The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1899-01-24
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haze over the harbor, but down toward
Corregidor island we could just barely SEQ
the first American ship poking her nose
. into the harbor That was the Olympia
! you know And after her came the other
American ships, and after they passed
| Corregidor the Americans seemed to form
two lines, ship and ship. so that each boat
| could bring its entire starboard battery 10
| bar on the Spaish men-of-war. Most of the
vessels were fairly close in toward land,
just under Cavite. while two or three OF
their smaller boats were up the river, to-
ward the town. and below Cavite.
"The Americans came well down the bay
kept advancing and then backing. No,
the American boats did not turn back on
! their course as 1 saw it, simply kept COM
! ing and going. keeping the same formation
as at first and pouring it into the Span
/ iards until the Spanish forts were afire,
! and the Spanish men-of-war, too.
This sort OF thing lasted till well to-
ward g. when the Americans withdrew to
the north of the bay to have breakfast, so
they told me, and take a look at things.
1T was easy enough for US to see the
way the fight was going TO end, and when
Dewey started in again at noon it didn't
/ take him more than an hour to finish up
the job.
During the second engagement how
ever, itwasn't quite so pleasant for US on
board the Austria because the Americans
/ had then come within range of battery
of three or four guns on a sort of coral
reef near the town, and we were directly
within range-that is. the Austria lay an
/ oh hot n hot -
cans and the Spanish shells were being
fired directly over US.
81 say the Americans were within range
af this battery, but that isn't exactly It.
The Spaniards thought they could reach
! the Americans and so opened up, but
every one of their shells apparently fell
short. Anyway. the Americans did not re-
ply, so we were not bttween a cross fire.
mot far from u.s. well towards the town.
was a Spanish merchantmen with cargo
for Barcelona and after the fighting was
over Animal Dewey sent a boat to her I'M
! der flag of truce, but the merchantmen
fired on the flag and the boat retired, and
then the Baltimore, think 1t was, sent
some shells into the Spaniard and settled
her in short ORDER
ENGLISHMAN'S CRITICISMS.
you want to know what we did after
the fght?" asked Mr.. Dunbar. "Well, we
hadn't entirely discharged our cargo Of
coal, and, of course, it was no use trying
to dispose fit in Manila, so we took mat
ters easy. We landed down at Cavite and
walked through the ruins of the forts
there. After a good piece of waiting the
captain managed to sell the rest of our
Coal to Admiral Dewey, and We lightered
it over to the Boston.
| after that we were in need of ballast
to get to Hongkong and Dewey allowed
US to take all the rock we required from
the ruins at Fort Cavite. We managed 10
set hold of some old Spanish scows and
lightered the Cavite rock out to the Aus
terra and on June IA We sailed in ballast.
From Hongkong we sailed again, in bal
last to Cebu, one of the Philippine group,
and by that time it had been arranged so
we got a cargo of hemp for Boston. We
had a fine voyage from Cebu. ~ days, out
TO Boston, and only made one stop at St.
! Helena"
Nh. Dunbar speaks in the highest terms
of the American naval officers and, ma
tureIy, of Admiral Dewey in particular.
After the battle of May ], the Austria g
crew saw much of the American officers
and sailors. Mr.. Dunbar said that our
blue Jackets were a fine set Of fellows
but, as he expressed It, there were too
many nations among them"-that is, they
| were not all Americans to the degree that
the English navy has Englishmen. He ad-
mtted that the American firing was ter
ribly accurate and thought that in that
fact lay the Americans complete success
| at Manila
| The Englishman's criticism of the ships
in Admiral Dewey's squadron has already
been mentioned but, with all allowances
for the class of boats we had at Manila,
Mr.. Dunbar still thinks that none save
| the Baltimore and the Olympia were any
match for the English man-of-war I'm
mortalite, or the Japanese or the German
ships that were in Manila France had a
ship or two in the harbor, and these. Mr..
Dunbar says were inferior TO everything
else, in fact antiquated.
After Dewey's victory the French and
Germans acted decidedly badly, both adj
miras being in constant correspondence
with the Spanish land forces. and in fact
the French admiral tried to draw the Eng
lsh of joint opposition 10 Dewey The
!
ed plainly that should the French and Ger
mans ocnnive with Spain against Dewey,
to the knowledge of the British admiral.
Commodore Dewey would be advised al
once.
Mr.. Dunbar gives the Spanish credit for
a brave resistance, but reiterates that their
courage was TO no purpose, as their ships
and forts were soon affre II might he
mentioned that the transfer of Admiral
Montojo's flag from the Reina Christiana
TO the Isle de Cuba was made in plain
sight of the crew of the British bark.
OF the American ships in the battle the
Boston was nit most. according 70 Mr.
Dunbar. and the formation of the Ameri-
can vessels OF two columns Of ship and
ship. while IL of course allowed the Ameri-
cans 10 bring their greatest number of
guns 10 bear. likewise offered the Spanish
an almost an uninterrupted line as a tar
get, and il IS surprising that the Spanish
fire could have been so Ineffective De-
spite all conditions. it is simply wonder
| ful that not a nAmerican should have
been killed.
CAPTURE OF THE CALLAO
Two or three days after Dewey's victory
the little Spanish gunboat Cauao came
s5eam.ug into the harbor with flying colors
las game as YOU please" as Mr. Dunbar
expressed Knot knowing that Dewey had
arrived at Manila or that the Spaniard.
had suffered defeat.
J The Callao had been collecting revenues
at some OF the Philippine ports and wa.
re,urning-a rich prize for the Americans
She signalled the outer forts. but received
no reply. and her first warning OF tn,