The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1901-12-13
OLD GLORY AT MANILA
HOW ITS APPEARANCE I1IPRESSES a
SOUTHERN TRAVELLER.
Its Striking Absence from the Path
ways of Commerce - Memories
of COrregidOr and Cavite.
Joseph Oil, in Atlanta Constitution.

fellow after he has knocked over strange
waters and stranger lands for two months,
looking upon every other flag under the
sun except mis- own, to see that beautiful
bit of bunting being blown about by the
breezes that sweep over Manila bay and
out across Corregidor!
We had been out from New York just
sixty-one days, when, bright and early in
the morning. we caught our first glimpse
of the great rock that stands as sentinel
to Manila bay Through the Atlantic and
the Mediterranean, through the Red sea,
the Suez canal, the Arabian sea, the Indian
ocean, the great Malacca strait and across
the China sea we had gone without seeing
the United States flag at the masthead or
any passing vessel. There had been every
thing else. The British union jack had
been Haunting itself in our faces at every
lap OF our journey; the German flag had
graced several big troop ships bringing
back Won Waldersee's men from Picking,
and in a number of the ports we had found
German merchant marine; we had seen the
Russian flag, the flag of Belgium, that of
Italy; the flag Of little Holland is not alb
sent from these waters of the Far East;
even the star and crescent Of Turkey and
the blood red flag of the Sultan of Morocco
the dragon flag of China and the blood red
sun of Japan-and yet not once the stars
and stripes. The nearest we came to Ii
was when we passed the gallant little gun
boat Marietta in the Suez canal, but that
was at night, and. of course, her flag was
down.
We had begun to be pretty hungry for
something American as we approached the
end of our two months journey out from
New York, and / tell you it made US feel
pretty good when we saw the flag flying
over the great hospital on Gi6rregidor
vealed something of a special interest. Cor
regidor itsef-you will recall that we heard
a great deal about Corregidor island and
the Corregidor channels in the days when
Dewey's fleet was waiting up on the China
coast for the word to swoOp down and
make that morning call on Admiral Monto-
! 10, which he subsequently did so success
! fully; we heard much of the powerful tor
! pedoes which the Spaniards had placed so
as to guard the approach to Manila by
! either channel we had heard OF the land
| batteries on Corregidor, and the name con-
| jured up rather narrowing thoughts in
those early days before we had learned that
| the land batteries were obsolete OLD Things
/ and that the torpedoes, If there ever had
been any, were absolutely worthless
FAMOUS CORREGIDOR.
Corregidor rises sheer from the water at
| the entrance to Manila bay, making two
! channels. AS we drew near the spot was
| pointed out to us from which Dewey fired
his first shot at the Coregidor land batter
les. Then we saw the hospital nesting
| down in a little inlet on the side of the
island, and dead ahead of us, in the far
distance, the smoke of Manila.
Nobody who has not been here, most GER
| tainly nobody who is not seafaring man,
can get any idea from published dimensions
| Of the size Of this bay Of Manila. The fact
| that it is twenty-siX miles from Corregidor
| light in a Decline to the city hardly con-
veys the impression OF eXpanse which
strikes one upon coming through the chan
! green or rather weak in that portion of my
! head where the geography bump ought to
! be, for had always thought of Manila bay
| as nothing more than a good big harbOr.
| AS a matter of fact, it is no harbor at all.
1t is such a great sweep of water that
when one Of these gentle typhOOns is rag
shipping inside. AS I found out afterwards,
there is closer in the remains Of a break
water which the Spanish engineers are sup
Spanish public enterprise, most of the
money appropriated found its way into the
| pockets of the officials in charge and COM
paratively small proportion was spent as it
should have been. The result is that what
| remains of the breakwater is the poorest
sort Of makeshift Steps have already
been taken looking to something American
| in this line, but of that another time.
At Corregidor you are so far away from
| the city that you can see scarcely anything
save the smoke rising from the chimneys
On the left as you go through the channel
that is, If you go through the north chan
| mel, which we took just as Dewey did-the
mainland rises bleak and mountainous
! This is the foot Of the mountain range
which lies along the western coast from
| Manila bay to the northern end Of the
island. There are occasional breaks in it
| farther up, but for the most of the distance
| the mountain chain is unbroken.
Our course lay dead ahead across the
bay When we had gone in a few miles
NnxrftA hn am rfcrl.t
| suppose / should say 'off on our starboard
bow" but l have never yet been able to
| fathom the mysteries of 'starboard" and
port" for more than a few consecutive
minutes, and | am not quite certain that
1 am right now 1 do know my right hand
| from my left, however, and know that
| Cavite was on my right going in 1t was
| here that Dewey found and destroyed the
! Spanish fleet. Through glasses it was
possible to see the tops of some Of the
Spanish wrecks sticking above the water
Behind them lay the batteries of Cavite
| now occupied by American troops, and
standing guard over the whole were the
! Brooklyn and the New York and several
smaller boats of our navy dressed in their
white garbs of peace.
GRANTS FLAGSHIP
A little farther on a small side-wheeled
steamer with two smokestacks drew the
attention of Captain Frank Grant, and at
the same time think drew bit of dewy
moisture from his eyes. I don't know what
she is called now, but she once was the
Laguna de Bay, the stanch little gunboat
which Grants flagship when he COM
manded the operations of the little fleet of
| river gunboatS which carried such terror
| to the FilipinoS from the mouth of the
| Pasig UP to and through the lake after
! which this craft was named and up the
rivers which pour their waters into that
| lake.
Still closer in were the army transports
fitzpatrick and Buford, both getting ready
| to leave for home; then a small army Of
tugs and launches; then smaller boats, the
| bancoes of the Filipino fishermen, the
| small sailing craft with their Outriggers
and all that makes life in a big harbor so
full of interest.
At last we were at anchor. Manila, The
special points of the city were pointed out
TO us by those who had been there before
but truth to tell there is very little TO be
seen of Manila from the bay. / mean very
little that is distinctive. The city is flat
prominence to give it distinction were il
not that the American flag flies here
Soon, however, there was a great deal
of interest on board ship and nobody had
time to waste on the city. The health Off
Ger, who was first aboard brought us the
news of the shooting of President McKfn-
ley, which had occurred four days before
1t all seemed too terrible to be true and
even now ii is impossible TO realize. II
cast a damper over everything. We had
expected TO have great deal of fun IN
watching the arrival of the various hus-
bands Of the ladies who had been part of
our ships company, but between the de-
preston and the cheerful information that
Of Harr