the effect that Admiral Montojo had planned to meet the American squadron in Subig Bay, an extensive harbor some 50 miles from Manila, and it was therefore possible that a few hours would bring the opposing fleets together. The Boston, the Concord, and later the Baltimore, were sent ahead to reconnoiter, but rejoined their comrade vessels with the information that none of the enemy was to be found in Subig Bay. The dispatches of Admiral Montojo later revealed that he had, indeed, planned to give battle in Subig Bay, but that the defenses of the same were so worthless that he returned with his ships to Manila.* The guns which should have been mounted on that island were delayed a month and a half. This surprised me, as the shore batteries that the navy had installed (with very little difficulty) at the entrance of the bay of Manila, under the intelligent direction of colonel of naval artillery, Señor Garces, and Lieutenant Beneavente, were ready to fight twenty-four days after the commencement of the work. I was no less disgusted that they confided in the few torpedoes which they had found feasible to put there." Report of Admiral Montojo on the battle of Manila. ing into the bay. In a single line, with the flagship in the lead, each ship guided by a tiny light set in a box at the stern of the preceding vessel, the fleet moved silently past the fortresses and over waters reputed to be protected by mines of tremendous power. Yet in spite of the fact that the arrival of the American fleet in the Philippine waters had been reported to Montojo, apparently no endeavor was made to guard against just such an enterprise as the American fleet was making. Perhaps they had not dreamed that Commodore Dewey would undertake so daring a thing as an attempt to enter Manila harbor at night, but whatever be whatever be the explanation of Spanish inactivity, the American ships were well into the harbor before an alarm was given. Even then the discovery was due to an accident; incautious stoking of the McCulloch revealing the presence of the fleet. Signal rockets were sent up from the forts, and a few fruitless shots fired from the guns on El fraile, the island nearest to the mainland. The McCulloch, Concord and the Raleigh opened fire in return, but soon desisted at a signal from the flagship. Manila possesses one of the most magnificent harbors in the world, and is capable of being strongly protected. Its shape, roughly, is that of a flask, the mouth of which, ten miles in width, is guarded by a group of three islands, Corregidor, Caballo and El fraile. Beyond these islands the body of the flask is gained, 21 miles long and 32 miles 1. ENTRANCE TO MANILA BAY, SHOWING BOCHITA GRANDE AT THE RIGHT THROUGH WHICH DEWEY'S FLEET PASSED, CORREGIDOR ISLAND IN THE DISTANCE. 2. VIEW OF THE ESCOULTA (THE BROADWAY) OF MANILA IN 1898. 3. THE PARRIAN GATE, THE PRINCIPAL GATE OF THE OLD WALLED CITY OF MANILA. 4. MONUMENT ERECTED AT SAN FERNANDO BY FILIPINOS IN MEMORY OF MARTYRS OF THE REVOLUTION AGAINST SPAIN. PREPARATIONS FOR THE BATTLE. wide, the waters within being little less in depth than the ocean. The city is situated on the southeastern shore of the bay, directly at the point of its greatest width. Founded by the Spanish adventurer Legaspi in 1571, it still retains many vestiges of its age, notably its old wall and moat, the cathedral and other ancient buildings, many of which have been sadly mutilated by earthquakes. 107 reply was made, and soon the watchers in the city beheld the fleet turn back on its course and steam toward Cavité, where the Spanish fleet was drawn up in battle order. There were worse dangers for Dewey's ships, however, than shells from the shore batteries, for as the flag-ship bore down upon Sangley Point, behind which the Spanish ships were huddled, there was a sudden shock, an upheaval of the water, followed immediately by another; sufficient proof that the vaunted torpedoes of the harbor were, after all, not a myth. It is true that they were too far away to do any injury, yet too near to be comfortable, and ominously suggestive of more to follow. Yet there was no hesitation; silently and inexorably, the American warships swept unscathed toward the Spanish fleet. When the fleet had approached to a point about ten miles from the city, a detour was made in order to drop the supply ships, the McCulloch being left as convoy. At five o'clock the light in the east was sufficient to reveal the position of the fleet to the waiting enemy, and a few minutes later the great guns of the shore batteries sounded the challenge. Their aim, Their aim, however, was so poor that the American ships made no reply, but steamed coolly, as if in a peace maneuver, toward the city of Manila. To its people, these grey messengers sent terror to the thousands of people who thronged the walls and the housetops. They expected nothing less than that the guns of the fleet would be turned upon their city, an expectation that the proclamation of Governor-General Augusti, in which he stigmatized the Americans as "social excrescences, guilty of outrages against the laws of fleet consisted of seven cruisers and nations and international conventions," had tended to foster. Nevertheless, in spite of the furious firing from the fortresses near Manila no * * See Halstead, Spanish-American War for full translation, p. 99. VOL. X 8 Cavité, the arsenal of the Spanish forces in the Philippines is situated on the southern extension of a doublepronged peninsula, extending some five miles into Manila Bay. The two prongs at the end and the long strip of land itself form two bays, Cañacao and Bacoor. The Spanish admiral had anchored his ships across Cañacao, stationing the weaker vessels in the shallower waters of Bacoor. His three smaller gunboats, aggregating 13,351 tons displacement, and 110 guns (against which were opposed the 19,098 tons and 137 guns of the American fleet), and was arranged in line of battle as follows: Reina Chris tina, Castilla, Don Juan de Austria, Don Antonio de Ulloa, Isla de Luzon, Isla de Cuba, Marques del Duero, El Cano, Velasco, and General Lezo.* It was a half hour after the Spanish guns had opened upon their opponents that the order was given to return their fire. Throughout the battle Commodore Dewey stood on the forward bridge of the Olympia and by his side its captain, Gridley. He perceived that the strain of waiting, intensified by the terrific heat of the Philippine May morning, was beginning to tell on the men, so when a range of about three miles had been attained, he called to the captain of the flagship: "If you are ready, Gridley, you may fire." At his word one of the 8-inch guns in the forward turret roared forth its salute of death to the Spanish fleet. At the sound of the great gun, it is said that the shout "Remember the Maine" rang out on all of the ships, and soon the guns of the whole fleet were in play. The firing from both fleets became more and more furious as the distance between them lessened; the American ships steaming back and forth in front of the Spanish line, delivering terrific broadsides now from the port, and again from the starboard batteries. At 7 o'clock, in apparent desperation, the Spanish flag-ship, the Christina, slipped her cables, and with splendid audacity, steamed out toward the American vessels. She became, immediately, the target for * Maclay, History of the United States Navy, vol. iii., pp. 205-206. every available gun of the fleet, and soon the effects of the fearful punishment she was receiving became apparent. For a while she staggered forward, the escaping steam from her injured machinery and the clouds of smoke from her hatches revealing how desperately wounded she was. At last aware of the folly of further effort, and in immediate danger of sinking, the ship was put about and made for the shallow water as fast as the crippled engines could propel her. Even in her death struggle, she was not to go unscathed, for before the survivors could escape, an 8-inch shell from the Olympia exploded in the engine-room, making havoc of the already ruined vessel, killing wounded and unwounded, and starting a fire that was soon beyond control. Orders were given to sink her, and the other ships closed around to pick up the survivors, among them Admiral Montojo, who was severely wounded. While the attention of the fleet was held by the daring but foolhardy maneuver of the Christina, two small launches put out from Cavité, purposing, apparently, to attack the Olympia with torpedoes.* But the fate of the great cruiser was theirs also. They became in a few moments. centres of a perfect storm of shells from the secondary batteries of the ships, one being sunk, and the other driven to the shore. Dewey, Official report of the battle of Manila. Maclay in his History of the United States Navy maintains that these torpedo-boat attacks were mythical. See vol. iii., pp. 177-178. |