The comet. (Johnson City, Tenn.) 1884-1916, 1899-02-09
WHY DEWEY STOPPED.


cepJ DuOyaQJ certainty OF VlcJOly. III
will do no harm to iell the real facts.
1t will be remembered that the battle
began ut six minutes past O'Clock on
the mo, ming of May ]; that Commo-
dore (now Rear AdmiraD Dewey led
the line of Am erican warships iato ac-
ton in his flagship Olympia; that af-
ter fierce fight, lasting two hours and
half, the attacking fleet retired from
the battle into the center of Manila
Bay, and did not renew the attack un-
til nearly four hours later.
When we hauled OF flom the fight
ing line at 7:G0 o'clock, the situation
had become apparently = serious for Com
modore Dewey. We had been fighting
a deter mined and courageous enemy
for more than two hours without hav-
ing very noticeably diminished the
volume of his fire. 1t is true, at least
three of his ships had broken into
flames, but so had oDe of ours-th the
Boston. These fires had all been put
out without apparent injury to the
ships. Generally speaking, nothing of
great importance had occurred to show
that we had seriously injured any Span
ish vessel. They were all steaming
about in the blight back of Sangley
point, or in Bakor Bay, as actively as
when we first sighted them in the early
dawn. So far, therefore, we could see
nothing indicating that the enemy was
less able to defend his position than he
had been at the beginning
On the other hand, cur condition was
greatly altered for the worse. There
remained in the magazines of the
Olympia only S5 rounds of fve-inch
ammunition, and though the stock Of
S-inch charges was not proportionately
depleted, it was reduced enough to
make the continuance of the battle for
another two hours impossible. When
it is remembered that Commodore
Dewey was more than 700 miles from a
home port, and that under the most ia.
vorable conditions supply of ammu'
milton could not be obtained in less
than month, the outlook was far from
being satisfactory. The Commodore
knew that the Spaniards had just re-
ceived an ample supply of ammunition
in the transport Mindanao, so tha
there was no hope of exhausting theil
fighting power by an action lasting
twice as long. If we should run shor
of powder and shell, we might become
the hunted instead of the hunters.
/ do not exaggerate in the least wher
[ say that, as we hauled off into thu
Bay, the gloom on the bridge of thC
Olympia was thicker than a Londor
fog in November. Neither Commo
dore Dewey nor any of the staff be
lieved that the Spanish ships had beer
sufficiently injured by our fire to pre-
vent them from renewing the battle
quite as furiously as they had previous
y fought. Indeed, we had all been di
rectly disappointed in the results o
our fire. Our projectiles seemed to g
too high or too low, just as had beer
the case with those fred at us by the
Spaniards. Several times the Commo
dore had expressed dissatisfaction will
the failure of our gunners to hit thu
enemy. We had begun the firing al
too great distance, but We had gradu
ally worked in further on each of tn
Turns, until we were within about $50
yards at the close of the fifth round
| At that distance in o smooth sea, W
ought to have made large percentag
of hits; yet, SO far as we could judge
we had not sensibly crippled the foe
Consequently Commodore Dewey haul
ed out into the open bay at the end G
the fifth round to take stock of ammu
milton and devise new plan of attack
As 1 went aft the men asked me wha
we we're hauling off for They were i
| a distinctly different humor from tha
which prevailed on the bridge. The
believed that they had done well, an
that the other ships had done likewise
The Olympia cheered the Baltimore
and the Baltimore returned the cheer
with interest. The gun captains wer
not at all dissatisfied with the result
Of their work. Whether they had
better knowledge of the accuracy {
their aim than we had on the bridg,
or whether they took it for granted thu
the enemy must have suffered severel
after so much fighting, | do not know
at any rate, they were eager to go G
with the battle and were confident
victory. / told one of them that v
we're merely hauling off for breakfas
which statement elected the appeal
Capt. Lamberton, as he came past
moment later;
"For Gods sake, Captain, don't |
us stop now. To hell with breakfast