The registered letter above was sent by Minor R.
Jacobs, a
crewmember on the USS Vesuvius while
the ship was being removed from service at Charlestown, Massachusetts,
(Boston Navy Yard) on September 6, 1898 to Mr.
J. T. Rawson (or Rawdon)
in Providence, Rhode island. (The
cover is addressed to J. T. Rawdon, however the salutation in the latter
is addressed; J. T. Rawson. I checked records under both names and could
not determine which was the correct name.)
The four 2-cent Trans-Mississippi Exposition
(Brown-Red,
June-1898, Scott #286) issues at top paid the 1898 registry fee of
8 cents. The 5th Trans-Mississippi and the
2-cent Washington (Type III -
Pink, November-1897, Scott #267a) paid double the
first class rate for a
letter weighing more than 1 ounce.
The cover bears a Charlestown, Station, Boston, MA
Registry cancel and the reverse of the cover has a Providence Registry
cancel. the docketing on the left side of the cover reads,
"M. R.
Jacobs - U.S.S. Vesuvius - Navy Yard - Boston, Mass."
The letter contained a Five-Peseta Spanish Coin taken from the
"Infanta Maria Teresa"
after the "Battle of
Santiago Bay," (Cuba). She was the
flagship of the Spanish Admiral
Pascual
Cervera y Topete.
NOTE: In 1898, a Spanish
5-Peseta coin was equal to about $20.00 American and in 1897 before the
war bought about its depreciation, to about $30.00. I am certain, given
the exchange rate that the 5 -Peseta coin enclosed in the letter was a
"gold coin."
Notes on the Spanish-American
War
The Infanta Maria Teresa was commissioned in
1893. She was classified as
an intermediate cruiser and was
366 feet in length with a beam of 65
feet.
She carried 497 officers and enlisted crewmen and had a top
speed of 20 knots. Her main armament consisted of
two 11-inch guns, ten 5.5 inch guns
and 8 torpedo tubes. The cruiser was one of the top-of the line Spanish
Vessels; unfortunately she went into battle with an untrained crew, short
of ammunition, and with several of her guns inoperable.
The Battle of Santiago was fought on
July 3, 1898 when Admiral Cevera, who had been bottled up in Santiago Harbor, attempted to
run the the American blockade being maintained by Commodore Schley and his
"Flying Squadron" consisting of the battleships
Massachusetts and Texas, and the cruisers
Brooklyn, Minneapolis and
Columbia. The Brooklyn
served as Schley's flagship.
At 9:00 AM, Sunday morning, Cevera
steamed out in "Line of Battle" attempting to slip past the Americans. Admiral
Cevera's Flagship, Maria Teresa,
leading the fleet out of the harbor took
the brunt of the American fire and after less than an hour, the entire
aft
portion of the ship was a blazing wreck.
Admiral Cevera then grounded his ship
to save
his crew. In short time, the rest of the Spanish fleet was either
sunk or grounded. The Battle of Santiago effectively
ended Spanish power in the
Western hemisphere; there were over 8000 Spanish casualties compared to
only 1 death and 10 wounded for the
Americans.
Admiral Sampson was in
overall command of
the American
Naval forces, however he missed the battle because of a scheduled
meeting
with General Shafter, commanding the American forces ashore. Admiral
Sampson turned his flagship, New York around and attempted to join the
fight, however the battle ended before he arrived on station.
A controversy has existed to this day over who should get
credit for the victory; Commodore Schley who fought the battle or
Admiral
Sampson who drew up the battle plans. Although a Naval Court of Inquiry
backed Admiral Sampson's claims; public opinion favored Schley.
USS Vesuvius
The USS Vesuvius was
commissioned on June 7, 1890. She was a
one-of-a-kind ship; her main battery consisting of
three pneumatic 15-inch
dynamite guns. Vesuvius joined the fleet on October 1st and operated with
the North Atlantic Squadron until
April 25, 1895 when she was decommissioned. She was
recommissioned on January 12, 1897 and on
May 28,
1898 she was attached to the fleet blockading
Cuba. During the war,
Vesuvius conduced eight bombardments of Santiago and also carried
dispatches between Cuba and
Florida.
Vesuvius was removed from service on
September 16, 1898 and remained at
the Boston Navy Yard until 1905 when she was
converted to a Torpedo
Testing Ship. (The letter was written on September 5, 1898; 11 days
prior to the ship being removed from service.) She was decommissioned
again in 1907 for repairs. Commissioned again in
1910; Vesuvius served in
the Narragansett Bay area, operating out of
Newport, Rhode Island.
Vesuvius was decommissioned for the final time on
October 21, 1921 and scrapped in
1922.
Vesuvius was 252 feet in length overall,
with a beam of 26.5 feet and
displaced 930 tons. She carried a crew of
69 officers and enlisted men
and had a top speed of 22 knots. Her
design contained many flaws and in
spite of the recommendations
by Admiral Sampson, a second
planned Dynamite Gun Ship was never
built.
SEE ALSO:
The
Spanish American War - Centennial Website (A
very detailed overview of
the war including the Battle of Santiago)
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