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One no less conspicuous was adduced by Mr. H. C. Russell, director of the Sydney Observatory. A particularly bright part of the great Argo nebula, as drawn by Sir John Herschel, has, it would seem, almost totally disappeared. He noticed its absence in 1871, using a 7-inch telescope, failed equally later on to find it with an 11-1/2-inch, and his long-exposure photographs show no vestige of it.
On a front of 4500 yards we had in action seventy-six 18-pounders, twenty 4.5-inch howitzers, and four 3.7-inch howitzers, while eight 60-pounders, eight 6-inch howitzers, and four 4.5-inch howitzers were employed in counter battery work. The absence of wind placed us at a heavy disadvantage.
The Marques del Duero, despatch-boat, 500 tons. Battery: one smooth bore, six 6.2-inch calibre, two 4.7-inch and one machine gun. The Isla de Cuba and the Isla de Luzon were both small gunboats, 1,030 tons. Battery: four 4.7-inch hontorias, two small guns, and two machine guns. The Isla de Mindanao, auxiliary cruiser, 4,195 tons, speed, 13.5 knots. Two torpedo-boats and two transports.
Gunboats Paragua, Callao, Samar, Pampagna, and Arayat, built 1881-6, steel, 137 tons, 10 knots, and each mounting two quick-firing guns. Gunboats Mariveles and Mindoro, built in 1886 and 1885, iron, 142 tons, 10 knots, each mounting one 2.7-inch rifle and four machine guns. Gunboat Manileno, built in 1887, wood, 142 tons, 9 knots, and mounting three 3.5-inch rifles.
The armament of the Alabama consisted of one 7-inch Blakeley rifled gun, one 8-inch smooth-bore pivot gun, six 32 pounders, smooth-bore, in broadside. The Alabama's crew numbered not more than 120. On this head Captain Winslow speaks erroneously. He sets down the Alabama's crew at 150 officers and men.
Don Juan de Austria Small cruiser, completed in 1887, iron, 1,152 tons, 13 to 14 knots, and four 4.7-inch rifles in her main battery. Don Antonio de Ulloa Small cruiser, iron, 1,152 tons. Four 4.7-inch Hontoria guns; two 2.7-inch, two quick-firing; two 1.5-inch; five muzzle loaders.
I was forward with the crew of the 7-inch pivot gun. I could see through the port, above the muzzle. Officers and men, we were all cooped under the turtle's shell; in order by the open ports, and the guns all ready.... We came to within a mile of the Cumberland, tall and graceful with her masts and spars and all the blue sky above.
Without locating them exactly, one may say that the Naval batteries are on rough eminences of the northern heel, facing Rietfontein Hill, where the Creusot gun, known as "Long Tom," is mounted behind earthworks at a range of 6800 yards, which is well within compass of the Powerful's 12-pounders and at least 3000 yards less than the extreme distance at which shells from her 4.7-inch quick-firing guns would be effective.
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