Blockade Prizes and Bounty Money, 1898
Spanish-American War, 1898. The prize crew going to take possession of the Spanish Colon after she was run aground after the Battle of Santiago, Cuba, July 1898. From Journal of Naval Cadet C.R. Miller, USN. 1898. Description: NH 2201
As the war in the Hormuz and the resulting blockade stretch into their 10th and fifth weeks respectively, and following up to yesterday’s Warship Wednesday on the blockade-enforcing lighthouse tender Mangrove, here is a closer look at the prizes from the Spanish-American War.
The first Spanish ships, the steamers Buena Ventura and Pedro, were captured on 22 April 1898 by the battleship USS New York and her accompanying escorts, with the gunboat Nashville claiming the prior.
The USS Nashville (Gunboat No. 7) fired the first shots of the war across the bow of the Spanish steamer Buena Ventura, outbound with a cargo of Mississippi pine lumber from Pascagoula to Rotterdam, to bring her to a stop on 22 April 1898, nine miles from Sand Key Light.
The capture took place just before the formal declaration of war, while the U.S. was establishing a blockade of Cuba, and the seizure was later upheld by the Supreme Court, 175 U.S. 384 (1899). Her cargo was released, as it was headed to the Netherlands, while Buena Ventura was sold at auction for $12,200, with a portion of that divided by the crew of Nashville and her squadron.
On the 23rd, the schooners Matilda and Condita were impounded. The 24th brought the steamer Miguel Jover and the schooners Sofia and Catalina.
This snowballed to 18 ships by the end of April, another 14 collected in May, just four in June, 19 in July, and one in August, with a total of at least 56 large commercial vessels impounded and sent to the court for adjudication.
All but four impounded vessels were “condemned with cargo” by the courts and sold, with 10 owners pushing the outcome to the Supreme Court.
The outliers that escaped sale included the British steamer Restormel Barry, which was released after her cargo was impounded. The British sloop Pilgrim was ordered released with cargo intact, as was the Mexican steamer Tabasqueno. The Spanish tug Humberto Rodriguez, seized off Nuevitas just two weeks before the end of the war by the auxiliary cruiser USS Badger, was ordered released by a New York Court as the tug carried red cross markings.
Some $701,034.36 was realized after auctions, deposited into the U.S. Treasury– with portions of said prizes paid to the crews of the vessels that captured them, an American tradition going back to 1798 and carried over from the British.
From the government records:
The above doesn’t include small coastwise vessels, of which an untold armada was collected, and were sold locally without being towed back to the U.S.
A prime example given is the auxiliary cruiser USS Dixie, which alone captured 89 lighters and sailing vessels at Ponce, considered a “good haul.”
Carrying 10 6-inch guns, the auxiliary cruiser USS Dixie, under CDR Charles H. Davis, had a very good war in 1898, entered the harbor at Ponce, Puerto Rico, on July 27, forcing the town to surrender and securing a landing place for the U.S. Army forces, claiming 89 of 91 small vessels in the harbor for her trouble. Post-war, she became the Navy’s first destroyer tender, AD-1, and continued to serve until 1922.
It should also be noted that this is above and beyond claims for Bounty filed by U.S. warships for destroyed and/or captured Spanish naval vessels, with the monies distributed to the crews, with squadron commanders included at a larger share.
For reference, Dewey was awarded $28,070 in bounty and prize money for the Battle of Manila Bay (his “cut” of $244,400) while Sampson pocketed a more paltry $8,335 (out of $166,700) for the destruction of the Spanish squadron off Santiago. Keep in mind that the base rate for rear admirals of the era was $4,675 per annum.
All awards of prize money and bounty money to U.S. Navy personnel were abolished by Congress via the Act of March 3, 1899 (30 Stat. 1121), with later much-hyped instances, such as the capture of the German cargo ship Odenwald in 1941 by the USS Omaha and Somers, being paid under salvage rights granted under maritime law, not as “head” money.
