what
moment the fire would reach the main
In addition to this, a heavy
surf was running just inside of the
Spanish ships. But nothing deterred
cur officers and men until their work
Of humanity WIS complete.
There remained now of the Spanish
ships only the Cristohal Colon, but she
was their best and fastest vessel.
Forced by the situation to hug the Gu y
ban coast, her only chance of escape
was by superior and sustained speed.
When the Wizcaya went ashore the
Colon was about six miles ahead of the
Brooklyn and Oregon, but her squirt
was finished and the American ships
were now gaining upon her. BEHIND
The Brooklyn and the Oregon came
The Texas, Vixen and New York. It
was evident from the bridge of the
New York that all the American ships
we're gradually oyerhauling the chase,
md that she had no chance of escape. l
1t 1850 tho Brooklyn and the Oregon
opened fire and got her range-the
lregon,s heavy shell striking beyond
ter-and at 1920 she gave up without
ring another shot, hauled down her
olors, and ran ashore at Rio Torquino,
miles from Santiago. Captain Cook.
I the Brooklyn, went on board to re-
Give the surrender. While his boat
ias alongside 1 came up in the New !.
.ork, received his report and placed
he Oregon in charge of the wreck to
ave her. If possible. and directed the
risoners to be transferred to the Reso- p,
lite, which had followed the chase
Schley, whose chief of
.aff had gone on board to receive the
lrrender, had directed that all their >,
ersonal effects should be retained by
lie officers. This order did not mod
y. 9,
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