The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1898-12-11

sald ne felt sure the stranger could beat
the cynthia, to say nothing of the hkeli-
mood Of a sinking shot If We ran away,
we decided to turn short to starboard and
speak his Bellicoseness. 1t was a good
zeal of a Hobson's (the original Hobson' 81
choice and no one on the Cynthia felt
hilarious. We all did feel mad, just the
same mad clear through, and 1 submit we
had reason.
Another shot (5lank this tine) uuickened
our pace toward our enemy and in a COM
paratively short time we We're close
enough to see that she was a Yankee tug
ana big one, carrying two good-sized
guns Ga couple of 3-inchers had paid their
respects to u.s. and several smaller quick
firing pieces. Fer skipper was forward of
the pilot house, and all her men were at
quarters, and every weapon, big and little
small arms to boot, was trained on u.s.
We had come within a few hundred feet
and heard the order:
Get that towing line ready" followed
Immediately by a quick Delay therew
and then the hail, What tug is that?"
"oh, Lord" said Avery. If they would
only tow US to the Brooklyn as prize,
could forgive them. Wouldn't that lieu
tenant get a wigging.'
The lieutenant in command, George P.
Blow-a survivor of the Names ward
room, good officer and a good fellow, by
the Way-seemed to have an idea he had
been hasty, for he Immediately explained
that his boat was The Potomac, sent from
New Orleans to aid in raising the Colon
and the Teresa; that he had missed the
Colon down the coast, and when he picked
up the Nizcaya, saw US at her stern and
then. saw us start away He was sure
he had interrupted a Spanish guuboat in
work of spoliation, and Che said could
not make out our colors, so he let go at
US, after firing a warning gun, to which
we paid no attention. Why he could not
make out our colors al that distance ne
did not clearly explain, nor was he very
lucid as 10 why he thought a Spaniard
should head leisurely toward the United
States squadron off Santiago.
Blow was evidently chagrined las he had
reason to be- al the whole affair and soon
turned the conversation by asking for
news. He wound up the conversation by
a request for some ice, and his crew and
ours laughed as an Irish fireman on the
Cynthia said, in a pretended aside:
Eur Hevinses sake, give i'm a ton Nv
ut, if it'll cool his marshal bud"
He got the ice.
That was practically the end of the cpl
sode. The Cynthia and her sisters had done
the officers and men of the fleet off San
tiago many favors, and they were well
liked. An old naval captain who heard of
the affair said TO me a few days later. in
saturnine fashion:
Blows a good officer. Can't think
what made him act in such a hurry. He
would better get some binoculars that viii
show up our flag at a distance of two
miles and thus avoid the chance of fir
ing Oh it. Old Glory is Old Glory, whether
1t is on a battleship or tug. and if he had
sunk the Cynthia, or even damaged her he
would have found himself in a devil of a
muss."
Those of us who had come within fifty
feet of a marine disaster didn't recover
our placid frames of mind right away, and
a number of special correspondents whose
daily duty it was to go down to the sea
in tugs were outspoken in wrath
when they heard the tale. But counsels to
make an official matter of it, were not
seriously considered and until now, the
story OF how the last hostile shots, sent
across Caribbean waters in the latest
unpleasantness, were fired at an American
boat, flying American colors. has not been
told in print.