When we think of the officers and men on the decks of a warship, we must not forget the force of men below the decks. The engineers, firemen and stokers do as good work, and are ent.i.tled to as much praise, as the fighting force above. In battle they are kept under the hatches, and, as a rule, never know of the progress or the result of a fight until it closes. They work in a temperature of from one hundred to one hundred and fifty degrees, by half-hour stretches. The roaring furnaces make the fire-rooms almost beyond a man's power to endure, and we should give a great deal of our praise to the brave fellows who make the power that moves the ship.

[Ill.u.s.tration: The Men Who Make the Power.]

You know that we saw in the first chapter, that Spain owned another large island some miles east of Cuba--an island called Porto Rico.

This island was sighted by Columbus on November 16, 1493, and, three days later, he anch.o.r.ed in one of its bays. In 1510, and again a year later, Ponce de Leon visited the island and established a settlement, to which he gave the name of San Juan Bautista. Spain did not always hold it peaceably, however, for at different times the Dutch and the English tried to take it from her. The people of the island used to be terribly annoyed by pirates and buccaneers, but that was a long time ago.

The Spanish used to call San Juan the "Rich Port of John the Baptist,"

and it was a great source of profit to them for nearly four hundred years. Ponce is the largest city in the island, but San Juan has the advantage of a large, protected harbor. Like Havana and Santiago, San Juan has its Morro Castle, and within its walls are the buildings of a small military town,--houses for troops, a chapel, bake-house, and guard-room, with dungeons down by the sea, and underneath it.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Palace and Sea-wall, San Juan, Porto Rico.]

The city of San Juan lies upon an island connected with the mainland by a bridge and a causeway. The streets are narrow, the houses are low, mostly of a single story, and are built in the old-fashioned Spanish style, with thick walls around the courtyard. The fronts are ugly and are painted all sorts of brilliant colors--pink, blue, purple and yellow. There are heavy shutters in the windows for protection, but there are no panes of gla.s.s in the town. Behind the gloomy walls are splendid gardens and courtyards, with splashing fountains, shaded by palms. The city contains a cathedral, a theatre, a city hall, the Governor-General's palace, and several fine churches, and in the center is quite a large park, with concrete walks and seats, as with us. There is no turf, however. All around this park the market women gather every morning, selling poultry, eggs, vegetables and flowers, and in the evening there is music by a military band.

It was thought that the Spanish fleet, which had caused our Government so much anxiety, might go to San Juan, the capital of the island, and so, before the Oregon arrived, and before any of the Spanish ships had been seen, Admiral Sampson took some of his vessels from Cuba to Porto Rico in hope of meeting Admiral Cervera, the Spanish commander, and his fleet. Our ships reached San Juan in the evening of May 11th, but could see nothing of the Spanish ships. Next morning our ships fired upon the forts guarding the harbor, to try the strength of the enemy.

But finding the forts stronger than he thought they were, Admiral Sampson drew off his fleet. He could not spare the time, or spend his powder and sh.e.l.ls, upon San Juan then. The important thing to do was to find the Spanish fleet. So Admiral Sampson again sailed toward Havana.

The two ports on the northern coast of Cuba that seemed most likely to attract the Spanish fleet were Havana and Matanzas. There was one port on the southern coast that seemed to be a good one for the Spanish fleet--the port of Cienfuegos. So our ships continued the blockade of Havana and Matanzas, and now Commodore Schley was sent with several vessels to watch Cienfuegos.

The city of Cienfuegos is situated some distance back from the sea, in a harbor which winds and twists about between high hills, completely obscuring it from ships a little distance from the sh.o.r.e. The word Cienfuegos means "a hundred fires." Close by the water's edge there stood a cable-house, where one end of a submarine cable, which reached to Santiago, some three hundred miles to the eastward, was secured. On one side of the cable-house was an old fort or lookout, such as the Spaniards used to have all along the coast. On the other side was a light-house. The Americans wished to destroy communication between Cienfuegos and Santiago, so they sent an expedition to cut the cable and destroy anything that would be of use to the Spaniards.

The ships that were sent to do this work were the Marblehead, the Nashville and the Windom. You will remember that the Nashville fired the first gun in the war with Spain. She is not a pretty boat at all.

She is built differently from other vessels of her cla.s.s, and her two tall funnels, or smokestacks, give her an ungainly appearance. Her commander was a splendid officer, though, and her crew were the bravest of the brave. I must tell you a little of her work after she captured the first prize of the war.

One day, while in company with the Marblehead and the Eagle, she saw a big Spanish mail steamer leave the harbor of Cienfuegos and put to sea, followed by nine Spanish gunboats. The Nashville started in pursuit of the big steamer, leaving the other American ships to attend to the gunboats. She soon overhauled the steamer, which proved to be the Argonata, and took possession of her. Her cargo was a very rich one, and among the pa.s.sengers were twenty-nine Spanish soldiers and officers. These were taken on board the Nashville. Meanwhile, the Marblehead and the Eagle had disposed of the gunboats. It only took them half an hour to drive them back into the harbor, with their smokestacks shot off, and several of them in a sinking condition. The Nashville then turned over her prize to the Marblehead and started for Havana.

On her way she discovered a big gunboat, and, as the two ships drew near, the Spanish officers, who had been allowed on deck, saw that she was not an American vessel, and danced for joy. An instant later they were shoved down a hatchway and placed in the hold. As the stranger came closer it was plainly seen that she was nearly twice as large as the Nashville and more heavily armed, but the commander of the American vessel did not hesitate an instant. He cleared his ship for action and trained his guns on her. Just then she hoisted English colors and dipped them in salute to the stars and stripes that were floating above the Nashville. She proved to be the Talbot, an English ship cruising in those waters. The whole affair was a splendid display of courage on the part of the Nashville in clearing ship and showing fight to the big English gunboat. Every man on the American ship knew that if the stranger proved to be a Spanish war vessel the chances were ten to one against the Nashville; but none of them stopped to think of that, but made ready to fight her. Now we will return to Cienfuegos and see how our splendid seamen cut the Spanish cables in the very face of death.

Volunteers from the Marblehead and the Nashville manned the boats that were sent into the shallow waters to grapple for the cable. Each ship furnished a cutter and a launch, under the command of a lieutenant.

The men who were to do the work were in the cutters, and each of the launches carried a small rapid-fire gun to protect the workers as much as possible. The Nashville sh.e.l.led the sh.o.r.e and then the boats were ordered in. They went within one hundred yards of the sh.o.r.e and then began to grapple for the cable. As calmly as though they were fishing, the men worked with their hooks. At last the cable was caught, and soon it was brought to view. It proved not to be the Santiago cable, but about a hundred feet of its length were cut out of it, and the brave fellows grappled for another. They found it, hauled it up, and, with what tools they had, hacked it in two.

They were not unmolested, however, for Spaniards began to show themselves on the sh.o.r.e, and a perfect hail of bullets dimpled the water around the Americans as they worked. When a man in the boats was. .h.i.t, another took his place. St.u.r.dy arms at the oars held the boats against the strong current, while others hacked away the tough wires.

Then the guns of the ships sent an iron storm among the rocks and trees and the soft sands. They drove the Spaniards to shelter, and then they knocked the cable-house, the fort and the light-house to bits. It was not intended at first to destroy the light-house, but when it was discovered that the Spaniards used it for a shelter while firing upon the Americans, the gunners were ordered to cut it down, and in a short time nothing remained of it but a heap of ruins.

The personal bravery of the men in the boats was wonderful. Although untried in warfare, they conducted themselves like veterans in the hour of trial. Cable cutting is one of the new features of modern warfare, but that made no difference to the brave jackies and marines that volunteered for the work. One of their number was killed and several were wounded, but officers and men performed their work with the utmost coolness and bravery.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Cutting the Cables Under Fire.]

Before we leave the subject of cutting an enemy's cables, and thus destroying one of their best means of communication, I will tell you of another exploit. The St. Louis, which was one of the big ocean steamships that the Government hired during the war, was the vessel that performed it. A few days after the cables were cut at Cienfuegos, the St. Louis was ordered to Santiago to cut the cables at that point.

One very dark night the boats left the big ship and began to grapple for the cables. About three o'clock in the morning they returned with a long piece which they had cut out of one of the cables. About eight o'clock the St. Louis went to work to find the other cable, and after working for three hours, the batteries on sh.o.r.e opened fire on her.

They kept up a furious fire for three-quarters of an hour, but the St.

Louis replied so vigorously that the batteries were silenced and the garrisons sent running in all directions. Then they found the cable, hauled it on board and cut it. Afterwards the St. Louis cut another cable at San Juan, the capital of Porto Rico.

Do you wonder why these three ports were thought to be the best for the Spanish fleet to enter? You know that Havana is the capital of Cuba; most of the citizens were Spaniards; thousands of Spanish soldiers were there; all the chief officers also. So it was thought that the Spanish Navy would try to unite with the Spanish Army. From Matanzas and from Cienfuegos the troops from the Spanish ships could go easily by railroad to Havana, through a part of the country still in the hands of the Spaniards. I may have told you more than you care to hear about the coming of the enemy's fleet, but I want to give you an idea of the great anxiety felt by our Government at this time, and to help you to understand what follows. You must remember that we had not vessels enough to blockade every port, so we blockaded the ports that seemed most dangerous.

Where was the Spanish fleet all this time, while our Navy was so troubled? If you look at a map of Cuba you will find that the eastern end of the island--the eastern province--is called Santiago de Cuba.

The chief city of the province is on the southern coast, and bears the same name. The city of Santiago is next in importance to Havana, and is said to be the oldest city in the Western Hemisphere.

Santiago is a picturesque city, five miles from the coast. It was founded by Don Diego de Velasquez, who named it for the patron saint of Spain. Santiago, San Diego and St. Jago are really one name, which is translated St. James in our language. The city is built along a sloping hillside, and its ma.s.sive buildings are tinted pink, blue, green and purple. There are plenty of red-tiled roofs, among which rise towers, steeples and palms. The houses are low and built around courtyards, where flowers and palms grow in profusion. The floors are of brick or marble. There is a plaza, or central square, and a great cathedral. The streets are narrow and dirty, and in the quarters where the poorer cla.s.s live, babies and pigs roll together in the gutters, and boys and girls without a rag of clothing on them hold out their hands for alms.

The first impression of Santiago is one of filth and poverty, dilapidated buildings and general decay; but if you climb the hills that encircle the city and look over the red-topped buildings to the glistening bay, the prospect is lovely.

As you approach the mouth of the harbor from the coast, you can at first see nothing but a break in the hills; but soon you discover, perhaps, the most picturesque fort in the western hemisphere. It is the Morro Castle, one hundred years older than its namesake at Havana, perched on a rock at the entrance to the channel. This channel is very narrow, but it winds and twists about until it opens into a broad, land-locked bay--the famous harbor of Santiago--with houses running down to the water's edge.

Into this beautiful harbor, while our ships were watching other ports and looking in other directions, Admiral Cervera and his fine Spanish ships quietly sailed at daybreak on the 19th of May. It was a strange port for the Spaniards to seek, and it was a fatal one.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Morro Castle, Santiago.]

While Sampson was looking in one direction for Admiral Cervera's ships, Commodore Schley, with another squadron, was close upon their track. For awhile he thought they were in Cienfuegos, but when he found they were not there, he kept on up the coast. His flagship was the splendid cruiser Brooklyn, and among his ships were the Ma.s.sachusetts, the Texas and the Iowa--all immense battleships. He also had a number of smaller vessels, and the swift St. Paul, another of the famous ships hired by the Government. The St. Paul was commanded by Captain Sigsbee, who, you will remember, was in command of the Maine when she was blown up in Havana harbor.

At last Commodore Schley became satisfied that the long-looked-for fleet was in the harbor of Santiago. On the morning of May 29, Captain Sigsbee, in the St. Paul, ran close enough to the mouth of the harbor to see some of the Spanish ships inside, and the long game of hide-and-seek was over. Commodore Schley at once established a strict blockade, and then sent word to Admiral Sampson that the Spanish ships had been found and that he had them safe. He very shrewdly said:

"We have bottled them up, and they will never get home!" A few days later, the two squadrons were consolidated, with Commodore Schley the second in command.

I want to tell you a little about Commodore Schley--one of the finest officers of the navy. He graduated from the Naval Academy at Annapolis, at the head of his cla.s.s, and from that time entered upon a career in which he served his country in nearly every quarter of the globe. When the Civil War broke out, he staid by the old flag when many of his brother officers went with the Confederacy, and during the war performed many gallant and meritorious services. He had seen all kinds of naval service, and was at home among conditions that required dash and courage, zeal and persistency, before he was given the command of the "Flying Squadron," and sent to find the Spanish ships.

He had done such things as to rescue seven men who were starving to death in the Arctic regions. He had been sent by the Government to do this, and, realizing that it must be done quickly, he pushed on so fast that he found the seven men alive. If he had been slower in his movements they would have been dead, for they were in the last stages of starvation and exhaustion. At another time, some of his sailors were stoned in the city of Valparaiso, and one of them was killed.

Schley trained his guns upon the city and kept them there until the murderers were given up to justice. He was the right kind of a man to have around the coasts of Cuba, wasn't he?

[Ill.u.s.tration: Rear-Admiral W.S. Schley.]

Now I am going to tell you the names of the Spanish vessels, and give you an idea of the blockade.

Within the harbor were four large Spanish ships and two new, fast torpedo-boat destroyers, all commanded by Admiral Cervera. The ships were the Infanta Maria Teresa, named for a Spanish princess; the Vizcaya, named for a province in Spain; the Cristobol Colon, which is the Spanish name for Christopher Columbus; and the Almirante Oquendo.

Many years ago Spain had a famous admiral whose name was Oquendo, and in recognition of his services the Spanish Government made a law that there should always be a ship in their navy bearing his name. That is how they had the Almirante Oquendo, which means Admiral Oquendo. The names of the torpedo-boat destroyers were the Furor and the Pluton.

All these warships were splendid vessels, and were commanded by brave men. We shall hear about them later.

Our ships were outside the harbor--a few miles from its mouth, in a line like a half-circle. Our big ships were the New York, the Brooklyn, the Texas, the Iowa, the Oregon, the Indiana, and the Ma.s.sachusetts. There were a number of smaller vessels, and one of them, the Gloucester, afterwards gained great fame. Our ships could not anchor, as the water was too deep, so they were always moving back and forth.

As I have told you, between the sea and the harbor, or bay, is a long, narrow channel with high cliffs on each side, and on these cliffs are forts, which guard the entrance to the harbor.

Our men could not see the Spanish ships in the harbor, but could see only the narrow channel and the hills and forts above it. Our men watched carefully, to see that no Spanish ship came out. For the first few nights of the blockade a bright moon lighted up the channel, but after the moon failed, the place was wonderfully lighted by the great "search-lights" of our ships. Four battleships took turns of two hours each in standing at the entrance of the channel and moving the "searchlights." The ships were always headed toward the sh.o.r.e, and steam was kept up.

And so our great gray vessels, grim monsters of the sea, waited and watched near the harbor of Santiago de Cuba.

Blockading work is very hard upon officers and men. It requires ceaseless vigilance at all hours of the day and night. Besides preventing an enemy's ships from coming out of a blockaded port, it is very important to prevent vessels with supplies from running in.

During the Cuban blockade our vessels captured at least one large ship loaded with coal that was intended for Admiral Cervera's fleet. When nations are at war, they do not allow other nations to supply their enemies with anything that will help them. There are international laws about this, and if a warship belonging to a nation which is at war with another, puts into a neutral port for coal or provisions, it is only allowed to buy enough to last it to its nearest home port. It is not allowed to remain in a neutral port more than twenty-four hours, either.

The purpose of a blockade is to cut off supplies and stop all communication with the enemy by sea. When this is done, merchant vessels of all nations are therefore forbidden to pa.s.s or even to approach the line, and the penalty for disobedience is the confiscation of both ship and cargo, whether the latter is contraband or not. If a ship does not stop when hailed, she may be fired upon, and if she is sunk while endeavoring to escape, it is her own fault.

Blockade running is perilous business, and is usually attempted under cover of night, or in stormy weather, and it is as full of excitement and adventure as war itself. The motive is usually either to take advantage of famine prices, or to aid the enemy by bringing supplies or carrying despatches. Neutral ships are ent.i.tled to some sort of warning that a blockade exists, and in the case of Cuba, the United States notified neutral Governments, announcing the fact, and stating exactly the extent of coast covered.

Before we were at war with Spain, the Government restrained and punished those who organized expeditions to help the Cubans. We were obliged to do this because we were a neutral nation. But after our war with Spain began, we sent all kinds of war material to the Cubans, so as to help them to fight Spain. I will tell you about one of these expeditions.

About the middle of May, the steamer Florida sailed from a port in the State for which she was named, with supplies for the Cuban army. In addition to a great quant.i.ty of provisions, clothing, shoes and medicines, she carried several thousand rifles and an immense amount of ammunition. Down in the hold were a hundred horses and mules, and among the pa.s.sengers were several hundred recruits for the Cuban army.

The Florida reached the Cuban coast in safety, and was met at the appointed place by more than a thousand Cubans. It required three days and one night to unload the cargo. Small boats conveyed the stores to the eager hands that hurried them inland. The mules and horses swam ash.o.r.e. Women and children flocked to the scene, bringing fruit and vegetables to exchange for coffee and meat--the first they had tasted for a long time.