3-086-395 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

The Spanish-American War: the attempted landing of the "Gussie" Expedition in Cuba, 1898. 'Spanish scouts on the Cuban shore; How the Gussie landed the horses. Sketches by our Special Artist, Mr. H. C. Seppings Wright: "At the immediate point of debarkation the coast is protected by a coral reef, on which the breakers exhaust themselves. The horses, men, and boats usually got capsized among the waves, and then had to wade up to the middle to the beach, through what might be termed a lagoon. The first horse, exhausted with his swim, is being coaxed into braving the uncertainties of the lagoon. Top sketch shows Spanish cavalry scouts, who came down pluckily enough to gesticulate and to revile the Yankee gun-boats. A shell generally disposed of the squad; the scouts then disappeared in the dense bush, and kept up a rapid fire with their Mauser rifles. As they use smokeless powder, it was difficult to localise them".' From "Illustrated London News", 1898.