ed that food would be allowed to go in with the
forces. The admiral promptly replied: "The food shall enter in advance
of the forces; you may go in this afternoon." Almost any other naval
commander, after destroying a hostile fleet and reducing all the
batteries that defended a hostile city, would have wished to crown his
victory and enjoy his triumph by entering the harbor in advance of all
other vessels and on one of his own ships of war; but Admiral Sampson,
with the modesty and generosity characteristic of a great and noble
nature, waived his right to be the first to enter the city, and sent in
the _State of Texas_, flying the flag of the Red Cross and carrying food
and relief for the wounded, the starving, and the dying.

An officer from the _New York_ had been at work all day locating and
removing the submarine mines in the narrow part of the channel just
north of Morro Castle; but there were still four that had not been
exploded. As they were electrical mines, however, and as the cables
connecting them with the shore had been cut, they were no longer
dangerous, and there was nothing to prevent the entrance of the _State
of Texas_ except the narrowness of the unobstructed part of the channel.
The collier _Merrimac_, sunk by Lieutenant Hobson and his men, was not
in a position to interfere seriously with navigation. Cervera's fleet
ran out without any serious trouble on the western side of her, and
there was no reason why Admiral Sampson, if he decided to force an
entrance, should not run in, following the same course. In order to
prevent this, the Spaniards, on the night of July 4, attempted to sink
the old war-ship _Reina Mercedes_ in such a position that she would
close the channel at a point where it is very narrow, between the
_Merrimac_ and the entrance to the harbor. The ships of the blockading
fleet, however, saw her coming out about midnight, turned their big guns
upon her, and sank her with six-and eight-inch projectiles before she
could get into position. She drifted around parallel with the shore, and
lay half submerged on the eastern side of the channel, about one hundred
and fifty yards from the entrance and three hundred or three hundred and
fifty yards from the _Merrimac_.

At four o'clock Admiral Sampson sent Lieutenant Capehart on board the
_State of Texas_ to give Captain Young all necessary information with
regard to the channel and the mines, and a few moments later, under the
guidance of a Cu