River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1899-06-08
A sToKER,s STORY.
what Twitcheli, of the Raleigh, Did
and Didn't See of the bat
tie of Manila.

We all know about the man behind
the gun and the man on the bridge, and
we all know about Dewey. What of
the fireman and the stoker at the battle
of Manila bay?
Down in the fire-room of the Raleigh
the ether day, Charles II. Twitehell,
who was on the Olympia during the
great sea fight, told me how things
went down in the awful heat of the fur
naces. Here is Twithcelrs story in his
own words:
you see, there isn't much fun for
man way down here, out of sight OF
everything and everybody; it'swork for
men, and plenty of it. You may think
it hot down here now, but this is par
adise alongside of what we had when
we went for the Spaniards.
Midnight before the battle my shift
went down to take care of the engines.
Just about that time we got opposite
Corregidor, and the guns in the Spanish
forts woke us up and let us have it.
We passed 'em all right and kept right
on up the bay as though nothing had
happened.
''Of course we didn't know much of
what was going on up above. The bat
tie matches were all battened down,
and we were shut in this little hole,
the yentilating pipes being the only
things left open.
Everybody had received orders to
stand by his post and do his best until
the shooting match was over. The tenn
perature was nearly up to 200 degrees
at this time, and it was so hot our hair
was singed There were several leaks
in the steam pipes, and the kissing hot
steam made things worse.
1.-THE clatter of the engines and the
roaring of the furnaces made such
din it seemed ones head would burst.
When a man could stand it no longer
he would put his head under the air
pipe for moment and try to cool off
little. The heat grew so unbearably
fierce at times our hands and wrists
would seem on fire, and we had to
plunge them in water. All the water
we had was in an old pork barrel, and
it tasted more like hot brine than wa
ter. But bad as it was it would at least
moisten our threats. About half-past
four that morning we were ordered on
deck to get breath of air and cup of
coffee. We were given to understand
when we dived down into our furnace
again that the battle was going to be-
gin at once.
1--WE knew that might mean that this
was the last glimpse we would ever get
of the deck, and we went down prepared
to 90 to the bottom of Manila bay. Bat
tened down the way we were in the
bottom of the ship, had we been sunk
there would not have been the slight
est chance of escape.
1--WE could tell when our guns opened
fire by the way the ship shook; we
could scarcely stand on our feet the
vibration was so great. just at that
moment glanced at the clock hanging
on the wall, and saw it was ten minutes
to six.
"From that time on the din was some
thing horrible. Every once in awhile
one of the apprentice boys would come
to our ventilating pipe and shout down
from the deck what was going on. That
was the only way we could tell how the
battle was going. We kept on work
ing all the time as hard as we could.
The ship shook so fearfully that the
SCOT and cinders poured down on us in
clouds. Now and then big drop of
scalding water would fall on our bare
heads, and the pain was intense.
Zone by one three of our men were
overcome by the terrible heat and were
hoisted to the upper deck.
whenever a Spanish ship would
make move out toward us, some of
the bows on deck would shout down that
they were coming for us full tilt. We
knew it meant sure death if the Olympia
got shot through her anywhere in
our vicinity. We were suffering so much
from the heat and thirst that death
didn't brighten us. / guess we all
thought it couldn't be much worse than
what we were going through. Along
toward the last of our first engagement
an apprentice boy shouted down the
pipe that Spanish torpedo boat was
making straight for us. don't believe
any of us had said more than a word or
two up to that time, but at this news
almost all of US set up some kind of
shout. We knew if that torpedo reached
us that would be the windup.
"But it never did reach us, and in
few minutes the boy yelled again and
said the boat had been riddled by our
guns. This news brought a cheer from
the men, and we felt considerably bet
ter. About eight o'clock we drew off
for consultation of war. We went on
deck then for breathing spell and
bite to eat, and can tell you we were
mighty glad of the change. We were
all surprised that the decks weren't
covered with blood and mangled bod
les, and could scarcely believe it when
they told us no one was hurt.
II shall never forget those few hours
/ spent in front of the furnaces in Ma
Mia bay. 1t seemed to me the longest
day 1 ever lived. I'm not anxious to
go through it again, and don't think
any of the others are. IN. Y. Herald.
TuEv nDEAn DENNTEC