d rushed down when the news of the _Merrimac's_
coming was telegraphed, and soldiers lined the foot of the cliffs, firing
wildly across, and killing each other with the cross-fire.

"The _Merrimac's_ steering-gear broke as she got to Estrella Point. Only
three of the torpedoes on her side exploded when I touched the button. A
huge submarine mine caught her full amidships, hurling the water high in
the air, and tearing a great rent in her side.

"Her stern ran upon Estrella Point. Chiefly owing to the work done by the
mine, she began to sink slowly. At that time she was across the channel,
but before she settled the tide drifted her around. We were all aft, lying
on the deck. Shells and bullets whistled around. Six-inch shells from the
_Vizcaya_ came tearing into the _Merrimac_, crashing into wood and iron,
and passing clear through, while the plunging shots from the forts broke
through her deck.

"'Not a man must move,' I said, and it was only owing to the splendid
discipline of the men that we all were not killed, as the shells rained
over us, and the minutes became hours of suspense. The men's mouths became
parched, but we must lie there till daylight, I told them. Now and again,
one or the other of the men, lying with his face glued to the deck and
wondering whether the next shell might not come our way, would say,
'Hadn't we better drop off now, sir?' But I said, 'Wait till daylight.'

"It would have been impossible to get the catamaran anywhere but on to the
shore, where the soldiers stood shooting, and I hoped that by daylight we
might be recognised and saved.

"The grand old _Merrimac_ kept sinking. I wanted to go forward and see the
damage done there, where nearly all the fire was directed. One man said
that if I rose it would draw all the fire on the rest. So I lay
motionless. It was splendid the way these men behaved.

[Illustration: ADMIRAL CERVERA.]

"The fire of the soldiers, the batteries and the _Vizcaya_ was awful. When
the water came up on the _Merrimac's_ deck the catamaran floated amid the
wreckage, but she was still made fast to the boom, and we caught hold of
the edges and clung on, our heads only being above water.

"One man thought we were safer right there; it was quite light, the firing
had ceased, except that on the _New York's_ launch, and I feared Cadet
Powell and his men had been killed.

"A Spanish launch came toward the _Merrimac_. We agreed to capture her and
run. Just as she c