. An illustrated history of our war with Spain : its causes, incidents, and results. ships. Meantime, the Detroit had turned away to the westward,and, running close under the guns of Morro, attacked a newearthwork built on an island on the west side of the 8-inch guns there might have destroyed the cruiser atthe first round had they been properly handled, but she ran into a range of less than 1,000 yards, firing as she went; and theSpaniards scampered away from their great guns. There wasno more trouble from that battery. It was an impressivelesson in the effectiveness of rapid-fir
. An illustrated history of our war with Spain : its causes, incidents, and results. ships. Meantime, the Detroit had turned away to the westward,and, running close under the guns of Morro, attacked a newearthwork built on an island on the west side of the 8-inch guns there might have destroyed the cruiser atthe first round had they been properly handled, but she ran into a range of less than 1,000 yards, firing as she went; and theSpaniards scampered away from their great guns. There wasno more trouble from that battery. It was an impressivelesson in the effectiveness of rapid-fire guns intelligently andbravely handled. Undoubtedly, the work of the cruisers wasrisky with such large guns on the forts, and they were thenordered to follow the battleships out, and to stay out after thesecond round; but they fired as long as they could, and theirsailors were evidently disinclined to give up the dangeroussport. The Porter also reluctantly withdrew. A few minutes after seven oclock the Iowa opened fireon the third round, and the others followed in another blaze. A FATAL SHELL 605 of fire and smoke. As the Iowa turned away she aimed herlast shot at the big fort east of the city and knocked a hole init. Five guns had been working steadily from this fort, butonly two continued after the lowa^s shot, .and these weresilenced when the New York came along and fired her broad-sides; but about eight oclock, just as the New York finished,and was setting out to sea, a 6-inch shell from the eastern bat-teries came aboard over the port quarter, struck the top awn-ing stanchion and exploded in the cutter, which was in theport after-cradle on the superstructure deck. The fragmentskilled one man and wounded two, all members of the portwaist 6-incli gun crew. Parts of the shell went in all direc-tions ; the cutter was an absolute wreck, parts of it flying higherthan the smoke stack. A searchlight was destroyed andsome damage was done to other small boats. At about thesame time
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1890, bookidillustratedh, bookyear1898
