On this day the dynamite cruiser Vesuvius joined Admiral Sampson’s fleet, and the weary marines, holding their posts on shore against overwhelming odds, hoped that her arrival betokened the speedy coming of the soldiers who were so sadly needed.
June 14. Substantial recognition was given by the Navy Department to the members of the gallant crew who took the Merrimac into the entrance of Santiago Harbour and sunk her across the channel under the very muzzles of the Spanish guns.
The orders sent to Admiral Sampson directed the promotion of the men as follows:
Daniel Montague, master-at-arms, to be a boatswain, from fifty dollars a month to thirteen hundred dollars a year.
George Charette, gunner’s mate, to be a gunner, from fifty dollars a month to thirteen hundred dollars a year.
Rudolph Clausen, Osborne Deignan, and —— Murphy, coxswains, to be chief boatswain’s mates, an increase of twenty dollars a month.
George F. Phillips, machinist, from forty dollars a month to seventy dollars a month.
Francis Kelly, water tender, to be chief machinist, from thirty-seven dollars a month to seventy dollars a month.
Lieutenant Hobson’s reward would come through Congress.
While a grateful people were discussing the manner in which their heroes should be crowned, that little band of marines on the shore of Guantanamo Bay, worn almost to exhaustion by the harassing fire of the enemy during seventy-two hours, was once more battling against a vastly superior force in point of numbers.