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THE FATHERLAND ’ 65
breach a wall or find a concealed gun. The shots of the New York
constantly fell short, but she herself was not hit throughout the
action.
Again the head of the English line approached close to Rockaway
Beach. Again the united might of the main batteries of the three
leading ships, this time joined by the Iron Duke, King Edward VII,
King George V, Monarch, Prince George and Prince of Wales, was
directed at the unseen target, the Navy Yard, thirteen miles distant.
Across the whole of Brooklyn the great shells whistled shrilly, and
fell within the Yard like a bombardment of meteors. For more
than ten minutes they came. At the end of that time, when they
stopped on signal from their air-scouts, the Brooklyn Navy Yard
was a scene of ruin indescribable.
The great warship named for the Borough was shattered by ex-
plosions caused by shells that reached her boilers and her magazines.
The Hudson, also at the Yard for repairs after her dash on the
19th, was sunk at the dock. Most of the machine shops were
wrecked, the arsenal was blown out of existence and several naval
guns lying about unmounted were shattered. The barracks were
afiame. Hundreds of marines, blue-jackets and workmen lay dead,
or moaning with the agony of mangled wounds.
lVhile these dreadful volleys were delivered, the guns of Wads-
worth, Hamilton and Hancock, obedient to orders from head-
quarters, suddenly concentrated on the swarm of torpedo boat
destroyers which sped ceaselessly to and fro between the great ships
and the mine-fields. Shells rained about the little craft and on
them. Two were sunk and several damaged in the five minutes
before the fire suddenly ceased. But as they scattered before this
sudden punishment, the guardians of England’s dreadnoughts did
not fail to apprehend its purpose, and keen eyes soon detected the
Deriscopes of three American submarines. Three-score light rapid-
firing guns were turned upon them. The Sampson was fatally
struck, but as she sank she torpedoed one of the grey scorpions that
stung her to death. The Schley submerged and escaped; the third
Submarine, one of the older craft, defective in design when launched.
and unimproved by years of tinkering, failed to work at the critical
moment-would not submerge’-and the next moment was sub-
merged forever by a dozen hits.
Once more the ships circled, throwing streams of shells at the
forts. most of them now hitting, but having little effect for all their
h’-‘EC Dower. Had the guns of the forts been adequately manned.
‘ht? Same would have been decidedly bad for the fleet, but now in
“'16 sudden hour of trial the effect of the permanent shortage Of
Coast defense troops was seen in slow action. A couple of funnels
knocked awry were the only hits scored by the defenders on this
turn, and once more the English ships drew close to RtJCk3W3Y-
Aided by their air-.5couts, new high up and far away, but easily
Observed through glasses, the EngllSh NW)’ Presemid its mm‘
testimonial to that Anglo-Saxon community of interest which had
f0 long fascinated America. This time the target was Manhattan
itself.
High over Brooklyn the shells whistled, scores of them, 1,500.
‘-800 pounds, a ton in weight. diabolical in power!
That unique and wonderful architectural achievement, Lower
New York, with its pinnacles actually neighboring “"3 Cl0“d5v “S
enormous buildings harboring the brain-cells and nerve-centers of
all the business which billions of American wealth sustains, suddenly
felt the shock of those irresistible messengers of treachery and de-
Stfuction,
Steel ribs were wracked and proud crests tumbled-
One shot struck the “’oolworth Building just at the base Of th
tower. Thar incredibly dclicatc white fabric shivered from its deep-
fiug base to its gilded peak far up in the hushed air; then a terrify-
"‘8 Sound. as if a huge live thing were shrieking, accompanied the
51”" ‘0PD1ing of the tower, as the few steel girders not shattered
by the explosion bent beneath the weight-bent, snaptl Down it
1”!‘-mgsd, dropping great white stones, dropping airy Gothic orna-
ments. dropping linlc shrieking human beings; till it crashed
through the Post Otiice Building and lay across Broadway and
Pafk Row.
Another shell tore a huge hole through the Equltabk Blllldlngi
“"5 City Investing tower was clipped off at the 24th floor; the Pall‘
THE BOMBARDMENT OF NEW YORK
“Our that struck the Woolworth But'ldt'na"
Row Building horribly shattered; the beautiful little City Hall
crushed like a paper box; the huge Municipal Building reduced to a
horrible tangle of ruins, crushing the lives out of thousands of
trapped men and women. The Brooklyn and Manhattan Bridges
escaped, with the exception of a fragmentary clipping of one tower
of the former. To be -sure, this so terrified the thousands of
refugees, who, fleeing from Brooklyn, dared not enter New York,
that scores of them leapt from the structures and perished miserably
in the waters. But that was only an incident in a terrible‘ day.
After five minutes the firing suddenly ceased. ‘
The mortars and 16-inch guns of the forts had at last made hits
whose hints could not be ignored by the enemy. The great Malaya,
of 27,500 tons, launched in 1915, mounting eight 15-inch guns, was
pierced by several shells which found her boilers and magazines,
and in a series of dreadful explosions she shook to pieces and sank
a tangled wreck. The Overwhelming and Prince of Walt: were
severely struck, also, and shells came much too close for comfort to
the King George V and the Monarch. Admiral Iellicoe decided that
that phase of the game was up, and withdrew his whole fleet out of
range as the sun went low in the “lest.
The dreadful bombardments and their ghastly effects were in
complete accord with, the teaching of that pet of the American Press,
Lord Fisher, whose prescription for England was the instant and
ruthless destruction of as many of the enemy as possible, with
especial attention to women and children. It was, however, in ac-
cord with the laws of war; New York was a fortified town, subject
to bombardment. Its forts were almost adequate to defend it, but
the American Navy should have made that defense complete. And
the American Navy had been scattered, as it had been weakened,
by men who taught the American people that the Navy of England
would protect them!
(The next installment will xhaw how Wall Street betrayed the
country.)
