The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1900-03-06
BATTLE OF SANTIAGO.
A Spanish Captain Reviews the
Naval Fight.

W A0IlAsNOlO aNs EED. AAG LIZ
reau of Naval Intelligence has issued
a fresh volume of its war notes series,
and probably The last of them, which
viii bear on the battle of Santiago haT-
Dor. The present publication is a
translation from the spanish by Cap
tain Victor VI. Ccncas y Palu. former
commander of the cruiser Infanta
Maria Teresa and chief of staff to Ad-
miral Cervera in the battle of July 3.
The narrative begins with the exo-
dus Of the devoted squadron from San
tiago harbor. Captain COncas says, in
accordance with previous ructions,
the Teresa headed toward the Brock
Ign, hoping to ram her. This was
frustrated by the Brooklyn's frequent
ly discussed loop" to s.arboard.
which Concas says brought the Iowa
and the Texas between he- and the
Teresa"
Captain Concas, in telling OF the
successful sinking of ,-.e Teresa and
the other vessels of the squadron.
dwells strongly on a point which he
declares ali o.her critics have over
looked-namely, that of owing to the
narrow ana tOrtuOUs channei past the
MORO the Spanish vessels had to come
out so far apart that they were e-e1
attacked by the combined force of the
American squadron and des ,royed in
detail, making it practically a series
of combats, each time a ship aga INST
a squadron. He calls attention also TO
the probability that the American Is
innate of per cent of hits out OF
shots aimed at Cervera's feet Is too
low. He says the most horrible MOT
atty IN every case was IN the upper
works. where the shots lef. no marks
except those wiped out by the fire. He
says per cent OF hits probably would
not be too high.
He credits the Iowa with landing
the two II or 13 inch shells which
burst the Teresa's main seam pipe
and put her out of the action when
he commander had a fair chance to
escape. The shots, he said, have been
claimed both by the Oregon and the
Indiana, but he adduces considerable
evidence that they came from the
Iowa. Another peculiar incident
brought out in the narrative and Ia
striking example of Yankee luck was
that the Oregon, in pursuit OF the
Colon, remained unconsciously in the
dead angle" between the only gun
on the Colon powerful enough to reach
her. The Colon, 1t will be remembered.
did not have her big thirty-ton guns,
and in the long, stern chase the Ore
gon happened always to keep Just on
the spot where the upper-deck guns
could not be- trained on her. and the
Colon could not fire without heaving
TO and losing valuable time. The
author Indignantly denies that the
Colon was wrecked by her crew after
she had surrendered. He says she WAS
run ashore and her sea valves opened
before her flag was hauled down. Ri
garding this incident the-Eriter says:
The Cristobal Colon was less .o,-
tunate than any of the others. for al
though going at a speed of thirteen
knots she ran ashore on sand. and If
Admiral Sampson, with a more. sea.
manlike spirit, had ordered the divers
TO close the valves, he could most GER
tainly have saved the cruiser, but
with feverish impatience he tOwed nGr
off with his own flagship, the New
York. Hardly had the ship been l)I--
ed when she began to list, at w1iCh
moment, with great dex ,erity, r.
pushed the Colon pack again with :as
ram of his own ship, toward the san Is
shoal, but it was too late, and, turn!1s
n 80
went to the bottom of the sea forever.
The few Americans and Spaniards wa )
were still on board hastily saved the n
selves.
Speaking OF the nature of the wounds
inflicted by modern naval shell fire,
Captain Concas declares them more
horrible than can be described a
bOatswain of the Teresa had four
wounds. None of the men injured at
all escaped with less than two. Many,
he says, were blown into unrecogniZ-
able fragments. Captain LarZaZa of
the Oquendo was killed, his executive
officer, Lo,a, cut in two by a shell; the
third officer. Matos, and the three lieu
tenants next in rank all killed, besides
121 men OF the crew. The total NOR
tality in the fleet reached the awful
figure of % per cent of the men engag-
ed. In closing the account of the bat
tie the author says:
We could never complete this chap
ter II we were to relate the innumer-
able acts of courage, but l cannot do
less than to mention one which | saw
with my own eyes. The Maria Teresa
had already been abandoned, the flames
mounting up to the hight of the fun
nels and projectiles exploding on all
sides, and when everybody thought
that no living soil was left on the shin
suddenly a man appeared there calling
for help. Instantly Jose Sasado cried
Il will not let that man die," and
threw himself into the water. He
climbed up the blood-stained sides of
the ship, seized the man, carried him
down on his shoulders. and swimming
with him TO the shore, laid his burden
on the beach. 1t was hardly possible
to believe that that shapeless form was
man with fourteen wounds. who
must have been left on board as dead
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