Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1898-07-11
Cervera Tried to Sink the Brooklyn
and Make Havana.
HIGH PRAISE OF THEIR CAPTORS
Spaniards Astonished by Rapidly
and deafness of Our Guns.
T Il i 1 r P R ESS NED

tnTee cdDleSrdmS from the minister OF ma
rine at Madrid. ordering him to lave San
tiago. Knowing the force he would have
to encounter, he felt convinced that ODE
dience to these orders would spell suicide"
to the imprisoned fleet that faced it.
Then came another dispatch, a peremp-
tory one. that left no choice but to obey. 1t
said: NO matter what the consequences
are. go to sea at once and fight the
enemy"
so 1 went out" the admiral said. MY
plan was to attack your Brooklyn, sink or
disable her. if possible then run to Ha-
vana, raise the blockade there End seek
refuge in the harbor, but 1 failed in my
purpose. as You know, lost all 1 had, my
flset and verything."
IF the Americans attack Havana I am
sure they will meet with terrible resistance
and will lose ships and mem
DO you think Santiago can hold out now
that your fleet has been withdrawn from
its defense?"
IF Linares is not heavily reinforced 1t
must fall. But on the day before left he
was Joined by two thousand men. lie was
expecting reinforcements from all parts Of
the island If they join him the city may
hold out for some time
Has the cable connection of Santiago
with Jamaica been cut?'
mo; when / came out We were in COM
munication with every city in the world
Ceryera's Praise.
Cervera then spoke of Capt. Wainwright
of the Gloucester. and his brave. big-heart-
ed executive officer, Lieut.. H. Nc. L. P.
Huse Cervera thanked them both from
the bottom of his heart for the manner in
which they had stood by the fire-imperiled
fearful danger zLne and whose magazine
threatened to dash the life from every one
near by.
Seeing the danger. Cervera begged Lieut..
Huse to shove off from the flaming wreck.
THAT gallant and noble officer" said Ger
vera, replied and said: No, admiral, not
Until 1 have rescued all your wounded!
II jumped overheard said the admiral,
speaking of his own adventures, land my
son followed me. | could make no head
way and would have drowned had not he
helped me and borne me up with his
younger and stronger arms. While We
were struggling in the water the Cubans
on shore fired at us, but the Americans
drove them away and would not allow
them to modest us again Then 1 was
taken on board the Gloucester and then to
the Iowa.
The admiral was asked about the first
bombardment of Santiago. 1T was a great
SURPRISE, he confessed. He had feared
that the Cristobal Colon would have been
sunk. as the rest of the fleet was not with
in supporting distance, and the forts at
u,
mounting but a few guns.
He could not understand why the Ameri-
can ships did not close in and strike the
Colon en- masse, as she had none of her big
guns on board.
Did you not have her big guns? Where
We're they?" was the question that inter-
rupted the admiral's talk.
I'm Italy-or perhaps in the pockets of
our chief of ordnance" was the reply, Civ
en- with an expressive shrug.
Dob" Evans Courtesy.
OF Captain .Robley D. Evans of the Iowa
the admiral spoke in glowing terms. On
board that vessel he had been received
more as a conqueror than a captive.
Eulate. captain of the Vizcaya. also spoke
in high terms of Captain Evans, and ap-
preciates the courtesy of Fighting Bob
in allowing him to retain his sword, and
also for the way in which he allowed the
ViZcayas dead to be buried After the
Spanish flag had been wrapped around the
bodies the padre of the Vizcaya committed
them to the deep, the Iowa's guard Of
marines firing three VolleyS over the LEAD
Cervera told Commodore Schley that one
shell which had burst on board the Maria
Teresa killed and wounded eighty men.
Captain Eulate, wounded. halt of limb
and depressed in spirit saio he had saved
That was the wording of dispatch which
he lad sent his wife after the destruction
of the Vizcaya.
when you think of the odds 1 encoun-
tered, you will see that could not do more
than I did," Captain Eulate said.
II had only one ship against four. My
enemies were the Brooklyn, the Oregon and
the Texas, and, 1 think, the Iowa was the
other. All four punished US severely, but
1t was the Texas that gave US our coup de
grace-a shell fired from that vessel enter
ing our port bow and exploding one of the
forward magazines My men stood by
their guns and fought like true Spaniards -
But naval conflicts now are not Letter
mined by courage" sighed the mournful
captain The victory is to the finer ma
chine, and the American machines were
better than ours. The Vizcaya, ali! she
was fine ship, And now what a wreck!
Poor Spainr'
Captain Eulate commanded the vizcaya
during that vessels visit to New York har-
bor short time after the Maine disaster.
Before that he had come into notoriety as
the officer who had ordered the execution
of the Competitor prisoners.
The Plan for Escape.
Capt. Maocrohon, second captain of ths
Maria Teresa, said:
"Our plan for escape was well arranged,
but better formulated than executed We
had arranged to force our way out on Sat
urday night, and the Maria Teresa was to
have led. But. contrary to our expecta-
tons, the searchlights of your ships did not
illumine the channel that night, as had
been usual, and without that light we were
unable to discern the wreck of the Merrt-
mac, SO we could not go out. You know
how we came out thu next morning-Sun-
day, that was. Great crowds were expected
to come down to the wharf to see us de-
part, but the American troops were pushing
the city too hard in front and there ware
none to see off. Our orders were to
steam at full speed to the westward after
clearing the harbor and concentrate our at
tack on the Brooklyn. paying no attention
to any of the other ships unless they forced
us to attack them.
$50 in the morning they signaled to us
from the battery that only the Texas and
the Brooklyn were to the westward, and we
got under way, the Maria Teresa, being the
flagship, taking the lead. We opened fire
on the Brooklyn and the Texas answered
1t, but her shot fell short. Otherwise she
would have struck us, for it was a straight
line shot. The Brooklyn and the Iowa thai
fired, but neither shot hit. Again the Brook
Ign and the Texas fired. The Brooklyn's
shell went into the AdmiraPs cabin and
exploding, set fire to the after part of the
ship. Tho she'll from the Texas pierced our
side armor, and exploded in the engine
room, bursting the main steam pipe. We
signaled to the engineer to start the pumps
but got nc reply, and then found that ali
below in that part of the ship had b.en
killed At that time II was like hell on our
bridge. Shells were bursting all around US