1898 Battle of Manila Bay
One hundred twenty-eight years ago, the United States Asiatic Squadron under the command of Commodore George Dewey slipped into Manila Bay under the cover of darkness, avoiding fire from the batteries of Corregidor. He did not go undetected and was shot at from El Fraile and also Cavite before sighting the Spanish fleet shortly before 6 a.m. on May 1, 1898. When he was about 5,000 meters from the enemy, he gave the famous command, “You may fire when ready Gridley,” to Capt. Charles Gridley on the flagship USS Olympia. An attempt from the Spanish flagship Reina Cristina was repelled by superior US firepower. Dewey then withdrew for breakfast at 7:35 a.m., resumed the fight at 11:16 a.m., and finished off the Spanish fleet by lunchtime.
The short, sweet Battle of Manila Bay in 1898 is proudly listed as one of the greatest naval victories of the US. What we are not told is that the battle was a mismatch. The invading US fleet was composed of four steel-protected cruisers: USS Olympia, USS Boston, USS Raleigh, and USS Baltimore; two gunboats: USS Concord and USS Petrel; the armed revenue cutter USS McCulloch; and two British steamers (Nanshan and Zafiro), acquired in Hong Kong shortly before the battle. Spanish Adm. Patricio Montojo outranked Dewey and had more vessels: the flagship was the cruiser Reina Cristina, two protected cruisers, Isla de Cuba and Isla de Luzon; three gunboats: Don Juan de Austria, Don Antonio de Ulloa, and Marques del Duero; and an old wooden steamer, Castilla, which had to be towed into battle. The last steamer caused the Americans to describe the Spanish fleet, in jest, as “floating antiques.”
I have written about the Battle of Manila Bay many times before, but just when I thought there was nothing new to add to the story, I found online the messages Dewey sent to his only son, George Goodwin, (1872-1963), which have been ignored by most historians who focus on Dewey’s correspondence with the US secretary of the Navy and with the US consul in Manila, who sent him intelligence information on Spanish defenses in Manila, etc. Dewey’s letters to his son give us another angle on what we already know. From Hong Kong on March 3, 1898, Dewey references plans to attack Manila as well as a request for shoe polish!
“The news today is decidedly warlike, and I have made my arrangements for a descent on Manila as soon as war is declared. As you can fancy, I am very busy.
“… I wish you would send me six cases of Whittemen Bros. & Co. shoe polish for patent leather shoes. Send by paid express to Navy Pay Office, San Francisco, and write Pay Inspector Griffing and ask him to send to me by one of the China steamers.”
At the time of writing, Dewey was not cocksure of victory and gave final instructions:
“Another thing, in case anything should happen to me during the war, you will become my sole heir to between $80,000 & $90,000. I wish you to pay your Aunt Mary Greely during her life the sum of five hundred dollars a year.
“I don’t expect anything will happen, but it is well that you should know my wishes.
“It looks to me today as if war was inevitable. I have written the department that I expect to capture the Spanish ships and reduce the defenses of Manila in one day.”
Manila seemed to have been so badly defended, the poor Montojo had to endure his defeat twice, first at the hands of Dewey and second at the hands of a Spanish inquiry afterwards.
Two days later, also from Hong Kong, on March 15, 1898, Dewey wrote:
“… Well, we have been on a ‘war footing’ out here ever since the loss of the ‘Maine’ [U.S. vessel that sank mysteriously after an explosion in Cuba]. Wars and rumors of wars every day.
“I have all my squadron here … ready to move at a moment’s notice should war be declared with Spain. Our objective point would be Manila in the Philippine Islands, which belongs to Spain and from which she derives large resources.
“The news from home yesterday was decidedly warlike, but countries go slow nowadays before declaring war, and I trust nothing will come of it. I don’t see what we have to gain in a war with Spain…”
By April 17, Dewey is still waiting for news of a war.
“No war yet, tho[ugh] today the news looks as if we were very near to the war. Well, if it is to come, the sooner the better as far as this squadron is concerned, for every day gives the Spaniards more time to strengthen their position. The Baltimore and McCulloch will join us in three or four days, and our squadron will be far superior to the Spanish, and as I write you by last steamer, I think it will be short work for us.”
Surely there is more of the same that awaits Filipino historians in some archive. This personal correspondence is significant because it is not the official correspondence that has dominated the narrative. What did Dewey really think of the Battle of Manila Bay? Remember, the first shot in the Spanish-American War did not fly anywhere near Washington or Madrid; rather, it was fired half the world away in the Philippines, which was later acquired by the US from Spain as a colony, at the ridiculous amount of $20 million. That’s each Pinoy at 50 centavos each, and the land came free.
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Comments are welcome at ambeth.ocampo@inquirer.net
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