The naval history of the United States (1896) (14761529156)

Identifier: navalhistoryofun02abbo (find matches)
Title: The naval history of the United States
Year: 1896 (1890s)
Authors: Abbot, Willis J. (Willis John), 1863-1934
Subjects: United States -- History, Naval To 1900
Publisher: New York, Dodd, Mead and company
Contributing Library: University of Massachusetts, Boston
Digitizing Sponsor: University of Massachusetts, Boston



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son stood on the bridge of the old collier, dressed in full uniform. Theother six men were at their posts, clad in tights, to aid their escape in case they had toswim a long distance. The watchers saw her head straight for Estrella Point, saw her swing hard across thechannel, apparently undiscovered, heard five of the seven charges explode, and then begana screaming, flashing, death-dealing fire from the Spanish ships and batteries that hid therest from view. The battery on Dead Mans Point, square in the center of the harbpr, opened the fireand soon directed its guns against the launch. In the face of this hell, with ten- andtwelve-inch guns blazing at them at this short range, Cadet Powell and the crew of hislaunch continued to search for the men of the Merrimac They saw then the guns of the Cristobal Colon, Admiral Cerveras flagship, and ofthe old cruiser Reina Mercedes, which had been considered gunless, trained on them andthundering in their ears. H3Cm 0 > OO D C/) - > H m O
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THE NAVAL WAR WITH SPAIN 861 Still they searched with never as much as a faint cry for help or the sign of a singlearm raised in mute appeal to guide them. Those on the battleship looking into the mouthof the harbor saw only a sheet of flame which, with the roar of the guns, lasted thirty-fiveminutes. By this time dawn had tinged the land and sky with light, and the tiny launchcould be seen loitering by the shore. On the west side of the harbor, in the center of thechannel, just where Hobson had promised to sink his vessel, could be seen the tops of the Merrimacs masts. The harbor was blocked. Hobson and his gallant men were not lost. A shot from one of the-batteries destroyed the boat in which they had expected to reach thelaunch, but on a raft they escaped from their sinking vessel, only to becaptured by the Spaniards. With sailor-like chivalry and hearty admira-tion for a gallant deed Admiral Cervera sent word to the fleet of theirsafety and offered to exchange them as soon as the