The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, June 26, 1898, Page 19

THE SAN FRANCISCO CALL, SUNDAY, JUNE 26, 1898. 19 A6 Graphic account of the bombardment as seen in the city by Captain Spray, who ran the blockade and reached the Spanish fleet in the hatbor. By R. J. Elliott, Special War Correspondent of The Call. PEAKING of the scenes in the city of San Juan during the terrors of the bombardment, Captain Spray said: “I never saw such a scared lot of life. Every one was terror stricken. They rushed from leaving them unattended and in many instances wide open, T stopping to close a door, much less to lock it. 'Women and children sta of deshabille ran screaming from their houses. The streets »wded with panic stricken men and women, all intent upon reaching a in the hills beyond the town. Shells shrieked over their heads people in my t nev were cr point and b came crashing down, while the shouts of the fleeing populace drowned the calls for help from the wounded. Even thieves forgot to ply their vocation and stores were as safe that day with all their valuables exposed as they would be under lock and key and under guard. The only thought was to escape from the range of Sampson’s guns. Horses and trucks and the few hacks and volantes of the city were pressed into service by the wealthy, who pald any price if the drivers would only make good time. Some hackmen re- fused to let their teams at any price, choosing rather to convey their own families to a place of safety. “The narrow streets of San Juan were crowded as they had never been be- fore. Teamsters and a struggling, shouting mass of humanity disputed the right of way in their mad rush for safety. Many rushed to the churches and within a few minutes after the bombardment began every church was full to overflowing. Men and women hustled one against the other in their eagerness to kneel as near the altar as possible. In some churches the mass was being offered, but the priests cut it short and advised the people that as the stately churches might be good targets for the American gunners it might be safe to seek less conspicuous points. A few of the more falthful remained imploring the saints and the Virgin Mary to protect them. “The entire populace thought that the city was being purposely bombarded. As a matter of fact, however, it was not the intention of Sampson's gunners to reach the town. Their rain of shell was directed against Morro and the sand batteries beyond. There was a rough sea on and many of the guns were fired on the up roll of the ships, giving the guns just the elevation to throw the projecti ! the Morro and the batteries and into the city.” It posed that the shells from Sampson’s fleet wrought sad bavoc ' and Morro fortifications at San Juan, but Cap- tain Spr L different story. In all forty-one shots were fired at the Morro str 1d according to Captain Spray not one did serious damage statement is also supported by the first and second m that the damage was all done at the bar- where several hundred Spanish soldiers were ys: regarded somewhat in the rer I wished. I took a trip over to others from the ship and they can rcely injured. It was hit by but few tten masonry without exploding. The ndition that a few exploding shells would fact, quite demolished the Morro. The Spaniards eparations for a second attack by protecting the bankments. Over at the sand batteries more wo exploded. They burrowed into the soft sand icient impact to explode them. are the barracks and here the shells did Judging from the demolished condition of the build- ."u t receiving )f the sand batteri shape. a s “THE PEOPLE FLED FROM THE HOUSES IN TERROR WHEN THEY REALIZED THAT THE SHELLS FROM THE AMERICAN VESSELS WERE FALLING INTO THE CITY.” ings and the number of wounded every shell must have exploded the moment it struck. In many instances the shells went through the windows and open doors and striking on the hard earth floor exploded doing fearful damage. ( three hundred Spanis! ldiers were wounded and nearly every one of them got their wounds af the bombard er in the city ne. One shell alone Of all the buildings not one remained intact °r where any number of shells fell serious damage was led four persons and wounded more or less riously k about twenty peoy It overturned a volante and broke the arm of one of the occupants, while the frightened horses ran up the streets knocking down scores of people before they were stopped. This was in San Justo street, which at the mom was crowded with people fleeing for their lives and shouting, some from terror and others calling to friends at the windows above to join in the rush to the hills. A shell struck a building sending down a sho * of brick and plaster , glanced and struck a store sign and fell to the street below, where it exploded. “One shell pierced the roof of a church and passed on out of the big arched door to the yard beyond, where it exploded, making sad havoc of the cement wall of the church. = This incident was regarded as one of the miracles of the bombardment. The church was crowded with people at mass and had not the shell been diverted in its course would have fallen in the midst of the con- gregation, or had it gone a few feet to the right or left it would have struck the i d of p ssing out at the door. “The people 1 are very wroth that proper notice of the bombard- ment was not served, uch would have saved the needless slaughter of in- rocént women and children. When the bombardment began the entire popu- lace took to the housetops and ‘balcon’ to witness the sight, as they supposed the fire was to be directed against the forts alone. Soon a shell came seream- ing over the fort high in the air and fell near the center of the city. Another followed and in two minutes there was a panic in the city. Every one took it for granted that the Americans intended to destroy the city whether or not they silenced the forts. After it was all over it then dawned upon the terror stricken people that the shelling of the town was due solely to bad marksman- ship rather than design. “The people of San Juan are daily expecting a renewal of hostilities and solid wall ins PPOOOPPIPPIPVOPOODOOOOOOOOOPPO0000000GGG60 “I venture to predict that the successful side will be that on which the admirals and captains do not hésitate to employ the ships and boats in the way that leads most surely to the dis- ablement of their opponents, without being unduly deterred by sentiment or by risks.”—COMMANDER R. H. BACON, R. N. © 6060660600000 000000000000000000000060000660066 L X RCRCRCR 3 Thus all conditions are favorable to a trial of our race; upon the conduct of Admiral Sampson and Commodore Schley’s officers and bluejackets de- pends not merely the honor of the Unit- ed States but the very existence of the British empire. If the men who are hourly expecting battle in the Carib- HE second naval war withinfive ars is upon us. Once more the chines which the ingenuity of man has invented for the pur- pose of destroying man are to be tested in action—are actually being test- ed while these lines are in the writing. EW ORLEANS, June 22.—Captain Spray of the British steamship Roath brings the véry first accounts4 of the condition of affairs in the Spanish cities during a bombardment. American ships have patrolled4 the Cuban coast, blockading Havana and other ports, and the forts at Matanzas, Cienfuegos, Santiago+ de Cuba and Guantanamo in Cuba have all been under the fire of American guns; so has San Juan in+ Porto Rico. Captain Spray with his ship was in the harbor while the siege lasted. According to his accounts the inhabitants were terror-stricken. He has also tried his hand at blockade-running, which in fact is the + 4 chief cause of his being in New Orleans to-day. On April 22, the day on which war was declared, Captaing +Spray left Cardiff, Wales, with a cargo of 3320 tons of coal for Admiral Cervera’s ships. On the same day+4 +sailed the Rothermel, a sister ship to the Roath, with a like amount of coal and for the same destination. The+ +Rothermel ran right into the American fleet, and the coal intended for Cervera was promptly confiscated and+ +found its way to American bunkers. The Roath was more fortunate in dodging our ships and reached ¥ *Porto Rico and unloaded. She was in port over two weeks. Captain Spray and several of his mcn were on, 4shore the afternoon and evening zfter the bombardment and made frequent excursions around the bay dur- 74 + + + + + And not the machines only, but also the men who handle them. The Latin and the Anglo-Saxon, so often in conflict in the past, are meeting once more in bat- tle; and issues the most, momentous hang upon the conduct of the combat- nts. The war between the United States and )aln is a copy on a very reduced scale and with some slight modifications of a war between Eng- land and France. It is not my purposé in this article to work out a detalled comparisgon; I can only suggest it. The great British superiority in battle-ships and unarmored cruicers as against France is faithfully reproduced in the American navy as against Spain. The great French advantage in armored cruisers finds its parallel in the Spanish navy. Even in torpedo craft the nu- merical equality which exists between FEngland and France is repeated with some correctness in the two combatant nrvies. bean falter, if they show any want of courage or sailorship—which God for- bid—then let us be certain that an at- tack will be delivered upon England by her enemies, who will conclude, and not unjustly, that the military quali- ties of the Anglo-Saxon have declined under the depressing burden of civili- zation. And as this is the greatest problem to be settled in the war, so we shall hope and pray that our race may emerge with glory from the test. In yet another curious respect the cir- cumstances of a war between England and France are represented. England, like the United States,*mans her navy by voluntary enlistment, and has an exceedingly small trained reserve. France, like Spain, employs compulsory service, and has a large reserve. But here an element of difference comes in, for whereas the English peace-serv- ice force far outnumbers the French, the American—without any real re- aeérve—is greatly outnumbered by the 4ing their stay. W | 7 + b &\ } \ ) 2, | SRR R ¥ 3 & PP O0PD 99000V 00000000000090 (0000000000000 POO00 NAVAL PROBLEMS TO BE SOLVED IN THE PRESENT WAR.: “The Latin and the Anglo-Saxon Race, So Often in Conflict in the Past, Are Meeting Once ? More’in Battle, and lssues the Most Momentous Hang Upon the Conduct of the Combatants.” & 6PPPOODLIVIPPVP0DPD9 0000000000 H00000000P0P0CGG0000006006666 @ Spanish. There has been much debate 5 to the use of untrained men in naval wars. Great light on this most burning question should be afforded by the present struggle, for one-fourth or so of the men who take the American fleets to sea must be untrained. It is not that the untrained man is necessarily a coward—though disci- pline is a tremendous force to give courage. But he is not enough of a machine; he has not learned to repeat the movements, we will say of the breech-lever, automatically under the stress of novel and terrible experiences. A well-trained gun crew will hold ‘o- gether, as the history of our navy shows, till the men are shot to pulp or the ship is sunk. But where there are only one or two trained men in the de- tachment, and these are killed early, as they may always be, the untrained man does not know his work and is apt to be seized with panic. More happens in naval battles than gets into the books. At times we catch a dim glimpse, through the smoke and heat of action, of miserable fugitives hiding in the hold, and only driven to the guns by the flat of the officers’ swords. But it is, after all, upon the construc- tion and value of our war ma- chines that we expect most light to be shed. Naval science has been revolutionized since Lissa and the Civil War; and even then there were no purely naval actions worth studying. In the China-Japan war the conditions were unfavorable for any striking deductions, as the Jap- anese against the Chinaman was much as a man against a child in arms, and neither side possessed powerful modern armored ships. The warship of our own day, be she battle-ship, monitor, cruiser, or torpe- do boat, is an experimental craft. She has not had to undergo the prolonged and severe practical tests which re- moved “freak ships” from our line-ol~ battle or navy list in the old three- decker days. The.progress of naval science during the last fifty years has been so rapid that the experience ac- quired with one kind of ship in one war hecomes useless in the next, because the kind of ship has changed. By ‘“ex- perience,” I should say, T mean experi- ence in regard to details of construc- tion and tactics, not in regard to the broad principles of strategy, which are against the armored cruiser and of the large armored against the large unar- mored ship. If put less technically, the question is this—which is the more val- uable factor, speed, or armor combined with heavy guns? The battle-ship is a huge structure, thickly plated with steel on her most vital parts, carrying immense guns in heavily armored tur- rets, but is usually of comparatively low speed. The armored cruiser, on the other hand, has much less armor—both in area covered and in thickness of plating on that area; her heavy guns are fewer in number and weaker in power, though in her quick-firing ar- mament she is generally much the same as the battle-ship. As compensa- tion for these points of weakness she has a speed of from three to five knots greater than the battle-ship. The want of heavy guns in the ar- mored cruiser is not quite so serious as it might seem. It is perfectly possible that the battle-ship’s monster pieces, with their ponderous turrets, moved by hydraulie or electric power, will at an early stage in the action be disabled. Hydraulic and electric machinery is notorfously delicate, and is deranged with the utmost ease. It is rare for a battle-ship to go to target practice with her heavy guns without some slight hitch occurrine. What it would be when the enemy were firing at her, when her plpes and wires were expos- ed, not merely to the concussion and shock of her own heavy weapons, but also to the far more dangerous explo- sion of the enemy's projectiles inside her hull, may be guessed. And though every precaution which human fore- sight can suggest has been taken to protect these pipes and wires and the machinery they work, it is far from certain that any armor or any protec- tion can secure them against the tre- mendous shock caused by the huge pro- jectiles of modern guns. The Spanish 11-inch breech-loader, as mounted in several of Spain’s armored cruisers, strikes with a force sufficlent to lift t!;e Indiana two and a half feet in the air. At the Yalu there were several break- downs of heavy guns in action, though there the shooting on either side was bad and the test was not so severe as it might be expected to be in a battle between three or four American battle- ships and the Spanish armored cruisers. At the bombardment of Alexandria the firing of the heavy English guns was intolerably slow—due probably to the great difficulty of working them in the face of constant small accidents. And quite lately, when a charge of powder prematurely exploded in the turret of the Russian Sissoi Veliki, it is signifl- cant that the turret was hopelessly Jammed and the turning machinery disabled, so that half the ship’s heavy armament was put out of action. Nor can the problem be solved by peaceable practice from the large ship at targets, representing torpedo boats, towed toward her. We might thus learn the number of hits her gunners would make on a boat, if they were perfectly cool; but there would be no allowance for the strain caused by the knowledge of the fact that if they did not hit the boat before she closed them, she would send them to the bottom. Actual war alone can determine the precige value of the torpedo boat. The ram has been so entirely discred- ited since the torpedo was perfected that there is but little prospect of its being employed. The United States, however, has one specially’ built ram, the Katahdin, whose performances will be watched with interest. It is not to be expected that she will startle the world. She is a survival of the ideas of the Civil War, when ramming was a recognized part of naval tactics. Now- adays a captain would not risk injuring his ship’s bows, but would use his bow torpedo, which would do the work of the ram most effectively. The Ameri- cans have other novel weapons—among these the pneumatic guns, projectors of aerial torpedoes—more may be ex- pected. Another matter on which we badly need information is the practicability of maintaining a blockade with the modern engines of naval war. To make the test thoroughly satisfactory, there should be torpedo boats in the block- aded port. This condition is wanting at Havana, and therefore Admiral Sampson’s task has been, up to the time at which I write, comparatively simple. His officers and crews have not been subjected to the cruel moral and phys- ical strain which the possibility of tor- pedo hoat attacks imposes. Nor have they had constantly to look out for the sailing of a hostile squadron inside Havana, almost equal in force to them- unchanged and UN- 9409000600006 60006099006066006606 0666 & 46 selves. This was the changing. @ ¢ striking feature of The first great > “The battle-ship as a leading factor in warfare is already o our blockades of preblem to be de- doomed.”—ADMIRAL COLOMB. * the Fre. h ports cided is the value @ i of the battle-ship @ @@ 000009000099V PPPP0000000009P0000 00 ogle in the great strug- with Napoleon, | gl i : . 'BURSTING SHELLS SPREAD TERROR IN SAN JUAN. Was taken for an Ametican and came near losing his life tiil the mob learned that he had brought coal to their vessels. they have made active preparations for it. Repairs have been made and new embankments thrown up and several modern guns that had but recently ar- rived are now mounted. Judging from what I saw San Juan to-day is stronger. than it was before the bombardment.” The other officers of the Roath coincide with Captain Spray’s statement. One of them said last night: “With the repairs that have been made, additional batteries and new guns, San Juan is well fortified, but, of course, not impreg- nable. The army of 8000 men has been more than doubled, while the 3000 volun- teers are being drilled daily. One advantage in an invasion of Porto Rico is that the coast line is such that a United States expedition could be landed any- where along the coast, as there are plenty of good harbors. Guanica offers par- ticularly favorable advantages. It is the best harbor in Porto Rico, unguarded and it lies west of Ponce and south of San Juan. There is an excellent carriage road all the way from San Guanica into San Juan, and the distance being less than 100 miles, can be made in a féew days’ march. While the troops are march- ing from Guanica the fleet could be reducing the forts at San Juan and San Carlos. The carriage roads all over Porto Rico are in excellent condition and troops can move easily, the only danger being from exposure to the sun on long marches. There is no yellow fever in Porto Rico, but the United States troop= ers not being used to the extremely hot weather are likely to wilt under tha boiling sun. “In my opinion the Spanish troops in Porto Rico will be found in very dif« ferent condition from those in Cuba. There has been no war in that island and its resources are consequently unimpaired. The troops have been paid reg= ularly, are well clothed, fed and perhaps better armed than in any other sec= ton of the Spanish army. This is due to the fact that according to the Spanishi system of billeting its army on its dependencies the revenues of Porto Rico hava been ample to pay the soldiers billeted upon the island, whereas in Cuba a very} different state of affairs has existed for the past two years. All kinds of food supplies are abundant and anywhere on the island troops will find plenty of water, for Porto Rico is particularly favored with a water supply. The rainy season does not begin until August and it only lasts a few weeks. There are no swamp lands as In Cuba. Taken altogether Porto Rico is about the most. healthy; island in all the West Indies. “When I left San Juan there were in the harbor the gunboats Ponce de Leon, Isabella Secunda, Comacha, Alfonso XIII, the Terror, the Manual and two cargo boats. Of these first three were doing scouting duty off the harbor watching for the return of the American fleet. “I had & number of strange adventures in San Juan one night T was or. shore with my second mate. We got over to a strange street. Some one shouted ‘Americanos! Americanos, Infernio!’ Some one had mistaken us for Americans and had raised the cry. In less time than we take tell it we were surrounded by a crowd of shouting peons. To this day it is a mystery to me Wwhere they all came from so quickly. Things were looking serious. I dld not know just what to do. “I started to explain, but the crowd would not have it s80. They threatened an attack at any moment, when I happened to look up to a ‘balcon’ only a few feet above me. A number of ladies had been attracted to the window, for in San Juan as in all Spanish towns, the best families occupy the second story aa their living rooms. Among the number I recognized a lady whom I had met at a reception a few evenings before. I.called to her and she identified me, ex- rlaining to the mob who I was. She sent a peon along to guide us back to the ship. After that I was careful about getting into the side streets by day or night unless I had some one well known in the city along. “While in port we suffered considerably from the heat and to make it as com- fortable as possible on the ship we kept every port hole wide open, but this one day came near being our destruction. The Roath was lying close to the Isabella Secunda, as we had been putting coal on board of her. One afternoon a shell on t}?e Isabella accidentally rolled overboard, striking a plank it bounced over and into a port hole of the Roath and down into the hold, where it exploded. A 08 ©F HewanG Ploms ™ I{dfl”‘rmfil“"m" m o e i e -~ My, but how the coal flew for a few seconds. Luckily, the men had a few mine utes before left work to clean up or some of them would have been injured, if not killed. I thought that the whole deck was going up. It took the ship'se carpenters four days to repair the damages.” It was not until Captain Spray left San Juan that he had his most thrilling: experience. He left the port about 10 o’clock at night and had not been at sea more than three or four hours when of a sudden there came a blank shot, the signal to “lay to.” Captain Spray obeyed at once, but within a few minutes there came an- other shot, this time a shell, another followed and each time the gunner was- getting the range closer and closer. Captain Spray and his crew thought that their time had come. The next shell passed within two feet of the funnels when Captain Spray concluded to “bout ship,” then the firing ceased. A few minutes later the Amphitrite came along side and explanations fol- lowed. The Roath was in ballast and “riding high” so that her white propellers” showed just above the water. The officer of the Amphitrite had mistaken the. tips of the white propellers for foam and therefore thought that the Roaths. was coming toward him at full speed and not until she swung around did he: discover the mistake. The Amphitrite officer thought that a Spanish battleship, was after him sure. In the dim dawn the Roath’s galley looked like a turret; and tHe copper plate bearing the maker's name was mistaken for a cannon’s( mouth. Paulina, the beautiful daughter of Governor General Maclas, according to: Captain Spray, is the heroine of San Juan. After the bombardment the Gov= ernor General, anticipating an early resumption of hostilities, sent his family into the interior. The mother, accompaned by five daughters, left San Juan the day following the bombardment, but Paulina, the General's favorite daughter, refused to go with the family. She said that she would stay by her father to. care for him in case he should be wounded. Captain Spray said: “The action of Miss Paulina has been loudly praised by every one in San Juan. They all regard it'as a noble sacrifice on her part, ag the troubles of General Macias are telling on him. When he came to Porto Rico a few years ago his hair was a dark brown, to-day it is snow white. Constant fear of a revolution and now the war has told on him. The words of Paulina, ‘where father dies I die,’ have become a sort of watchword in San Juan.” 3 CPCOOVOOP9000000000000000000000006000006¢ S “Upon the conduct of Admiral Sampson and Commodore » ps Schley’s officers and bluejackets in this war depends not merely b the honor of the United States, but the very existence of the * g British Empire. It is the old battle of the Latin and Anglo- ; 24 Saxon struggling once more for supremacy.”—H. W. WILSON. > DOPPPP00000900000000090000000000000000 0 life diminishes. Deadly as the new weapons are, they have so great a moral effect in the fighting man that they prevent the close actions which were so bloody in the old days. I have in “Ironclads in Action” compared the loss of life and limb in six of the great- est battles, and it stands thus: Yalu Tt is not surprising to learn that cap- tains lost health and nerve, or went crazy under such a burden. In British maneuvers a week or ten days of block- ade under modérn conditions has suf- ficed to show that the burden has grown heavier and not lighter. Connected with this subject.is the trial of the sea-keeping qualities of our new ships, which this struggle will im- pose. The engines and loilers of the battle-ship or cruiser are lighter and weaker than those of the merchant ship, knot for knot, since weight is a most important consideration. In time of peace the warship rarely steams faster than 10 or 12 knots, at which pace her machinery may perform well enough. But in war time she may have to steam continuously for days at her very utmost speed; or, if in com- pany with a fleet, she may have now to run at top speed, now to stop, now to go astern, when the strain becomes tremendous, American ships are well boilered, and should stand this kind of work as well as any. Where they are perhaps weak is in the number of tricky engines and ‘‘dodges” that they carry. Hand-worked ammunition hoists are preferred in the British navy for moderate sized guns, ed with the greatest interest. As war grows more terrible, more devilish, it would seem that the loss of 15% per cent, Lissa 4, Trafalgar about 20, the Nile 20, Camperdown 13, and the First of June 15%. In the old battles men were not infrequently injured or killed by the recoil of their own guns. This feature was faithfully reproduced at the Yalu, where no less than ten Japanese—according to Dr. Suzuki’s report—died from ‘“the vibration of alr caused by the firing of their own guns.” This in the modern ship Is a new and most potent cause of mischief. In a British battle-ship I have seen a six- pounder gun severely injured by the blast of a 10-inch weapon—and had there been men quartered at it they would have been killed. We know that, at the triais of the Indiana, it was re- ported that her ereat 13-inch turret guns, if trained at their extreme angle, would have killed all the men at the six-inch gun, past which they fired. ‘We know, too, that in certain French ships the men have to be recalled from the lighter guns before the heavy weap= ons can be fired In certain directions. H. W. WILSON. '