The age-herald., 1898-04-25
ALL CUBAN PORTS ARE BLOCKADED Puritan. Amphitrite, Cincinnati and Three Torpedo Boats HAVE LEFT THE MAIN FLEET To Prevent Entrance to MatanzaS, Cardo-
 naS and Sasua la GTande. THE SPANISH STEAMER MATHILDE  Captured by the Porter, and lowed to
 Key West by the Daunt!ess. TO THE FLAGSHIP NEW YORK Belongs the Honor of Firing the First Gun to Announce the Intention of the United
 States to Blockade the Port
 of Havana.
Captured by the Porter, and Towed to
 Key West by the Dauntless.
TO THE FLAGSHIP NEW yoRK

On Board the Associated Press Dispatch Boat Dauntless, Key West, April A.-The Associated Press dispatch boat Dauntless arrived in this harbor yesterday before
 midnight having in tow the first sailing vessel prize of the campaign, the schooner
 Mathide of Havana, sixty tons, loaded with rum.
 When the Dauntless left the main fleet
 under Rear Admiral Sampson at 3:15 o clock on Friday afternoon, what seemad thorough blockade of Havana had been successfully effected. The fleet range from eight to ten miles from shore along which they are extended to fully twenty miles, Moro Castle and the city of Havana are in good view from the flagship with glasses but the coast, as is always. the case, is covered with a haze. The newspaper men are equally in doubt to what is
 going on within the besieged city and the intentions of Rear Admiral Sampson and
 the United States fleet.
 Soon after o'clock yesterday morning the Puritan, Ampitrite, Cincinnati, Castine, Machias and three torpedo boats after
 much interchange of signals, parted com
 pany with the flagship, sailing in a north- easterly direction, presumably to block ade Matanzas, Cardenas and Sagua la Grande.
 When the flagship New York, after the hills of Cuba had been sighted and she had started off at a twenty knot to cap ture the Spanish steamer Pedro, the Dauntless veered and followed and was in at the death. Those on the Dauntless saw the first hostile shot fired and as |, the flagship swung around for her chase or what proved to be a German trading
 steamer, they gave the New York the first
 cheer But all these things were seen
 by a lot of correspondents wet from head
 to foot with spray by the barrel full thrown
 constantly higher than the pilot house
 while to move about one required the use
 of legs hands and feet, but the game was worth the candle. This is war, or very. fair imitation of if, while the expentancy of greater things added to the attractive ness of the situation. After ngnt or rolling through a heavy sea to set under way in the morning the better to see tho Iowa and the Indiana in fighting trim start seaward and better still to follow the New York as she raced eastward to intercept what proved to be the Italian man-of-warv Cioyapi Ransan from which vessel Rear Admiral Sampson received his hrst rears admrals salute from foreign Walsnlp' came the stirring incident of the Mathllde,
 followed by the determination to return to
 Key West with dispatches.
 TowED TO KEY WEST.
 The Associated Press dispatch boat pauntless was asked through the mega phone to tow lne SpslisSu siip pti@S .o ANSSs West, which was a fitting ending for the day 1t was an example of the grim irony of fate which gave the most famous ex- filibuster the first opportunity to tow Spanish prize to the United States for which the thanks of Captain Chadwick were received. As the Dauntless passsd under the lee of the New York she re- ceived the heartiest of cheers from the blue jackets while the officers of the fiag-
 ship clappd their hands, the megaphone
 roared some encouraging words and Ad-
 miral Sampson lifted his cap in answer 70 (Continued on Fourth Page.)