Reminiscences and thrilling stories of the war by returned heroes . e upon us numberlessprojectiles, as the three cruisers at the head of the line devoted themselvesalmost entirely to fight the Christina, my flag-ship. A short time after theaction commenced one shell exploded in the forecastle and put out of actionall of those who served the four rapid fire cannon, making splinters of theforward mast, which wounded the helmsman on the bridge, when LieutenantJose Nunez took the wheel with a coolness worthy of the greatest commen-dation, steering until the end of the fight. In the meanwhile anot
Reminiscences and thrilling stories of the war by returned heroes . e upon us numberlessprojectiles, as the three cruisers at the head of the line devoted themselvesalmost entirely to fight the Christina, my flag-ship. A short time after theaction commenced one shell exploded in the forecastle and put out of actionall of those who served the four rapid fire cannon, making splinters of theforward mast, which wounded the helmsman on the bridge, when LieutenantJose Nunez took the wheel with a coolness worthy of the greatest commen-dation, steering until the end of the fight. In the meanwhile another shell exploded in the orlap, setting fire to thecrews bags, which they were, fortunately, able to control. The enemy short- STORY OF MANILA. 43 ened the distance between us, and, rectifying his aim, covered us with a rainof rapid-fire projectiles, At half-past seven one shell destroyed completely the steering ordered to steer by hand while the rudder was out of action. In the mean-while another shell exploded on the poop and put out of action nine ADMIRAL MONTOJO, COMMANDER OF THE SPANISH destroyed the mizzenmast head, bringing down the flag and myensign, which were replaced immediately. A fresh shell exploded in the officers cabin, covering the hospital withblood, destroying the wounded who were being treated there. Another ex-ploded in the ammunition room astern, filling the quarters with smoke andpreventing the working of the hand-steering gear. As it was impossible tocontrol the fire, I had to flood the magazine when the cartridges were begin-ning to explode. 44 STORY OF MANILA. Amidships several shells of smaller calibre went through the smokestack,and one of the large ones penetrated the fire-room, putting out of action onemaster gunner and twelve men serving the guns. Another rendered uselessthe starboard bow gun. While the fire astern increased, fire was startedforward by another shell, which went through the hull and exploded onthe deck.
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1890, bookpublisherphiladelphiapaelli
