The National tribune. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1877-1917, 1902-05-22

ed to pieces without the enemy suffering
severely. We who lived within daily sight
| of II Spanish warships whose upper works
only protruded above the surface Of the
bay did not share that opinion. They were
tangible, though badly tangled, evidence
that the gallant Spanish navy could be
handled somewhat roughly by the Amcrl-
cans without much loss to themselves.
| Within almost a stones throw of the
Oregon quarters, in the shallow waters of
Bakur Bay, lay four of these Spanish
cruisers, which had turned tail from the
| fight and taken refuge behind Cavite Point
and We're there scuttled and sunk by their
crews. Some, if not all, of these were
afterwards raised and sent to Hongkons
10 be repaired under the direction of Naval
Constructor Hobson. II was these unn-
jured ships Lieut.. HobsOn referred to in
an interview after returning to the United
States. when he spoke Of the Spaniards de-
sorting and scuttling ships that were not
| injured by Dewcys fire. Sensational news
papers took up the interview, and sought
to make it appear that HObsOn had said
that Dewey did not sink the Spanish feet.
and was entitled to 10 credit for his vic
| tory. This was untrue<and unjust to both
| Dewey and Hobson, and the latter never
| intended such construction to be placed
upon his words. We who saw these small
CRUISERS every day also saw daily the twist
ed wrecks of the heavier ships when re
veaed at low tide in the deeper water of
the bay, vessels that had been ruined and
set on fire and sunk by the shells Of Dew
ey's fleet.
One day shortly after we landed at Ca
wife a few of us took canoe and padded
out to these sunken cruisers that lay just
in the rear of our quarters, possibly 200
yards away. The first thing that attract
ed my attention, fastened TO Il broken mast
OF the Isla de LuZOn, was a piece Of paper
on which was written, i'll playful reference
to the sinking Of the Maine:
mo court of inquiry necessary. We
know how it happened"
The same night at the iyceum," as we
called our evening debates, while fighting
musketoes and insomnia, one of the Off
GERS declared that Spain was the most
progressive naval power in the world, be
cause she possessed the largest submarine
navy i'll both the Atlantic aud Pacific. This
ended the discussion, and the lyceum re
lapscd into silence and listened to the mu-
sic of Senior Culcx, as he softly sang to
himself while hunting diligently for holes
in our musketo netting.
A few nights later, while making the
rounds about midnight as officer of the
day, my attention was drawn by the Cor
poral to sounds of hammering and voices
on the sunken ships. We listened for quite
a time, and came to the conclusion that
the natives were trying to get something
from, tho yracl,e tho IA Nor I,,.o .,+,a,,,,'t
in the day time nnssihIy one or moro Of
the three TO four inch guns that had been
dismouuted and NOT yet renewed Thn
shins were hevnnd nnr Tnas and nndo,. Tho
Icontrol of tbr navy so / coutnnted ,nysalf
with rcnorting Tho incident ON tho. ,,u,,rd
report the next morning, and | understand
same thing Inf have no kn3wled@a Of
what was done about il nerhnns nntbing
as the sounds continued for a numhor ~