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As regards myself, I am perfectly willing to take the risk; but it is for you to say whether you will spare the torpedo-boat, and I suppose it will be a question of calling for volunteers if you should decide to allow me to try my experiment."
For two months after the disaster to that vessel Wainwright lived on a United States ship in the harbor of Havana, refusing to set foot on shore until he could go "with a landing party of marines." In his attack on the torpedo-boat destroyers vastly superior to his craft in weight and armament he threw prudence to the winds and fought with a fierceness bred of bitter hatred for the Dons.
They had hardly made another hundred miles before it began to grow light, and then it became necessary to keep a bright look-out for the air-ship, for according to what they had heard from the commander of the torpedo-boat she might be sighted at any moment as soon as it was light enough to see her. Another hour passed, but there was still no sign of the air-ship.
The use of the torpedo-boat and of the weapons which it carries must always demand, like that of the bayonet, men of the strongest nerve, and of the greatest devotion to their duty and to their country.
Even before he had begun to experiment with the torpedo-boat Fulton had been deeply interested in steam navigation, and while in Paris he constructed a steamboat. In this undertaking he was greatly aided by Robert R. Livingston, American minister at the French court, who had himself done some experimenting in that line.
In the Straits of Dover, an hour or so out from Folkestone, we ran through a fleet of British warships guarding the narrow roadstead between France and England; and a torpedo-boat destroyer sidled up and took a look at us.
Meanwhile, the Gloucester, one of our smallest vessels, is attacking the two torpedo-boat destroyers, and, with a little help from some of our battleships, soon puts an end to the two little Spanish boats. One of them sinks, the other is compelled to run ashore; both ruined in less than eight minutes after the Gloucester fired the first shot at them.
The western battery and the Spanish flag-ship kept up the din fifteen minutes longer, but their work was ineffective. June 1. Rear-Admiral Sampson, with the New York as his flag-ship, and accompanied by the Oregon, the Mayflower, and the torpedo-boat Porter, joined Commodore Schley’s squadron off Santiago on the first of June.
A few minor engagements in the North Sea, in which light cruisers and torpedo-boat destroyers were concerned, served only to deepen the mystery.
The "dodge" was to dazzle the enemy with the electric light, and, while her attention was concentrated on the torpedo-boat, to "ram" her! "Steady!" said Firebrand, in a deep voice. Something else was replied by somebody in a deeper voice. The boat ploughed on its way like a furious hornet. "Fire!" shouted the Russians.
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