HOW THE ST. PAUL STOPPED THE TERROR.

Auckland Star, Volume XXIX, Issue 184, 6 August 1898, Page 5

HOW THE ST. PAUL STOPPED THE TERROR.

I TOKPEDO DESTROYER BADLY j; , DISABLED.

NEW YORK, July 2.

The St. Paul arrived in port last jiaht. Her great exploit on her last trip was the disabling of the Spanish torpedo-boat destroyer Terror off the harbour of San Juan, Porto Eico. When the cruiser Isabella 111. came out:of the harbour at San Juan at about noon, June 22nd, covering the Terror, which was with her, from sight, the Spaniards thought it was the.St. Louis, which had been there a short time before and was known to have a small armament, and not the St. Paul which was going to be met. In the expectation of seeing a fine prize brought into port, the Spaniards gathered in great crowds along- the harbour wall to see it.

■ »Th engagement lasted a little over half an hour, during which the St. Paul fired about nineteen shots, three of them hitting the Terror, smashing one of her engines, killing the chief Engineer and another man, taking oft' the legs of a third and wounding five others.

So badly was the Terror injured that small vessels were lashed to her sides ,to prevent her from sinking, while a tugboat towed her in. The St. Paul's war budget says:— 'At about 12.40 the third-class cruiser Isabella 111. came out and steaming ■under Morro until she was abreast of the batteries, commenced edging out tdw?tril us, firing at such long range that her snots were ineffective. Soon aftepvard the torpedo-boat destroyer !Terror, or it may have been her sister ship Ithe Furor, was sighted, steaming ''alongshore under the batteries. When within range of our «uns the signal 'commence firing' was made and for ■ several minutes we let fly our starboard battery at her from 5,500 to 6,000 yards, the shells striking all around her. This stopped her and a tug came out and towed . her into the harbour.'