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Immediately afterwards the "Numancia" delivered her broadside full upon the Coney Island battery. Instantly the flag from the general's station was flung out, the signal-gun was discharged, and from all the sea-coast batteries the firing began. The position chosen by the attacking vessels was about one and a half miles to the south of Plumb Inlet.
The only difference between the men was in the results attained, and in the manner of their exit. Hence I say that Lerroux was not only base, but obtuse and absurdly wanting in human feeling and revolutionary sympathy, when he concurred in the execution of the stoker of the "Numancia."
The sight that met the eyes of the spectators was one never to be forgotten. The "Numancia" was evidently ashore on the East bank. Her fore and mainmasts were gone, and clouds of dark smoke were lazily ascending from her forecastle.
This table accounts for every war ship Spain has, to say nothing of the few antique merchantmen of the Spanish liner company which can be turned into cruisers. NAME. Tonnage. Guns in Speed in Hull. Batteries. knots/hour. NAME. Tonnage. Guns in Speed in Hull. Batteries. knots/hour. Numancia 7,250 10 11.0 Iron NAME. Tonnage. Guns in Speed in Hull. Batteries. knots/hour.
Suddenly the huge prow of the "Numancia" loomed up close aboard the "Franklin." "Starboard! Hard a starboard!" shouted the admiral. It was too late. There was no one at the helm. A shell, bursting close to the wheel, had killed the helmsman, and a fragment had buried itself in the captain's breast.
In the midst of this furore, the bulletins announced that the Spanish ironclads "Zaragoza" and "Numancia" had sailed from Havana, with no destination announced; that their consorts, the "Arapiles" and "Vittoria," together with three transports, "San Quentin," "Patino," and "Ferrol," the latter well laden with coal and provisions, were preparing to follow; also, that the huge "El Cid" had been fitted for sea, and was about to sail from Vigo, Spain.
People had dubbed him el Callao because at least a dozen times every day he told the story of that famous battle for the Peruvian seaport the last that Spain relinquished in South America which he had witnessed as an ordinary seaman on the Numancia.
Only two of them have been preserved, but as they happen to be two of the seven or eight he mentions with complacency, we may assume they are favourable specimens, and no one who reads the "Numancia" and the "Trato de Argel" will feel any surprise that they failed as acting dramas.
Slowly the "Franklin" sank her lofty mast-heads going under with the stars and stripes still proudly floating from them. The "Numancia" lowered her boats to pick up survivors. They returned with one officer and two seamen all that remained of the crew of nearly one thousand souls.
On the evening of April 18th the watchers on Sandy Hook saw a fifth vessel join the Spanish fleet; a long, low craft, having, apparently, two turrets and very light spars. They also saw the admiral's flag on the "Numancia" lowered, only to be hoisted again on the foremast of the new-comer.
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