ssion. The Spanish gunboat _Sandoval_, lying at
one of the piers, has been loaded with inflammables, and will be burned
with the city, her commander declaring that she shall never become an
American prize.

During this Sunday night the _Vesuvius_ again discharged her dynamite
guns, with the western battery as a target, and because of the frightful
report which followed the second shot, it was believed a magazine had been
exploded.

_June 20._ The fleet of transports arrived off Santiago at noon on the
twentieth, and hove to outside the cordon of war-vessels. General Shafter
immediately went on board the flag-ship, and returned to his own ship an
hour later in company with Admiral Sampson, when the two officers sailed
for Asserradero, seventeen miles from Santiago, where General Calixto
Garcia was encamped with his army of four thousand Cubans. Here a long
conference was held with the insurgent general, after which the two
commanders returned to the fleet.

_June 21._ The despatch quoted below was sent by Admiral Sampson to the
Navy Department, and gives in full the work of the day:

"Landing of the army is progressing favorably at Daiquiri. There is very
little, if any, resistance. The _New Orleans_, _Detroit_, _Castine_,
_Wasp_, and _Suwanee_ shelled the vicinity before the landing. We made a
demonstration at Cabanas to engage the attention of the enemy. The _Texas_
engaged the west battery for some hours. She had one man killed. Ten
submarine mines have been recovered from the channel of Guantanamo.
Communication by telegraph has been established at Guantanamo."

Daiquiri was chosen as the point of debarkation by General Shafter, and
its only fortifications were a blockhouse on a high cliff to the right of
an iron pier, together with a small fort and earthworks in the rear. From
this town extends a good road to Santiago, and in the immediate vicinity
of the port the water-supply is plentiful.

_June 22._ Bombarding the coast as a cover for the troops which were being
disembarked, was the principal work of the war-ships on the twenty-second
of June, except in Guantanamo Harbour, where volunteers were called for
from the _Marblehead_ and the _Dolphin_ to grapple for and remove the
contact mines in the harbour. It was an undertaking as perilous as
anything that had yet been accomplished, but the bluejackets showed no
fear. Four times the designated number came forward in response to the
call, and before nightfall s