The Princeton union. [volume] (Princeton, Minn.) 1876-1976, 1905-10-12

having the wind on the port quarter.
The two batteries We're discharged
and now began run
ming fight Of near an hours duration.
The guns were served on the Ran
dolph with the desperate rapidity Of
men who, aWfully pressed for time,
had abandoned hope and only fought
to cripple and delay before they were
silenced; those on the Yarmouth, on
more deliberation and did dreadful
execution. The different guns We're
disabled on the Randolph by heavy
shot; adjacent ports were knocked into
one, the sides shattered, boats smash
ed, rails knocked to pieces, all Of the
weather shrouds cut, the mizzen mast
carried away under the top, and the
wreck fell into the sea-fortunately on
the lee side, the little body of men in
the top going to sudden death with
the rest.
The decks were slippery with blood
and plowed with plunging shot, which
the superior height Of the Yarmouth
permitted to be fired with depressed
guns from an elevation. Solid shot
from the heavy main deck batteries
swept through and through the devot-
ed frigate; half the Randolph's guns
We're useless because of the lack Of
men to serve them; the cockpit over
flowed with the wounded; the surgeon
and his mates, covered with blood,
worked like butchers in the steerage
and finally in the ward room; dead and
dying men lay where they fell; there
were no hands to spare to take them
below, no place in which they could
lie with safety, no immunity from the
searching hail which drove through
every part Of the doomed ship. Still
the men, cheered and encouraged by
their officers, stood to their guns and
fought on. Presently the fore top
mast went by the board also as the
long moments dragged along. Seymour
was now lying on the quarter deck, q
bullet having broken his leg, another
having made flesh wound in his arm.
He had refused to go below to have
his wounds dressed, and one of the
midshipmen was kneeling by his side,
applying such unskillful bandages as
he might to the two bleeding wounds.
Mason had been sent for and was in
charge under Seymour's direction. That
young man, all his nervousness gone,
was most ably seconding his dauntless
captain.
The two ships were covered With
smoke. It was impossible to tell on
one what was happening on the other,
but the steady persistence with which
the Randolph chung to her big enemy
had it's effect on the Yarmouth also,
and the well delivered fire did not al
low that vessel any immunity In fact,
While nothing like that on the frigate,
the damage was so great and so many
men had fallen that Captain Vincent
determined to end the conflict at once
by boarding the frigate. The neces-
sary orders were given, and strong
party of boarders was called away and
mustered on the forecastle, headed by
Beauchamp and Hollins.
Taking advantage of the smoke and
Of the weather gauge, the Yarmouth
was suddenly headed for the Randolph.
AS the enormous bows of the line of
battle ship came slowly showing out of
the smoke, towering above them, cover
ed with men, cutlass or boarding pike in
hand, Seymour discerned at once the
purpose Of the maneuver. Raising
himself upon his elbow to better d.
rect the movement
"All hands repel boarders!" he shout
ed, his voice echoing through the ship
as powerfully as ever
This was an unusual command, as
it completely deprived the guns of
their crews, but he rightly judged that
1t would take all the men they could
muster to repel the coming attack, and
none but the main deck guns of the
Yarmouth would or could be fired, for
fear of hitting their own men in the
melee on the deck. The Randolph was
a wreck below at best, but while any,
thing held together above her plank
shears she would be fought. The men
mad reached that desperate condition
'AA~AA IAASJ SOdoCu W IA4uh VI OuuS, ana
like maddened beasts fought and raved
and swore in the frenzy of the COM
bat. The thrice decimated crew sprang
att, rallying in the gangway to meet
the shock, Mason at their head, fol-
lowed close by old Bentley, still un-
wounded. AS the bow of the Var
mouth struck the Randolph with a
crash, one or two wounded men. un-
able to take part in repelling the board
ers, but still able to move, who had re-
manned beside the guns. exerted the
remaining sUength they possessed to
discharge such of the pieces as bore, in
long raking shots. through the bow Of
the liner; it was the last sound from
their hot muzzles.
The Yarmouth struck the Randolnh
just forward of the mainmast. The
men, swarming in dense masses on the
rail and hanging over the bowsprit
ready to leap, dropped on her deck at
once with loud cheers. A sharp yolley
from the few marines left on the frig-
ate checked them fo,. roomon+ h,,+