our rhe rudder. The picker boar's fire served as a signal for rhe shore barreries to begin shelling. A shell srruck close to rhe bridge, bur neirher Hobson nor his coxswain were injured. ''All Stop" was soon ordered and rhe seacocks opened. As Merrimac came wirhin rhirty feer of rhe rocks ar rhe base of rhe cliff, she was srill moving ar more rhan six knors, due in part to rhe flood ride. Hobson ordered "Hard-a-Port" to rhe man ar rhe helm, bur rhe ship did nor respond. The riller ropes had been shor away by Spanish gunfire mere seconds before rhe helm order had been given, disabling rhe rudder. Hobson yanked rh ree rimes on one of rhe signal cords and a crewman forward released rhe srarboard anchor. The srern anchor was now critical, bur irs lashing had been shor away by Spanish fire and rhe anchor was gone. In addirion, rhe lifeboar afr, rhe vessel in which rhey intended to make rheir escape, had been desrroyed. Hobson gave rhe order to fire rhe seven explosive canisrers. The flrsr charge blew wirhin seconds, then silence. Soon after the inirial explosion, Hobson was told rhar rhe barrery packs on Numbers 2 and 3 had been scarrered by shellfire. A minure larer, Number 5 exploded. Silence again ensued. Only rwo of rhe seven usable charges had gone off, Number 1 ar rhe bow and Number 5 amidships. As rhe rumble and vibrarion from rhe firsr explosion rolled rhrough rhe ship, Hobson concluded rhar rhe collision bulkhead had been blown. The ship was raking warer, bur nor ar a fasr enough rate to slow or sink her in time. Merrimac was heading straighr into the narrow channel beyond rhe choke point, no longer under control. Wirhin moments, a thunderous blast lifred the ship. Several more explosions followed. They had srruck rhe Spanish mines. Expecring the force of rhe mine explosions to has ren rhe sinking, rhe crew soon realized rhar rhe rare of flooding had nor noriceably increased. Ir was suspecred rhar rhe 2,300 tons of coal rhar had shifred ro rhe srarboard side absorbed much of rhe shock of rhe explosions or possibly filled whar should have been a gaping hole in rhe hull. Mauser fire from garrison rroops on borh sides of rhe channel now joined rhe chorus. The forward barreries on rhe point 36
ahead also opened up. Hobson recognized rhe disrincr sound of rapid-fire Nordenfelrs, nine-inch morrars, and Horchkiss revolving cannons-rhe larrer being fired horizonrally from rhe Spanish ships in rhe harbor. As rhe scene unfolded, rhose on rhe ships ourside the harbor could do nothing bur watch in horror. Captain Robley Evans aboard USS Iowa later recalled, "Ir was a dreadful sighr to my mind whar hell mighr look like wirh rhe lid off! " The ship soon was aground ar rhe srern, causing rhe bow to swing back to starboard, pointing rhe ship straighr into rhe harbor, perpendicular to the blocking position that had been rheir objecrive. They were now well past rhe choke poinr. Merrimac was drifting in her dearh throes into rhe widening inner harbor, where a Spanish cruiser and destroyer torpedo boar maneuvered so as to fire several "locomorive torpedoes," none of which hir rhe ship. Ar this point rhe Merrimac lurched to port as her bow "almosr fell." The srern rose-shuddering- but the ship righted herself as ir starred to sink. As warer rushed up the deck, the m en were rhrown or jumped overboard. One man was sucked imo a coal-bunker and rhen ejecred back our by rhe warer pressure as rhe bunker flooded . They srruggled furiou sly amid rhe debris and coal dusr spreading across rhe warer. Remarkably everyone reached a floating catamaran srill arrached ro a cargo boom extending above rhe sunken Merrimac.
Covered wirh coal black, the m en hugged the caramaran, keeping rheir heads below the wooden framing to avoid being sporred in the yellow lamern lights of rhe patrol boars criss-crossing rhe dark warers. As the effects of exposure began to take a roll, they became fearful rhat the noise of rheir involumary coughing and charrering reeth might alerr the Spanish. At firsr lighr, rhe men had been in rhe warer for an hour and a half, and a Spanish parrol boat wirh riflemen posted ar rhe bow came roward rhem. Hobson called our and rhe launch approached. He inquired if rhere was an officer aboard, sraring rhar he and his men wished to surrender. As rhe parrol boar drew closer, rhe order "load-ready-aim" was given, and for a few rorrurous seconds, rhe heroic sailors of rhe Merrimac rhoughr rhey would be shor as rhey struggled helplessly in rhe warer. lnsread, a hand was extended to Lieurenam Hobson, pulling him from rhe cold warer. Nor until later did he learn char the hand that hauled him aboard belonged to none orher than Admiral Cervera. The orhers were rhen hauled aboard by rhe Spanish seamen, who greeted rhem with: "Valiente, Valieme." Cervera sent a messenger boar our to rhe US fleer under a flag of rruce to let Admiral Sampson know rhar his men were alive and well. Imprisoned ar Morro Casrle, rhe American sailors received respectful rrearment from rheir Spanish captors. Admiral Sampson had received orders from Washington lifting rhe restriction on using " big-gun" armored ships against fortresses. On 6 June, Sampson bombarded key areas of the harbor, Morro Casrle, and adjacent barreries. Hobson and his men, srill in capriviry, were wimess to rhe incoming fire as shrapnel flew rhrough rheir cell windows. On 1 July, US ground forces reached ~ rhe San Juan heighrs overlooking rhe inner harbor. Prompred by orders from the mil'~" irary governor of Cuba, Admiral Cervera ~ relucrandy arrempred to break our of San~ dago harbor on 3 July. The US squadron, ÂŽ commanded by Admiral Schley, desrroyed all six <of rhe fleeing Spanish ships, sinking
Hobsom and his men hang on to the overturned' catamaran, concealed by darkness, as Spatnish crews row out by Lantern light searchiingfor survivors.
smAHISTORY 155, SUMMER 2016