ed to know why the navy could not go under a
destructive fire as well as the army. It was decided to go and have a
consultation with him, explain the situation, and lay our plans before
him, which were to countermine the harbour, going in at the same time, and
also trying to carry the Morro by assault with one thousand marines landed
in Estrella cove.

"It was arranged we were to go to Siboney about 9.30, so Sampson,
Staunton, and I put on our leggings, got some sandwiches, filled a flask,
and the ship started to go the seven miles to Siboney, where we were to
find horses and a cavalry escort.

"We were within a mile or so of the place when a message came to me that a
ship was coming out, and by the time I was on deck I found the _New York_
turned around, and headed back, and there they were, coming out one after
the other, and putting west as hard as they could go.

"The situation was one which rather left us out of it. We were too far off
to shoot, but could see the rest banging away. The last to come were the
two torpedo-boat destroyers, so we headed in to cut off any attempt on
their part to return to port, and we saw Wainwright in the _Gloucester_
firing at them for all he was worth, and soon one evidently had a hole
through her boiler, as there was a great white cloud of steam which shot
into the air. We fired two or three 4-inch shots at the other, which was
moving back toward the entrance, and then left him to Wainwright's mercy,
as it was a clear case, and stood on; in a few moments we came, first to
one and then the other, but a little way apart, the _Infanta Maria Teresa_
and the _Oquendo_ afire and ashore.

"As we were going past the torpedo-boats, I ought to have mentioned two
men in the water, stripped, to whom we threw life-buoys, with which they
expressed themselves satisfied. It is impossible in such a case, with two
of the enemy's ships going ahead of us, to stop.

"We had not passed the two ships I mentioned far, until we saw the
_Vizcaya_ head in, and soon she was on the beach and aflame, at
Ascerraderos, right under the old Cuban camp.

"There was still the _Cristobal Colon_, a good way ahead, the newest and
fastest and much more powerful. We had passed the _Iowa_ (which we left
with the burning _Vizcaya_) and the _Indiana_, which we ordered to return
off the harbour, and tailed on to the procession after the _Cristobal
Colon_, which consisted of the _Oregon_, the _Brooklyn_, and _Texas_, and