The Dawson news. (Dawson, Ga.) 1889-current, 1899-02-15
THE MANILA BAY FIGHT.
wbv Dewey Cut the Engage
ment In Two.
rHE BREAKFAST GALL EPISODE.

r.,,,re to Know Our Firing's Effect
-, the Enemy Made Dewey Haul Off
. Take stock of Ammunition and
novise a New Plan OfAttack-BreaIx-
Excuse Given to the Gunners.
1oseph L. Stickney, writing about
.bs hattie of Manila Bay in Harper
MAGAZINE for February, relates as fol
iows why Admiral Dewey discontinued
the combat
,Ido not exaggerate in the least when
cav that as we hauled off into the
how the gloom on the bridge of the
OLYMPIA was thicker than London fog
in November. Neither Commodore (now
Rear AdmiraD Dewey nor any of the
staff believed that the Spanish ships had
beep sufficiently injured by our fire to
nrevent them from renewing the battle
ouite as furiously as they had previous
" fought. Indeed, we had all been dis.
+inctlv disappointed in the results of
our fire. Our projectiles seemed to go
too high or too low-just as had been
the case with those fired at us by the
Standards. Several times the commo-
d0re had expressed dissatisfaction with
the failure of our gunners to hit the
enemy. We had begun the firing at too
great distance, but we had gradually
worked in farther on each of the turns
until we were within about 2, 500 yards
at the close of the fifth round. At that
distance in d smooth sea, we ought to
have made large percentage of hits;
yet, 50 far as we could judge, we had
not sen8ibly crippled the foe. Conse-
quently Commodore Dewey hauled ont
into the open bay at the end of the fifth
round to take stock of ammunition and
devise new plan of attack.
The gun captains were well satisfied
with th9resUlts of their work Whether
they had better knowledge of the &C
curacy Of their aim than we had on the
bridge, or whether they took it for
granted that the enemy must have suf-
Tered severely after so much fighting, l
do not know. But at any rate, they
were eager to go on with the battle and
were confident Of victory. l told one of
them that we were merely hauling off
for breakfast, which statement elected
the appeal to Captain Lamberton, as he
came past a moment later:
For Gods sake, captain, don't let
us stop now. To hades with breakfastr
When l told the commodore that
intended to attribute our withdrawal to
tne need for breakfast he intimated
that 1t was not matter of much i'm
PoTtance what reason [ gave, so long as
uld not give the true one. And so the
breakfast episode went to the world as
plausible excuse for what seemed like
an extraordinary strategic maneuver-
one which has been the subject of more
comment than almost any other event
ouIlnS the battle. Many people have
Sdla 10 me that it would be pity to
spoil so good a story by telling the
UQth But, as the commodore will be
sure 10 let the cat out of the bag some
9aH may as well let her have her free
dom now.
MI Stlckney also describes how the
commanding officers reported the lack
VI serious casualties after the first battle
az IoiloWs: mot the least interesting
u the incidents of the day was the man
.lSf IN which the commanding officers
reported the lack of serious casualties
"nen they came aboard the flagship aft
" the first battle Having passed
S"9oSh such hail of projectiles as
naae escape from a long list of killed
o1q wounded appear almost miraculous,
o amO" believing it to be impossible that
" VI the other vessels had been sim
nary ~ fortunate, every captain seemed
"ltel that the failure of his shin to
"'cA ANY Of the enemy's shells in a
way 70 harm his crew might lead the
t to1Nodore to think that his command
i 4"o not been the target for the Span
.s1 @ IRE TO the Same extent as the yes
ss ,-o N4'cn nad suffered loss Of life. Con
ftF9 ~ as each captain came over
ao.,.. ~ pa SIDE, he replied to the
r"55r query, How many killed? in
T,. that indicated a very much
i l-,A0o state Of mind. Mingled With sat
er ,,Il il at having lost no man was an
tba a4.-5 desire to have it understood
a5 'as me lack Of loss was no proof Of an
absence Of danger.
tgin ~ Tnly eight wounded, replied Cap
--- yer OF tAe Baltimore. None So