The record-union., 1899-03-20
What He Saw After Cenera's Fleet Was
Destroyed.
How the Chair in Which His Body
Was Found Seated Came to be
Taken on Shore-Sent From the
Gloucester for a Wounded Span
ish Sailor Who Died-The
Wanda in a Peculiar Fix After
the Battle.

n,
tional finding of the body of Admiral
Villamil of the Spanish navy sitting in
an armchair on the Cuban coast, about
four miles west of the entrance to San
tiago harbor, calls forth a statement
from the correspondent who witnessed
the destruction of Cervera's fleet en-
July Sd last from the yacht Wanda, a
dispatch boat in the service of the AS
sociated Press. Admiral Villamil was
an officer of considerable renown in
the Spanish service, and he was in
command of the torpedo f1otilla which
accompanied the larger vessels of Ad-
miral Cervera's fleet from the Cape
Verde Islands to Martinique and thence
to Curacao and Santiago last spring.
He was badly wounded aboard the de-
stroyer Pluton in the engagement be-
tween the American and Spanish fleets
near Santiago on July Sd last, but man.
aged to reach the Shore and the Ameri-
can sailors did not find him. As he
never appeared in Santiago, and as his
brother officers on the Pluton knew
that he had been desperately wounded,
having lost an arm and a leg, his
death was never doubted. But the
finding of his body in chair and its
uniform and papers found in his pock-
cts is the first absolute proof of his
death. The mere finding of the body is
not such remarkable fact, but that
it should be found seated in an ann
chair on that rocky coast several miles
away from any habitation calls forth
the statement from the correspondent
referred to, who accounts for the pres
ence of the chair which for more than
eight months past has been the strange
tomb of the Spanish commander The
first report from Santiago about the
finding Of the body, which was re-
ceived here on Friday, March 10th,
stated that it was believed to be that
of the Captain of the Pluton. The
statement of the correspondent shows
that this could not be correct for by
a peculiar chain of circumstances con-
nected very closely with the presence
of the chair on the Cuban shore, he was
obliged to have an interview with the
Captain of the Pluton aboard the auxil-
1ary gunboat converted YACHT Glou-
ceSter an hour or more after the Pluton
had been sent to her destruction. The
correspondent says:
. During the sea fight off the coast of
Cuba on July Sd last, was on the
yacht Wanda, the commander of which
was Captain F. C. Miller We came
upon the Spanish torpedo boat de-
stroyer F'uror just as she was sinking.
and the destroyer Pluton, which had
been cut in two by shells from the
Gloucester and was pounding to pieces
about three or four miles west of Morro
at the entrance to Santiago harbor, and
about one mile east of the point where
the Marie Teresa and the Almirante
Oquendo were driven ashore The Wan
da ran in shore a half-mile from the
Pluton. The Gloucester was standing
by half-mile or more to the west
ward. From the deck Of the Wanda we
could easily see a score of men on
shore near the wreck of the Pluton, but
We could not tell whether they were
Americans, Spaniards. or Cubans. q
took one of the Wanda's small boats.
With quartermaster and one or two
Sailors with me, and went ashore to the
place where the men were for the pur-
pose of getting their STORY" of the de-
Struction of the Furor and the Pluton,
L found that most of the men were
spanish sailors, belonging to the Pluton.
Ihey We're being guarded by a small
squad of sailors from the Gloucester
VINO were waiting to take them aboard
the Gloucester as prisoners of war
one of the American sailors told me
that an officer of the Gloucester was up
on the bluff of rocks overlooking the
wreck of the Pluton, a few hundred
yards away, and he also told me that
there was a wounded sailor from the
Piuton there with him. He asked me il
could not get litter or something
from the Wanda so that they could get
1his wounded man off to the Gloucester
sent my boats crew back to the
Wanda with instructions to report the
circumstances to Captain Miller and see
II he could do anything to help the
wounded man. / then climbed over the
rocks in search of the Gloucester Off
Ger and after great deal of difficulty
found him near the wreck of the
Piuton with a navy rifle in his hand.
standing guard over an officer of the
Pluton, who was almost naked and
had his feet tied up in burlap to pro-
tect them from the sharp rocks. I
have forgotten the name of the Ameri-
can officer, but he was young Ensign
or Naval Cadet The Spanish officer
was a very pleasant fellow, but he was
most pitiable specimen, had evidently
concluded that he had been up against
it sufficiently and he could not sur
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