Freeland tribune. (Freeland, Pa.) 1888-1921, 1901-09-02

Sans Mosquito Fleet were in column
formation, with the Hist in the lead
and the Hornet in the rear, heading
for Manzanillo. After steaming about
twenty-five miles and on approaching
Necuero Bay, which lay on our right,
we discovered a Spanish gunboat lay
ing at anchor behind small island;
the Wampatuck, drawing too much
water to enter the bay, remained in
the channel to prevent an escape; the
Hist and Hornet headed into the bay
and uncovered the Spaniard. who, see
ing that escape was impossible, boldly
steamed out and gave us a running
fight; but fortunately for US her shells
all passed over us. The Hist ground
ed and thus interfered with the range
Of the Hornet. We succeeded, how
ever, in striking the plucky little Span
lard several times, and in crippled
condition she sought shelter behind n
small island on the opposite side of
the bay, which, however, did not con-
ceal her, and the Hist having fioated
by this time, and clearing the range
of the Hornet, the latter vessel soon
landed a six pound shell fairly amid
ships, and the little Spaniard blew up.
The water being so shallow, 1t was
impossible for us to maneuvre with
ease, and no more of the enemy at
this time being in sight, our vessels
renewing their former position In col
umn, moved on towards Manzanil1o,
everyone in our little fleet joyous that
in less time than 1t takes to tell 1t,
we had succeeded in destroying one
of the three or four gunboats which
we had expected to encounter later.
This unexpected resistance proved to
| be but the curtain raiser;;" the bat
tie was yet to come. Perhaps during
the interval here, and before our little
| feet reaches the Harbor of ManZan-
| lilo, 1t might be well for me to give
my readers an idea of the armament Of
| the three members Of the Mosquito
| Fleet, the actions of which I am about
to relate. The Hist mounted one three
pound rapid fire and four automatic
one-pound guns. The Wampatuck, an
armed tug, mounted one six-pound
rapid fire, and two three-pound rapid
fire guns. Tie Hornet "a well named
ship mounted four rapid fire six
pound, two rapid fire one pound, two
| automatic 6 nm machine guns, and
| one Al nm revolving cannon; thus it
will be easily seen our armament was
light, ard, had we any idea of the
surprise that awaited us, no doubt
there would have been no battle of
| Manzanillo to 60 down in history as
fought on that day. Our approach
had evidently been wired or otherwise
signalled from Negueron, and on our
opening Manzanillo Harbor, which lay
on our right, instead of the three small
j.! gunboats we had been looking for
| much to our surprise we found
crescent formation of nine YES
sells stretched across the harbor close
in shore; large torpedo boat on the
right in entering, and a large gunboat
(the guardship OF the harbor) on the
left, with three smaller gunboats be-
| tween them, armed with four and six
! inch and three and six pound rapid
| fire and machine guns; on the right of
! the line was fanked by a big smooth
| bore gun on Caimanero Point, and on
the left by four large pontoons armed
with six inch smooth bore guns. To
the rear tie line was supported by a
mortar battery of six pieces, and n
heavy battery of three pound field az
tillery pieces on the water front and
| two forts on the hills, one to the right
and one to the left of the town, and
the shore for nearly two miles In
length was lined with soldiers who
kept up a fusillade of small arms dur
ing the entire engagement When
within 1000 yards of the large torpedo
boat the Spanish gunboats opened fire.
followed closely by the shore batteries.
Instantly we realized the overwhelEl-
| ing odds we had to fight, but with the
courage and determination of the true
American, the fire was Immediately
returned with every gun that could be
brought to bear. The channel being
narrow, it was not safe to turn around
for fear of grounding, thus we were
obliged to fight our way directly
across in frCnt OF the enemies entire
line, and as they were firing twenty
shots to our one, it seemed as IL our
chances were slim Of ever escaping;
but If fate was to doom us, we were
determined to Go some damage before
we went, and, with careful and delib-
crate aim, VIC kept NJ C hot FIRE, while
the cir s.uieked overhead, and the
water around us boiled with the shells
Of the enemy. Our shells were begin
ming to take effect and they had dis
covered the fact that the Hornet was
doing the work. whereupon their en-
tire fire was concentrated upon the
little craft to destroy her, and soon
succeeded in landing a shell which
severed the main stcampipc cnd thus
rendered her unable for further move
ments. She was crippled and lying TT
their mercy, the target of over 1CO
guns. and enough shells were fired 1T
her alone In the space of @ few min
utes to sink q hundred such craft;
many on board thought the ship in IL
sinking condition, but not gun ceased
firing. the men remaining at their sta