Atlanta Georgian. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1912-1939, 1913-01-04
Dewey Tells of the Great
Victory at Manila Bay
GROIN HEARST'S MAGAZINE FOR JANUARY
Autobiography Our Only Living Admira-A Thrilling Story
Historical Interest


Castillo. The Don Juan de Austria first
and then the Reina Cristina made brave
and desperate attempts to charge the
Olympia, but, becoming the target for
all our batteries, they turned and ran
back
Though in the early part of the ac
ton our firing was not what l should
have liked 1t to be. it soon steadied
down, and by the time the Reina Girls
tina steamed toward us it was salts
factorily accurate The Castillo Jared
little better than the Reina Cristina
All except one of her guns was dis
abled, she was set on fire by our shells,
and finally abandoned by her crew
after they had sustained a loss of %
killed and 80 wounded The Don Juan
de Austria was badly damaged and on
fire, the Isla de Luzon had three guns
dismounted and the Marques del Duero
was also in a bad way. Admiral Mon
teio, finding his flagship no longer man
ageable, half her people dead or wound
ed, her guns useless and the ship on
fire, gave the order to abandon and
sink her, and transferred his flag to
the lsla de Cuba shortly after Z o'clock.
Victory was already ours. though we
did not know it. Owing to the smoke
over the Spanish squadron. there were
no visible signs of the execution wrought
by our guns when we started upon our
fifth run past the enemy We were
keeping up our rapid fire. and the flag
ship was opposite the center of the
Spanish line, when. at 1885 o'clock. the
captain Of the Olympia made a report
| to me which was as startling as it was
unexpected. This was to the effect that
on board the Olympia there remained
only fifteen rounds per gun for the D.
inch battery
1t was a most anxious moment for
me So far as l could see the Span
ish squadron was as intact as ours. l
/ had reason to believe that their supply
Of ammunition was as ample as ours
was limited. Nelson once feelingly said
that if he were killed, the want of
frigates would be found written on his
heart. In my case it would have been
the want o. ammunition.
| I decided to withdraw temporarily
from action for a redistribution Of am
munition if necessary. For I knew THAI
fifteen rounds of five-inch ammunition
could be shot away in five minutes. But
even as we were steaming out of range
the distress of the Spanish ships be
came evident. Some of them were per-
ceived to be on fire, and others were
| seeking protection behind Cavite point.
| The Don Antonio de Llloa, however. still
retained her position at Sangley point,
| where she had been moored More
! over the Spanish fire, with the excep-
ton of the Manila batteries. to which
we had paid little attention, had ceased
entirely. 1t was clear that we did not
need a very large supply Of ammunition
to finish our mornings task; and hap
PLY it was found that the report about
! the Olympia's five-inch ammunition
had been incorrectly transmitted. 1t
| was that fifteen rounds had been fired
per gun, not that only fifteen rounds
remained.
| Feeling confident of the outcome. l
| now signaled that the crews, who had
! had only a cup of coffee at a. m.
should have their breakfast. The pub
lie at home, on account of this signal.
| to which was attributed a nonchaIance
/ that had never occurred to me, rea-
/ soned that breakfast was the real rea-
| son for our Withdrawing from action
! Meanwhile. / improved the opportunity
! to have the commanding officers report
on board the flagship
There had been such a heavy flight
| OF shells over us that each captain
! when he arrived was convinced that no
other ship had had Such good Incl, as