The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1899-06-15
WORK OF THE GLOUCESTER.
The Converted American Yachrs
Great Achievement at
Santiago.

Lieut.. Commander W alnWrlght makes
a spirited but modest report of his brill
liant achievement at Santiago, where he
commanded Mr.. Pierpont Morgan's
yacht Corsair, which had been convert
ed into gunboat and has become fam
Gus as the Gloucester.
las we neared the destroyers, the
shot and shell began to whistle about us
in lively fashion. / can remember my
astonishment at not seeing any wound
ed or any sign of blood when looked
about the decks. The shell from the
batteries on shore also fell about us. A
shot from any one of them would have
ended our usefulness.
Il did not see a man who was not do
ing his best to serve the guns, or one
who wasted any time watching the en-
emy's shot. Bond, the chief boat
SWANS mate, fired the forward three
FOUNDER, and it was a cheerful sight to
see how coolly he took aim, and what
beautiful shots he made. Green,
young quartermaster, who steered the
ship during the action, was as cool as
at drill, and never made a mistake.
When the tiring-pin of one its .lsix-
Founders dropped out in the heat Of the
action, the breech-block was removed
and the pin replaced by Bee, chief gum
ner's mate, as rapidly as if at drill.
THE Maxim automatic one-pounders
from the Pluton and the Furor APP
peared likely to be our most dangerous
enemies. When we came within three
thousand yards of the destroyers these
guns began to play rapidly in our direc-
ton. Their fire could be traced by the
splashes of the projectiles coming
closer and closer to us. When they be-
gan to fall about 20 yards from us, and
the water was stirred up as if hail
storm was raging, the fire suddenly
range. the execution on board would
have been terrible, and the Gloucester
would have been disabled, if not sunk.
when within twelve hundred yards
| ordered the two small Colt rifles to
open fire. Paymaster Brown had been
given charge of these guns at the be-
ginning of the cruise. and he had worked
over and fired them until they became
formidable weapons in his hands. He,
with one gun, and Chapman with the
other kept a stream of small bullets
pouring on the enemy. After the ac-
ton the prisoners spoke of the deadly
effect of these guns.
Toward the end of the action we
were making over II knots and closing
in on the destroyers rapidly. The re-
nainder of the enemy's vessel- had
rounded the point ahead, and our rear
vessel, the Indiana, was just rounding
this point. Huse called my attention to
the Teresa and the Oquendo, heading IN
toward shore. We thought they Aere
attempting to escape our vessels by
running inside of them and making for
the harbor. Should they do 9hia, we
would be exposed to their rapid fire
battery at close range, and would be
destroyed. There was only one thing
to do: close i'll with the destroyers, so
that they would be sunk with us by
their own vessels. As we found out
later, The ironclads had turned in to
run ashore.
shortly after this I could see that
the Pluton was slowing down, as the
distance lessened between her and the
Furor. and il soon became apparent
that she was disabled. Up to this time
the forward guns had been firing on
the Pluton. and the after-guns on the
Furor. | now ordered the battery to be
concentrated on the latter boat. We
were within six hundred yards of her,
and every shot appeared to strike. And
now came the most exciting moment of
the day: the Pluton was run on the
rocks and blew up; and at the same
time the Furor turned toward us. 1t
appeared to be critical situation. She
might succeed in torpedoing us, or she
might escape up the harbor. But as
she continued to circle, it became evil
dent that she was disabled, and her
helm was iammed hard over. Our fire
had been too much for her.
''As the Furor turned toward us, the
flagship New York, coming up from the
east under the fire of all the batteries,
let drive two or three shots at her.
hoisted the signal, 'Enemy's vessels
destroyed She gave us three cheers,
and kept on under high speed after the
big vessels. Century.
oh. Death. Where Is Thy Stingf
The boycotting of the luckless Mex
lean ambassador by representatives of
the other powers at Washington recalls
an anecdote of a recently deceased club
man. He was present one evening at
a little musical gathering when an as
pirant for honors as a pianist began