Boynton's Naval Exhibit
 An audience view of the battle | |
| Admission | .50 |
|---|---|
| Profit | 191,445.38 |
| Owner | Paul Boynton |
An introductory statment
Etymology
Before the Fair
Description
Though the attraction's program was changed weekly, the Naval Exhibit replayed in miniature, the major nautical battles from the 1898 Spanish-American War. This most realistic and thrilling production of Naval Battles including Battle of Santiago Bay, Manilla, and Port Arthur were displayed on a huge football-sized basin of water 300 x 180 feet and about 3 foot deep.
28 `Miniature' ships which varied from twelve to twenty-one feet, included eight battleships, six cruisers, six torpedo boats and a single submarine. Though the steel ships were run by electric motors (storage batteries), operators inside the crafts helped control them.
During every show, 100 working guns on the boats fired 20,000 shells. During each battle, two ships were blown up and one was left burning.
Accident
On August 3rd, 1904, James Newsby was blown out of the water when the miniature warship, The Olympia, (which in reality was Commodore George Dewey's flagship during The Battle of Manila Bay), accidentally hit an underground mine. Newsby, the operator of the Olympia, was taken out of the water on a stretcher, to the applause of the crowd that had thought it was part of the proceedings. This was the only major mishap documented from this attraction.
