764 



UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. 



gaged the " Terror " at short range and riddled her 

 with shot until she fled, crippled, for the shore, but 

 struck a reef. The " Vizcaya " and " Colon " led 

 the American ships a race, and the " Iowa " and 

 " Indiana," which had done magnificent execu- 

 tion with their guns hitherto, were left behind. 

 The "Brooklyn" led in the chase, keeping steadily 

 on the " Vizcaya's " quarter, and drew nearer and 

 nearer until she was able to exchange broadsides 

 with the Spaniard. The " Oregon, 1 ' running closer 

 in, gradually got up a full head of steam, and closed 

 up the distance until the 6-inch guns found their 

 range and landed shell after shell in the cruiser's 

 hull and superstructure. Badly crippled and burn- 

 ing forward and aft, she turned sharp inshore op- 

 posite Assaderos, hauled down her colors, and ran 



Copyright, 189s, by J. C. Hemment. 



WRECK OF THE " CMJUENDO." 



upon the beach. The " Colon " kept on her way, 

 chased by the " Brooklyn " and Oregon," with the 

 "Texas" behind them, and on her two quarters the 

 "New York" and the little "Vixen." The chase 

 lasted two hours before the " Brooklyn " drew with- 

 in range, and then the " Oregon " and both ships 

 opened fire with their heavy guns on the cruiser 

 that was bent only on flight. The shots were so 

 effective that the Spanish commander hauled down 

 his colors and ran his ship upon the beach, 50 miles 

 from Santiago harbor. Admiral Sampson, whose 

 ship had signaled to close in at the first sound of 

 battle and moved toward the scene with all pos- 

 sible speed, but arrived too late to take an active 

 part in the battle, received the sword of Admiral 

 Cervera. One third of the Spanish crews wen- 

 killed or drowned. The remainder, 1,200 in num- 

 ber, made their way to the shore or were taken off 



the sinking ships by the boats of the American war 

 vessels and were made prisoners of war and brought 

 to the United States. So poor was the Spanish 

 gunnery that George H. Ellis, chief yeoman of the 

 ' Brooklyn," was the only American killed, and 

 only 3 were wounded, and the vessels escaped with 

 scarcely a mark of the combat. Among the Span- 

 ish dead was the second in command, Commodore 

 Villamil. Capt. Lazago of the ' Oquendo" blew 

 out his brains at the moment of beaching his ship. 

 The " Maria Teresa " was struck 28 times, the 

 " Oquendo " 62, the " Vizcaya " 66, the " Colon " 7 

 times, but in no instance was side armor penetrated. 

 Of the 12-inch shells, 2 took effect on the " Tere- 

 sa," with 8-inch shells 55 hits were made ; but the 

 greatest destruction was wrought by the rapid-fire 

 6-pounders, with which 79 effec- 

 tive shots were made. No 13- 

 inch shell struck a Spanish 

 ship. 



Admiral Cervera knew that 

 his fleet was doomed before he 

 crossed the ocean,' and had in- 

 formed the Spanish Admiralty 

 that with a short coal supply, 

 defective machinery, and dam- 

 aged ammunition, and with 

 many of the guns on all the 

 ships defective and useless, and 

 no guns in the turret of the 

 "Colon," the only thoroughly 

 protected ship, his vessels were 

 scarcely able to go to sea, and 

 were altogether unfit for fight- 

 ing. "When the fleet steamed 

 out of Santiago harbor all the 

 officers, who obeyed orders with- 

 out a murmur, expected nothing 

 but death ; yet they manoeuvred 

 their vessels in the difficult 

 channel under the fire of the 

 American fleet with the utmost 

 skill, and as soon as they turned 

 into the open sea worked their 

 broadsides as well as they could 

 with useless charges and guns 

 that wounded their own men. 



The Cadiz Squadron. 

 When the insurgents invested 

 the city of Manila and were en- 

 tering the suburbs, so that Gen. 

 Augustin sent word that he 

 could not hold out much long- 

 er, the Spanish Government, 

 spurred by popular clamor, made 

 preparations to send re-enforce- 

 ments of troops with the reserve 

 fleet of Admiral Camera, in 

 hope of wresting the naval con- 

 trol of the Philippines from the Americans and 

 re-establishing Spanish authority over the natives. 

 This squadron consisted of the " Pelayo.'' the ar- 

 mored cruisers "Carlos V," "Alfonso XIII." and 

 " Vitoria," the auxiliary cruisers " Rapido," " Pa- 

 tria." "Alfonso XII," "Buenos Aires." ami "An- 

 tonio Lopez," the "Normannia" and "Giralda." 

 two Hamburg-American liners fitted out a 

 cruisers, the "Audaz" and "Proserpina."' the de- 

 stroyers "Proserpine," "Osada," and "Colombia," 

 and 3 torpedo boats. The new torpedo-boat de- 

 stroyer " Destructor," accompanied by 3 torpedo 

 boats, made a cruise in the Mediterranean with 

 the object of capturing American pleasure yachts. 

 Cadiz and other Spanish harbors had their forti- 

 fications greatly strengthened and mounted with 

 powerful guns, and the channels planted with tor- 

 pedo mines. The coasts of the Balearic Isles w< 





