THE GLOUCESTER' OFF SANTIAGO. [TO THE EDITOR OF THE "SPECTATOR. "]
Sta,—You slightly underestimated in the Spectator of June 21st the part played by the converted yacht `Gloucester' in the fight off Santiago. Lieutenant-Com- mander Wainwright's feat was even more remarkable than you made it out to be. It was not a Spanish ironclad that he engaged in the pleasure-boat that Mr. Pierpont Morgan gave to the United States Government, and that the Government sent into action armed with a few 6 and 3 pounders, but two Spanish torpedo-boat destroyers, the Furor' and the
Pluton' ; and these he completely and literally smashed, " smothering them," as an eyewitness said, " with shot from his guns." I send this trifling correction partly because Lieutenant-Commander Wainwright's exploit—surely one of the most dramatic in the whole history of naval warfare—has been somewhat obscured, at least in America, by the detest- able Sampson-Schley feud, and partly because it gives an extra emphasis to your point that " accurate and rapid gun- fire is the best form of armour."—I am, Sir, &c., S. B.
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