The Pioche record. [volume] (Pioche, Nev.) 1908-1925, 1909-07-10

FOUR CAPTAINS WHO FOUGHT
WITH DEWEY ARE DEAD.
Half Of the Commanders Who Wrote
Their Names on the Pages Of
History May l., 1898, Have
Passed Away

or the eight. battle captains who
sailed with Dewey into Manila bay
May l. 1908, four are but memories
in the hearts of the American people,
for with the death December S, 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 of
the country. One. now Rear Admiral
Lamberton, makes his home in Wash
ington.
Once a 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-
miral Coghlan has gone, and next Nay
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. Coghlar
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 a 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
,ought 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
stun OF which the battle captains were
made, and their little alcove 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 Ego 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 unflinch-
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-
NAMED 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 feet was of1cered sbv the
following: Olympia (fagship), Sec
cruiser, 5,S65 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 (deadp 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-
loch, revenue cutter service, Capt. D.
B. Hodgsdon. The eighth of the bat
tie captains was BENJAMIN P. Lamber-
ton, then captain who, while not in
command of vessel during the bat
tie, took an exceedingly prominent
part as Admiral Dewey's chief of
staff.