Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1899-09-26

MANILA, September 25.-It was re-
ported that the insurgents had captur-
ed the United States gunboat Urdaneta,
in the Oran river, on the northwest side
of Manila bay, where she was patroling.
One officer and nine of her crew are
missing.
The United States gunboat Petrol,
sent to investigate the matter, returned
and reported that the Urdaneta beached
opposite the town of Orani, on the Oran
river. She was riddled with bullets and
burned and the following guns with
their ammunition were captured. A
10O-pounder. one Colt automatic gun
and one Nordenfeldt 25-millimeter gun.
The crew of the Urdaneta are prison
ers or have been killed
WASHINGTON, September 25.-The
gunboat Urdaneta, which was captured
with her crew at Orant, about % miles
from Manila, on the bay of Manila, is
a little craft of only forty tons displace-
ment, not much larger than small
tug. She was captured by the navy
early in the war and has been on police
duty in the bay for months past. The
records of the Navy Department show
that she was one Of the boats of which
the Oregon is the parent ship. That is,
she was supposed to draw all her sup
plies from the battleship, to be manned
from the Oregon's crew and to act I'M
der the instructions of the Oregon's
commander According to the last re-
ports to the department, the little boat
was last May under the command of
personnel of the crew is not matter
of record, being subject to frequent
change. Wood was appointed to the
naval academy from Oregon.
NEW YORK, September "a spe
cial to The Herald from Washington
says: The 16-centimeter Krupp gun
destroyed in the insurgent trenches at
Olongapo, in Subig Bay, is one of the
guns sent to that place by the Spanish
before the battle of Manila Bay A
short time before the beginning of the
war Spain began the fertilization OF
Subig Bay with the intention of MAX
ing it military and naval stronghold.
Admiral Dewey, indeed, thought he
might find the Spanish fleet there in
stead Of at Manila, and as matter OF
fact, the Spanish admiral had gone to
Subig Bay on April o. but finding that
the mounting of the guns in the shore
batteries had been delayed, returned
to Manila. The insurgents took pos
session OF the Spanish posts in the bay
in July of last year, being assisted by
the Raleigh and Concord, which were
sent in by Admiral Dewey to prevent
interference by the German cruiser
Irene, whose captain had prevented
Aguinaldo's forces from taking Isla
Granda, at the entrance to the bay.
The 16-centimeter Krupp gun cor
responds very nearly with the six-inch
gun used in the American navy. Its
caliber in inches is 6,3. 1t weighs five
and a half tons, and fires a projectile
weighing SO pounds, with a powder
charge OF 10 pounds.
Subig Bay is the most important
port in the Island Of Luzon in the
neighborhood of Manila 1t is a short
distance north of Manila Bay, and its
advantages as a naval base are re-
garded as being superior to Cavite. in
Manila Bay, the harbor being safer
and easier TO defend. 1t is expected
that it will be held permanently by the
navy, so as to afford a base of opera,
tons against the insurgents in that
neighborhood. The character of the
country back of Subig Bay gid the
continuance Ct tie rainy season made it
impossible for Gen. Otis to cooperate
with the ships from the land side.