The Denison review. [volume] (Denison, Iowa) 1867-current, 1899-10-20

back of them the traditions of the
American navy would stand aloof and
indulge in target practice. With ships
under them having a head Of steam on
able to move into the ring of the enc
my's champions, Yankee sailors admit
Of no holding. Another feature which
makes for hot fighting is the fact that
all our ships now have an individuals
ty and are the especial pride of the
officers and crew. They'll never haul
Off from a scrap until the ship has
dom the best there is in her.
Captain Coghlan's story Of how the
fleet went in and his own ship, the
Raleigh, put in the first shot for the
mastery of the Pacific, discloses the
spirit of the hour as it was at Manila.
He said: I'VE held our last consultation
at dinner the night before the fight,
and Dewey said that we were going in
that night. l don't think any of us
ate much dinner. We went in in a
calm sea-, although we We're not so
calm ourselves. About midnight we
became anxious, because we had ar
rived at a point where we were inform
ed there had been lots of torpedoes an
chored for us.
"Now the torpedo is all very well
in the storehouse, but they're bad
things to have floating around a ship.
But when we got to the entrance and
the Olympia went through without be-
ing blown up we felt better. We felt
positively brave when the Baltimore
went through all right and We're ready
to go bang into a graveyard ourselves
then.
well the Spaniards on duty at the
shore batteries slept four miles away
from their guns that night and didn't
get back to their posts until the old
Raleigh came along. l saw a fash on
shore and said to an officer, Hello,
what's thatY He told me 1t was the
second time he had noticed it and ask
ed if he should fire. | told him not to
as it was probably the insurgents, who
We're friendly then, signaling to us. but
when a solid shot came along later 1
knew better. Then a second shot came,
and it was in response to this thai the
Raleigh fired the first shot in the naval
battle of Manila.
81 tell you we were all on the qui
vive that night. Our orders were to go
inside the harbor, anchor and take
breakfast at daylight, then wipe the
Spanish feet off the face of the earth.
But in the darkness we overran our
reckoning and at daylight found our
selves right under the batteries of Ma
Mia. The enemy on shore opened on US,
and instead Of the anticipated signal to
take breakfast the signal came from
the flagship. Engage the enemy!' That
was where the old man dewey anne
in. His plan had to be changed in a
second. We turned and stood toward
the Spanish fleet, taking the fire Of the
batteries without response for 81 min
utes. We finally got the position we
wanted and opened up. We kept at it
for 2h hours, and at the end of that
time there was no Spanish feet"
Captain Coghlan gave the credit Of
firing the first shot in Dewey's memoir
able battle to Ensign Babin of the Ra-
leigh. Babin's story of it is as follows:
"It was about midnight when we came
to the outer entrance of the bay, be-
tween Corregidor island and Ell Fraile.
The passage is five miles wide, and in
stead Of taking the middle channel,
which was mined with torpedoes. we
preferring our chances against the
Spanish batteries on the island rather
than with the torpedoes. Just as we
started in, a few minutes after II
o'clock, the smokestack of the dispatch
boat McCulloch, at the end of our line,
caught fire and blazed up like a piece
Of fireworks. This sudden illumina-
ton gave us away a once to the Span
iards on shore. and presently a gun
doomed out from Ell Fraile.
"As soon as that first shot came from
Ell Fraile Captain Coghlan sent me
word to answer at once with the after
gun. So after a hasty glance around
and correcting the sights = it was a
pretty long range, and the gun had to
be elevated a good deal-I let her go.
l don't suppose l will Eel know posi-
lively whether that first shot hit any
thing or not. Some time afterward !
met a Spanish officer who had been at
Ell Fraile. and he told me 1t had dis
abled % men and put one gun out of
the fight. But l wouldn't vouch for
that. 1t may have been only Spanish
p~oliteness."
Although not responding to the fire
of the batteries. Dewey's ships were
not lodging the main enemy. They
We're getting into position for the des-
perate game of smashing the forts and
fleet at the same time. At 5:35 a. M.
Dewey's flagship. Olympia. began fir
Ing with her forward 8 inch guns and,
swinging round. gave the forts broad
side after broadside from her rapid
fire guns. The other ships followed
suit and moved up and down in front
of the enemy, giving furious battle and
receiving a deluge of missiles in re-