St. Tammany farmer. [volume] (Covington, La.) 1874-current, 1909-04-17
ARE BUT A MEMORY
FOUR CAPTAINS WHO FOUGHT
WITH DEWEY ARE DEAD.
Half of the Commanders Who Wrote
Their Names on the Pages CT
History May I, 1898, Have
Passed Away.

or the eight battle captains who
sailed with Dewey into Manila bay
May 1, 1908, four are but memories
in the hearts of the American people,
for with the death December 5, of
''Hoch der. Kaiser" Coghlan, the fourth
of this little galaxy of naval stars was
piped to quarters. Not even one of
the surviving captains is in active
service to-day, for all. with the ranks
Of rear admirals, have been retired,
and are living in different parts or
the country. One, now Rear Admiral
Lamberton, makes his home in Wash
ingtan.
Once year the Dewey captains
gather at dinner, when the old battle
is refought and the old memories re-
told. But few months ago, on the
anniversary of that May mornings
battle, five of them, dined together
Now, before the year has passed, Ad-
m1ral Coghlan has gone, and next May
but four of the grizzled sea dogs will
join hands and hearts over the board.
Then what of the men who by death
of Rear Admiral Joseph B. Coghlan
have been brought again into the pub
lie eye? The eight captains who an
swered along the line the signals
which to Capt. Gridley read: Fire
when you are ready" and hurled their
ships through the network of mines
which lined the harbor and against
the belching of the guns of Cavite
wrote hitherto untouched page in
the history of naval warfare. The ag-
CRATE tonnage of the Dewey squadron
some 19,061 tons, was less than the
single tonnage of that ship, the first
of the new type of American Dread
nought launched recently, the North
Dakota.
Capts. Gridley, Coghlan, Wild and
Wood are dead, and those who still
live prove no less the quality of the
stuff of which the battle captains were
made, and their little alcoye in the
hall of naval history is unique and
unlike all others.
Capt. Gridley presents the character
istic example of the sterner stuff of
which these men were made. When
the Spanish squadron was sighted that
morning and the orders to "go ahead"
were given Capt. Gridley was i'll in
his stateroom. The admiral had Sc
lected the Olympia, Gridley's ship, as
the flagship, and the captain unfiinch-
ingly assembled to his post of duty. still
racked by the pains and agues of
Asiatic fever. The order came to fire,
and Gridley stuck to his post, fighting
his ship with admirable clear-headed-
ness until the white flag appeared on
the Spanish forts and naught else re-
manned of the Spanish squadron but
the masts and towers protruding above
the blue of the Asiatic bay. The battle
being over, Gridley collapsed, to be
invalided to naval hospital, where
death followed shortly.
Dewey's fleet was differed by the
following: Olympia (fagship), sec
ond-class cruiser, 1855 tons, Capt.
Charles V. Gridley dead; Baltimore,
second-class cruiser, 4,413 tons, Capt.
Nemias M. Dyer; Raleigh, third-class
cruiser, 1888 tons, Capt. Joseph B.
Coghlan dead; Boston, third-class
cruiser, 5000 tons, Capt Frank Wild
dead; Concord, gunboat, LILO tons,
Capt. Asa Walker; Petrol, gunboat,
$50 tons, Commander E. P. Wood
dead, and the dispatch boat McCul-
1och, revenue cutter service, Capt D.
B. Hodgsdon The eighth of the bat
tie captains was Benjamin P. Lander
ton, then captain who, while not in
command of a vessel during the bat
tie, took an exceedingly prominent
part as Admiral Dewey's chief of
staff.