shore, the American ships following them up and pouring
in a deadly fire from every gun that could be brought to bear. It was soon
evident that the Spaniards could not get up anything like their trial
speed, and their gunnery was so defective that there was small chance of
their stopping any of their pursuers by well-aimed fire, or even of
inflicting any appreciable loss or damage on them. The "Maria Teresa" was
the first to succumb. As she led the line out of the harbour she had
received the converging fire of the American ships, but she had not
suffered any serious injury. Until the American ships got up full steam the
Spaniards had gained a little on them. An Englishman, Mr. Mason, who
watched the cruisers from a hill near Morro, till at ten o'clock the curve
of the coast westward hid them from view, thought they were successfully
escaping. So far as he could see they had not been badly hit, and none of
the Americans were yet abreast of them. But soon after the ships
disappeared from the point of view near Morro, and when the "Maria Teresa"
was only some six miles from the entrance, she suffered a series of
injuries in rapid succession that put her out of action.

It was the secondary armament of the American ships, the guns of medium
calibre, that proved most effective in the running fight. It appears that
the big 13 and 12-inch barbette and turret guns only made two hits in the
whole day. Two 12-inch shells fired simultaneously from a pair of guns
struck the "Maria Teresa" just above the waterline on the port side, aft
and below her stern turret. They burst in the torpedo-room, killing and
wounding every one there, blowing a jagged hole in the starboard side, and
setting the ship on fire. An 8-inch shell came into the after battery and
exploded between decks, causing many casualties. A 5-inch shell burst in
the coal-bunkers amidships, blew up the deck, and started a second fire.
Another destructive hit was made by an 8-inch shell a few feet forward of
the point where the pair of 12-inch shells had come in. The official report
thus describes its course:--

"An 8-inch shell struck the gun-deck just under the
after-barbette, passed through the side of the ship, and
exploded, ranging aft. The damage done by this shell was very
great. All the men in the locality must have been killed or
badly wounded. The beams were torn and ripped. The fragments of
the shell passed across the deck and cut throug