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Page 71
CHAPTER XXVII
DESTRUCTION OF THE SPANISH SHIPS
As the _Speedy_ rounded the first headland those on board saw the great
war-ship they were to intercept coming leisurely down the coast, not
more than a mile away. The yacht fired a gun to call attention to her
momentous signal, and within a few seconds an answer, showing that it
was seen and understood, was displayed from the _New York_. At the
same time the latter began to turn, so as to retrace her course. She
had hardly begun the movement before the _Speedy_ slipped up under her
quarter.
"Where did you get your information?" called out Captain Chadwick
through a megaphone.
"Messenger from the Commanding General," was the answer.
"All right. Keep on, and warn the fleet, if you reach them before we
do."
"Ay, ay, sir!" and then the swift yacht had moved beyond range even of
a megaphone.
All at once the little group of officers gathered on the _Speedy's_
bridge, of course including Lieutenant Ridge Norris, knew that they
were not to have the honor of warning the fleet; for a line of smoke,
evidently moving seaward, appeared above the hills from the direction
of Santiago Bay.
"They are coming out!" cried the _Speedy's_ Captain; "and, if they have
the pluck to keep on, we are about to witness one of the greatest
sea-fights of the century."
If the entire American blockading fleet had been on hand the coming
contest would have been too unequal to be interesting. As it was, the
_Massachusetts_, _New Orleans_, and _Newark_ had gone to Guantanamo
after coal, while the _New York_ was too far away to take any active
part in the fighting. This left only the _Brooklyn_, _Oregon_, _Iowa_,
_Indiana_, and _Texas_ on guard, with the converted yachts _Gloucester_
and _Vixen_ acting as picket-boats.
The American ships lay some three miles off shore under low steam, and
their crews were preparing for Sunday morning inspection. Two of the
battle-ships were overhauling their forward turrets, and repairing
damages received during a bombardment of the forts on the previous day.
The _Brooklyn_ lay farthest to the westward, and the _Indiana_ at the
eastern end of the line, with the _Texas_, _Iowa_, and _Oregon_ between
them. Inshore of these were the two yachts.
In Santiago Bay, about to rush out on these unsuspecting ships, were
four of the finest cruisers in the world, possessed of greater speed
than any of the Americans except the _Brooklyn_, and under a full head
of steam: with them were two torpedo-boat destroyers, ranking among the
most powerful and swiftest of their class.
At half-past nine o'clock of that peaceful Sunday morning, as the
_Speedy_ was still some five miles to the eastward of Santiago Bay,
with the _New York_ just completing her turn, two miles farther down
the coast, a shot from the _Iowa_ drew attention to her fluttering
signal, "The enemy is escaping."
Almost at the same moment the same startling signal broke out from a
masthead of the _Texas_, which opened the battle with the mighty roar
of a twelve-inch shell. The _Brooklyn_ was also flying signal
250--"The enemy is escaping"--and within three minutes from the
discovery of that moving smoke behind the Morro her forward eight-inch
battery was in full play against the _Maria Teresa_, first of the
Spaniards to show her glistening hull around the point.
Dashing at full speed from the harbor-mouth, outlined by the smokeless
flames of her forward turret and port batteries, Admiral Cervera's
flag-ship was quickly headed to the westward, and for the most open
point of the blockade. Behind her steamed the _Vizcaya_, _Colon_,
_Oquendo_, and the torpedo-boats _Furor_ and _Pluton_.
During the whole long blockade, the one standing order given by Admiral
Sampson to cover an emergency like the present had been, "Should the
enemy come out, close in and engage."
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