The Anaconda standard. [volume] (Anaconda, Mont.) 1889-1970, 1898-04-09
N A SEA FIGHT
NAVAL BATTLE FACTS
a Description OF the 6et-To Between
Chilean and Peruvian Iron Clads In
1879 The Wounded Tumbled
Down . Hatchway.

In the April Century Claude II. Wet
more, q well-known ST. Louis newspa-
per man, has an article on "A Famous
Sea Fight" describing the engagement
between Gillian and Peruvian iron
clads OF the coast of Bolivia in 1873.
Mr.. wetmore says:
From the beginning of h battle the
encouraging voice Of Grau had come
to IN 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 AZ blows
of a battering ram, the orders OF thu
commander were no longer heard. The
oficer in charge of the turret called TO
his superior. There was no answer,
and when Commander Alias Aguerre
ran up h narrow little ladder that leo
to the tower, he stumbled over the dead
body of his admiral. A shell had struck
the coming over and had x on
Grau's head as neatly az IL the decapi-
tation mad been by h guillotine. This
shell also killed Lieutenant Ferre. the
admiral's aid. 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
ne did so the Huascar staggered. keeled
over, the shook in every plate. while q
c~oncussion more terrible than any so
far told that a shell had entered the
turret and had burst there. When the
fumes had cleared away so that a per-
son could speak, a midshipman called
out that one of the great guns had
been ~dismounted and 20 men killed
The survivors tumbled the bodies
through the hatch that opened into the
deck below, thus releasing the clogged
machinery, and as h corpses ratified
down, other men rushed up,
of their clothing az 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-and
, ii was discharged. hauled in, loaded
and discharged again.
Once more all was silent in the con-
| min tower. Lieutenant Palacios hast
! ened 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
a weu-aimed rife of a marine in an
enemy's top lodged between his eyes.
Then the fourth to command the Hua-
| scar that day, Lieutenant Pedro Care
zon. took the place. and as he did SO
he called through an aperture. telling
the auartermaster to put the helm to
port. for he had determined to ram one
Of the adversaries and sink with her II
necessary. over and over spun the
wheel. but the Huascar's head still
pointed between the Chilians.
Port! Port, l say!' screamed the
commander.
She won't answer came back tht
sullen reply from the only one of foul
quartermasters alive; the bodies of th'
others were lying upon the grating a
his feet.
"A shot has carried away the star
board steering gear, SIR reported al
ensign: and he dropped dead as thu
words left his mouth.
THE Huascar now lay drifting in
hell of shot and flame. but all the whil'
the red. white and blue iuttered from
the peak. One by one, in two and II
threes, the men in the turret dropped a
their posts; and at last the remainini
great gun was silent. its tackle LITERAL.
choked with dead. The turret could no
be turned for the same reason. Corpse
hung over the military top; corpse
clogged the coming tower.
with coats and waistcoats of, tn
surgeons had been laboring In tn
ward room upon the wounded. who
shrieking in their agony. had bee
tumbled down the companionway Xix
so many butchered beef: for there is n
time to use stretchers or to carry
stricken comrade to a doctors cars
Steam and smoke filtered through tn
doorways, and the apartment becam
sitting. While they were saving, am
putating and bandagine a shell tor
into the ward room, burst. and frae
ments wounded the assistant surgeon
the chief of the medical stan havin
been killed earlier In the conhic
Those unfortunates who were stretche
upon the table awaiting their turn un
der the knife. n those who lay upo
the floor suffered no more pain; the
were killed as they lay grooming. Til
. shell tore away ward room and ster
cabin. and hardly a trace was left
the bulkhead. After that what littl
was done was performed in III
! coal bunkers.
"Huddled in a passageway near I'll
|, engine room were a score or more
!, ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS, pantryme
. and stokers. They were in q place thu
; was lighted only as flashes came fro
the guns: IL was filled with powd'
: smoke. and oud OF steam that drifts
from below told that Huascar had bee
struck in a vital spot-her machiner
Suddenly they heard a crash. follows
, by the rending of the deck. and Il
,, little ironclad swayed as II h ha
: struck a reef. Someone passed Il
: word that the -maintopmast had be-
shot away. As il anne down IL brougl
/, living men to be dashed to death, al
corpses thai had been hanging over Il
. ,idas ~ the military ton"