Admiral Sampson's flag-ship, was distant several miles
up the coast, too far away to take part in the fight.

Such a hail of shot, sent with such accurate aim, could not long be
endured. The Maria Teresa, Admiral Cervera's flag-ship, was quickly in
flames, while shells were piercing her sides and bursting within. The main
steam-pipe was severed, the pump was put out of service, the captain was
killed. Lowering her flag, the vessel headed for the shore, where she was
quickly beached.

The Almirante Oquendo, equally punished, followed the same example, a mass
of flames shrouding her as she rushed for the beach. The Vizcaya was the
next to succumb, after a futile effort to ram the Brooklyn. One shell from
the cruiser went the entire length of her gun-deck, killing or wounding
all the men on it. The Oregon was pouring shells into her hull, and she in
turn, burning fiercely, was run ashore. She had made a flight of twenty
miles.

Only one of the Spanish cruisers remained,--the Cristobal Colon. She had
passed all her consorts, and when the Vizcaya went ashore was six miles
ahead of the Brooklyn and more than seven miles from the Oregon. It looked
as if she might escape. But she would have to round Cape Cruz by a long
detour, and the Brooklyn was headed straight for the cape, while the
Oregon kept on the Colon's trail.

An hour, a second hour, passed; the pursuers were gaining mile by mile;
the spurt of speed of the Colon was at an end. One of the great 13-inch
shells of the Oregon, fired from four miles away, struck the water near
the Colon. A second fell beyond her. An 8-inch shell from the Brooklyn
pierced her above her armor-belt. At one o'clock both ships were pounding
away at her, an ineffective fire being returned. At 1.20 she hauled down
her flag, and, like her consorts, ran ashore. She had made a run of
forty-eight miles.

About six hundred men were killed on the Spanish ships; the American loss
was one man killed and one wounded. The ships of Spain were blazing
wrecks; those of the United States were none the worse for the fight. It
was like the victory at Manila repeated. It resembled the latter in
another particular, two torpedo-boats taking part in the affair. These
were attacked by the Gloucester, a yacht converted into a gunboat, and
dealt with so shrewdly that both of them were sunk.

The battle ended, efforts to save on the part of the American ships
succeeded the effort to destroy, the Yankee tars show