The Republican journal. [volume] (Belfast, Me.) 1829-current, 1898-04-07
A Famous Starlight.
The Engagement Between Chilean and Pc
ruvian Irouclads.

j
The Engagement Between Chilean and Pc
ruvian Ironclads.
In the April Century Claude H. Wet
more has an article on "a Famous Sea
Fight" describing the engagement be-
tween Chilean and Peruvian ironclads off
the coast of Bolivia in 1879. MI. Wetmore
says:
From the first of the battle the encourage
ING 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 it, and great
Shot struck the Huascar's sides as regu-
larly as blows of a battering-ram, the or
ders of the commander were no longer
heard. The officer i'll charge of the turret
called to his superior. There was no an
Swer, and when Commander Elias Aguerre
ran up the barrow little ladder that led to
the tower he stumbled over the dead body
of his admiral. A shell had struck the
coming tower, and had taken off Grau's
head as neatly as if the decaptation had
been by the gullotine. This Shell also
killed Lieutenant Ferre, the admiral's
aide. There was only time to push the
corpses aside, and the new commanding
officer pulled back the tube flap to give
his directions: but as he did so the Huas-
ear staggered, keeled over, then shook in
every plate, while conclusion more ter
rifle than any so far told that a shell had
entered the turret and had burst there
W hen the fumes had cleared away so that
a person could speak, a midshipman call
ed out that one Of the great guns had been
dismounted, and twenty men killed. The
survivors 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 re-
manning gun into position, that it might
train upon one of the ships-they could
no longer make out which, nor did they
care-and it was discharged, hauled in,
loaded and discharged again.
Once more all was silent in the coming
tower. Lieutenant 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 well aimed rifle of
marine in an enemys top lodged between
his eyes. Then the fourth to command
the Huascar that day, Lieutenant Pedro
Gareznn, took the place. and as he did SO
he called through an aperture, telling the
quartermaster TO put the helm to port; for
he had determined to ram one of the adj
versares, and sink with her if necessary.
Over and over spun the wheel, but the
Huascar head still pointed between the
Chileans.
''Port. Port | sayr' screamed the com
mander.
''She won't answer" came back the
sullen reply from the only one of four
quartermasters 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 futtered from the
peak. One by one, in twos and threes,
the men in the turret dropped at their
posts; and at last the remaining great gun
was silent, its tackle literally choked with
dead. The turret could not be turned for
the same reason. Corpses hung over the
military top; corpses clogged the coming
tower.
With coats and waistcoats Off, the sur
geons had been laboring in the ward room
upon the wounded, who, Shrleklng in |
their agony, had been tumbled down the
companonway like SO much butchered |
beef for there was no time to use stretch
ers or to carry a stricken comrade to a
doctors care. Steam and smoke filtered
through the door ways, and the apart
ment became sitting. While they We're
saving, amputating and bandaging, shell
tore into the ward-room, burst, and frag-
ments wounded the assistant surgeons, the
chief of the medical staff having been
killed earlier in the conflict. Those unfor-
Inmates who were stretched upon the table
aw aitng their turn under the knife, and
those who lay upon the floor, suffered no
more pain; they were killed as they lay
groaning 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 passageway near the en-
CINE room were a score or more OF non
combatants - stewards, pantrymen, and
stokers. They were in place that was
lighted only as flashes came from the guns;
it was filled with powder smoke, and
ClouuS VI eIediH lHdI uiilUou Alohi ooio"
told that the Huascar had been struck in
vital spot-her machinery. Suddenly
they heard crash, followed by the rend-
ing of the deck, and the little ironclad
swayed as if she had struck reef. Some
one passed the word that the maintopmast
had been shot away. AS it came down it
brought living men to be dashed to death,
also corpses that had been hanging over
the sides of the military top.
Eczema, scald head, hives, itchiness OF
the skin of anv sort INSTANTLY relieved. per-