In the Trenches at Guantanamo.
A brave deed was done by a young officer of the Navy all by himself—a deed as brave as that done by Lieutenant Hobson. It was not really known how many Spanish ships were in the harbor of Santiago. I have told you that they could not be seen by our ships on account of the narrow entrance and high cliffs. It was very important to know how many Spanish ships there were. So Lieutenant Blue went ashore at some safe point, and climbed round the hilltops of Santiago at night, looked at the harbor, and counted the ships twice, in order to make no mistake. It was a long journey and full of danger. Lieutenant Blue might have been taken as a spy, but he reached our ships again, and made his report to Admiral Sampson.
Early in June our blockading ships made efforts to destroy the forts at the harbor of Santiago, but did not succeed, though the shells from our ships did a good deal of harm. It was on account of these attacks that Lieutenant Hobson and his crew were removed from their cells in Morro Castle and taken to another prison, as I have told you. The English Consul at Santiago, a wise and good man, told the Spanish general that Lieutenant Hobson and his men could not, in honor, be kept where they might be killed by shells from their own ships. So the prisoners were removed.
Lieutenant Victor Blue.
The forts at Santiago received a terrible punishment, if they were not destroyed, and one of Admiral Cervera's ships, the Maria Teresa, was considerably damaged by shells that went over the forts into the harbor. There were several other warships in the harbor besides those that came with Admiral Cervera. The Reina Mercedes was nearly destroyed by the shells from our ships. Our old friend, the Oregon, sent a big shell over the hills that swept nearly everything off her decks. Other shots riddled her hull and sank her.
The Santiago fortifications were bombarded a number of times and some splendid shots were made. There was a battery to the west of the harbor that fired more accurately than the others, and so the Texas got the range and dropped a shell into the powder magazine one day. Everything about that battery seemed to be in the air at once when that shell exploded. Nothing was left of it but a pile of ruins and a big hole in the ground.
There is a ship in the United States navy that is unlike any other in the world. She has three long guns which are built into the ship and do not turn to one side or the other. The whole ship has to be pointed at the object which the gunners wish to hit. She does not fire shells loaded with powder, as other warships do, but uses a long shell filled with gun-cotton, or dynamite, both of which are deadly explosives. When one of these shells strikes anything the effect is terrible. The Vesuvius, for that is the name of this ship, fired several of these shells over the fortifications at Santiago, in the direction where the Spanish fleet was lying. She did not hit any of them, but she tore great holes in the sand and rocks near by. It is said that the Spaniards called the Vesuvius "The Hurler of Earthquakes" because of the damage her shells did. The guns of the Vesuvius are really firing tubes. No powder is used in them, compressed air being the power that expels the shells. Very little noise is made, and there is no smoke.
