near the "Indiana" and anxiously looking for the destroyers. They were not very far behind the armored cruisers, but the time appeared long as we slowed down to wait for them.. As soon as the "Pluton" and "Furor" made their appearance our duty was plain-we must prevent them from attacking one of our battleships. We started ahead at full speed and gradually closed in on them, firing as rapidly as possible. About this time we made out a signal from the "Indiana" to read : Destroying the "Gunboats close in." I have since heard that Captain Taylor intended to signal "Torpedo boats coming out." To close in on the torpedo boats required us to cross the "Indiana's " line of fire, and as she was pouring in shell from her secondary battery, we were glad to feel secure that she would stop as we crossed her line. As we drew closer to the destroyers their fire became quite warm, and their projectiles and those from the forts appeared to hit all around us, and when their Maxim 1-pounder started into play it seemed almost impossible for them to fail to hit us. But not a shot struck us, and there were men blown away from their guns before they got our range. When we were distant about twelve hundred yards we opened fire with our two 6-millimetre automatic Colt rifles. They poured a shower of bullets onto the decks of the destroyers and did great execution. As we gathered speed we commenced to close in on the "Pluton" and the "Furor" rapidly. Although built for twenty-eight and thirty knots, our seventeen knots good was too much for them. The "Pluton" soon began to slacken and then she stopped in the breakers. At this time the "Indiana" was rounding the point ahead to the westward and the "New York " coming up rapidly from the direction of Siboney. was When it was evident that the "Pluton" was done for, we concentrated our fire on the "Furor," and every shot appeared to take effect. Suddenly she jammed her helm hard a-starboard and made for us. It was evident that as our guns were too much for her she was going to try a torpedo. One of our prisoners told us after the battle that they made several attempts to fire a torpedo, but the crews were driven from the tubes by our own fire. With her helm still a-starboard, the "Furor" turned toward the entrance of the harbor, and the "New York," having approached until she was engaged with the principal shore batteries, fired two or three shots at her, fearing she might escape. But the "Furor's" helm was jammed, and she continued to circle to port, so the "New York," her crew cheering, continued under full steam after the escaping cruisers. 1 DESTRUCTION OF CERVERA'S TORPEDO-BOAT DESTROYERS. 181 The "Pluton" had blown up and was on the rocks. The "Furor" was on fire, her helm jamned, and unable to continue the fight. We had been doing our best to destroy life; now had come the time when we could commence to save the lives of our conquered enemies. The Socapa battery was firing at us still, and when we stopped the shells began to fall pretty close to us; but as soon as our boats were lowered they ceased firing. Gallant Rescue of The boats brought off every one who was alive on the burning wrecks of the "Pluton " and the "Furor," and also rescued those in the water and on the rocks. The trouble in getting the Spaniards off the rocks was especially great, as they refused to jump into the water, and in some cases it was necessary to throw them in and then pull them into the boat. The complement of the "Furor" was sixty-seven and of the "Pluton " seventy men. Of these, nineteen were saved from the former and twenty-six from the latter. But it is known that a few swam ashore and managed to reach Santiago. Meanwhile the "Gloucester" had steamed on to where the "Infanta Maria Teresa" and the "Almirante Oquendo" were lying, wrecked and burning, on the shore. Each had white flags flying. They were burning fore and aft; their guns and reserve ammunition were exploding, and it was not known at what moment the fire would reach the main magazines. Moreover, a heavy sea was running just inside of the Spanish ships. But no danger and no difficulty deterred the officers and men of the "Gloucester" until, in two small boats and a dingy, they had rescued all the survivors. including the wounded from the two burning ships. T STORY OF A TORPEDO-BOAT DESTROYER.. HERE was a mile and more of smoke and flame and fighting stretching westward from the Morro before Cervera's torpedo boat destroyers steamed past the "Merrimac" and swung into the lane of fire marked out for them by the Admiral on that finest of morn ings, July 3. Richard Wainwright, executive officer of the Maine, commanding the converted yacht "Gloucester," had run in toward the harbor mouth from his blockading station, which was a little to the eastward, and when the last of the Spanish cruisers was making her turn westward, the yacht was heading toward her. The big 11-inch guns of the cruiser belched fire and smoke as she opened on the "Indiana." Her captain saw the "Gloucester," too, and evidently suspected that she might attempt to torpedo him, so the guns of the secondary battery were trained on the yacht and shells fell all about her. Wainwright, whose danger was great, answered, only steaming the closer. From our yacht "Golden Rod," which at that time was directly off shore from the "Gloucester," we watched in amazement. Smoke curled up over the yacht a moment later, and we knew that she was answering the cruiser with her 6-pounder. Lying closer in than not see till later-the We understood when of the cruiser's fire so But that was only an incident to Wainwright. the "Golden Rod" he had already seen what we did "Furor" and "Pluton" coming out of the harbor. we saw them that he was holding his position in spite that he might engage the destroyers at deadly range. The "Gloucester" is a torpedo-boat destroyer as the event proved, a destroyer of destroyers. I turned from the main battle for a second or two pretty often in the next few historical minutes, to see the yacht and the destroyers, and it was difficult to take one's eyes off them, for on the bridge of the "Golden Rod" men were saying of the "Gloucester": "She's gone! They're both going straight at her! Why doesn't he pull out?" But they didn't know "Dick" Wainwright. A Moment of Intense Anxiety. As the destroyers made the turn westward, every gun which could be trained on the "Gloucester" was fired, and her decks were wet by spray cast there by shells which struck about her. Worse still, the gunners in the battery beyond Morro were throwing projectiles at the yacht, any one of which must destroy her at once if the aim were true. And at this time the last of the cruisers still fired at her. The smallest of shells would have gone through her and any projectile was likely to cripple her and invite destruction. Wainwright only moved a little bit closer. Smoke hid the "Gloucester," the smoke of her own guns, and a man beside me called in fear, "They've sunk her!" We all thought so. But out of the smoke-cloud her bow appeared at last. The destroyers were running parallel with the coast, seeking the refuge which would be theirs could they get between the larger Spanish ships and the shore. Wainwright steered their course, and so they fought broadside and broadside. They fired fast at first. The "Gloucester's" guns were worked with inconceivable speed throughout. Often we thought her disabled or gone when the smoke closed about her. When we heard afterward that Wainwright had not lost a man we could not believe it, for the range was short, and once we knew his little craft was a target for a cruiser, the land batteries and the destroyers all together. The "Golden Rod's" men yelled "yell" is the word-every time the yacht shook off the shroud of powder smoke, and whenever they saw the flame spurts of her guns dash out through it. They yelled more, you may be sure, when the first destroyer, winged and helpless, stopped in her flight westward, lost headway and course, and drifted into the surf. How the "Corsair" Spat Fire. Wainwright moved closer to the other. The big ships were pounding this one, too. Even the "New York," hurrying up from the eastward, threw a shell or two-four, I believe--at the black Spaniard, but they were scarcely needed. She was on fire, and her men had long been unable to work their guns effectively. And still the old "Corsair "-for the "Gloucester " was the "Corsair"-spat fire and buried herself in the smoke of battle. And all the time Wainwright moved a little closer. The second destroyer struck her colors and went ashore blazing. Wainwright moved on then to the work of rescue, which was as perilous as his work of destruction had been. It was he who received the Spanish Admiral, and courteously congratulated him upon the gallant fight he had made, using memorable words which Cervera will treasure until he dies. Men have spoken of many participants in the battle of Santiago as typical American soldiers and seamen. Surely all must accord a seat of honor in that company to Richard Wainwright, of the "Gloucester "— gallant, calm, ever moving a little nearer to the enemy while the battle lasted; a lion in the work of rescuing the vanquished and succoring the dying; courteous, perfect in his reception of the Admiral whose fleet he had helped to destroy. |