St. Landry clarion. (Opelousas, La.) 1890-1921, 1898-06-25


had located the enemy, the aMar-
blehead" put out to sea aud report
ed to the flagship. With a view OF
drawing the fire OF the Notifications
and locating the position of certain
| masked batteries which had recent
I ~ been constructed near the en-
trance, Commodore Schley trans
: ferred his flag from the cruiser
ssBrooklyn" to the battleship eMas-
lsaehusettes," and taking with him
the aNew Orleans" and Iowa he
steamed with in range of the en-
emy's guns.
The blockading fleet at this time
consisted of the first-class battle
ship "Texas," the armored cruiser
E"New Orleans" the unprotected
cruiser "Marblehead," the gunboat
"Castine.n the auxiliary cruiser
Harvard formerly the aParis,' p
and the converted yacht Eagle" ."
The "BrookIyn" and the Texas
were lying several miles offshpre
taking on coal, and not far from
them were the @IIfaryard,n 2 aMar-
bIehead,n "Castine" and the aEa-
lgle.n The Massachusetts led the
way towards the forts, followed at
about cables length by the s'NeW
Orleans" and the same distance
astern of her was the aIoWa."
Across the entrance to the harbor,
and about 1900 yards from its
mouth, WastAdmiral Cervera's flag
ship, the aChristobal Colon,n lying
east and west, with her port broard-
side commanding the entrance.
When the Massachusetts was
about four Or five thousand yards
from the forts, she opened fire with
an 8-inch gun in one OF her port
turrets and followed it immediate
ly by a shot from one Of the for
ward l3-inch guns. About eight
seconds later the ], ,1O0-pounds shell
~. 5f-s55 s.. - so 3
struck not far from the bow of the
"Christobal Colon.o The Spaniards
replied from the shore batteries
and from the flagship. Three bat
teries opened fire, one from the
west side OF the harbor, another
from the eastern side and third
from the island i'm the senter. The
aNeW Orleans now came within
range, using her 6-inch guns and
smokeless powder.
The "IoWa0 reserved it's fire un-
til it was directly broadside ON the
ttChristobal Colon,o when all four
of the 12-inch guns, in the two tur-
rets fore and aft, We're t.rned loose.
1t seems that during the first round
of our ships the fire on both sides
was somewhat wild, the range
proving difficult TO ascertain be-
cause Of the deceptive glare on the
water, and it was not until the
ships had turned and were passing
in front of the batteries and en-
trance for the second time that eff
fective work was done. By this
time however both combatants had
ascertained the distance, and the
shooting by our men was remark
ably good. The "IowaY placed one
she'll directly under the aChristo-
bal Colon" and apparently started
a fire on board, which, however,
seems to have been quickly exiting
uished. The aColon," on the other
hand, seems to have achieved some
Enthusiastically poor Spanish
shooting. The batteries on shore
did better work during the second
passage OF the American ships.
Several shells fell dangerously near
to the aIoWan and the "New Or
leans and one near the bow Of the
Massachusetts These shots came
from a large battery on the west
ward side of the harbor, and they
were apparently fired from 10 and
12-inch Kfupp guns. One large
shell exploded directly above the
"Iowa,o but too high TO do any
damage to the ship.
After the firing had been In pro-
gress for half an honr, two batter
les on the eastern side of the har-
Dor were silenced, and a little later
the island battery ceased firing.
Thelarge western battery and the
aChristobal Colon,n however, kept
Z