Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1907-03-19
THE wINsLow FIGHT.
A Still Remembered incident Of the
Spanish War. -

a Still Hemempered incioent OF tno
Spanish War.
Commander John Baptiste Bernadou
at last accounts had a berth on the
battleship Kearsarge. 1t is bigger
ship than the one in which Bernadou
saw service in the Spanish war, but
II the Kearsarge gets into a fight at
any time in the future there is little
likelihood that Bernadou will have a
hotter time Of it than he had one day
IN the little torpedo boat Winslow In
the harbor Of Cardenas. Cuba.
Early in May. 1898. the Wilmington,
Commander Todd; the Hudson, Lieut..
Newcomb, and the Winslow, Lieut..
Barnadou, sailed into Cardenas harbor
in search Of some Spanish gunboats
which were believed to be anchored
there. Commander Todd being the
senior officer present was in command
Of the little squadron Of three vessels.
In order to prevent the escape Of any
Of the enemy he ordered his two junior
commanding officers to seach either
side of the bay while he took his own
vessel straight down the middle Of the
harbor.
1t happened, however, that the COM
manding officer himself first caught
sight Of a Spanish gunboat apparently
moored to a wharf on the waterfront
Of the town. He signalled: "Winslow
go in and investigate gunboat moored
to wharf, there on the right, painted
gray"
"Ay, ay, SIR" came the answer, and
Bernadou took the Winslow In.
The Spanish gunboat turned out to
be the Antonio Lopez. Bernadou head
ed for the town with the Winslow un-
der full speed. When the boat was at
distance Of about $500 yards from
the wharf, smoke appeared from the
bow Of the Spanish boat and shell
whizzed by the port side Of the Win
slow. Instantly concealed land bat
teries opened on Bernadou's little tor
pedo craft. In a minute the Ameri-
can vessel was In the centre OF a per-
feet storm Of projectiles.
Bernadou was no laggard in return
ing the fire Of the enemy, but the luck
of nature was against him, for sud-
denly q haze settled down over the
batteries of the Spaniards and over the
Antonio Lopez, and completely con-
cealed them from view. 1t was known
afterward that while the Americans
could not see the Spaniards the Span
iards could see the Americans. The
Winslow kept on firing constantly, the
gunners aiming as well as they could
under the guidance Of the sound OF
the Spanish guns.
Suddenly a shell struck the Ameri-
can boat, passing clean through the
coming tower, smashing the steering
apparatus and severing the steam pip
ing connecting the gear OF the neim.
Hardly a second passed before anoth-
er shot jammed the rudder and cut
both wheel ropes. Still another pro-
iectile burst close to the American
and a fragment Of 1t struck Leuten-
ant Bernadou in the thigh, inflicting
gaping wound and throwing the OF
ficer to the deck.
Then there came showing OF pure
glit Bernadou rose to his feet, DRESS
ed his own wound, stanching the flow
of blood and keeping knowledge OF the
severity Of his injury from the crew.
With his vessel disabled so that steer
ing was impossible and with only one
engine in working condition, the
wounded officer succeeded in keeping
his ship moving enough to prevent lts
becoming an absolutely stationary
mark for the enemy's guns.
While in this crippled condition the
Winslow kept up an uninterrupt-
ed fire from it's guns and was aided
by the fire Of the Wilmington and the
Hudson. Notwithstanding the appar-
ent extremity Of their case the gun