structions was issued that
would hamper me or in any way abridge my responsibility for bringing
the Oregon home. We sailed from Rio on May 4. I decided, when we had
been at sea a little while, to leave the Buffalo and the Marietta to
shift for themselves. They were so slow that I feared the Oregon might
be late in arriving where she was most needed. I left these ships off
Cape Frio, one hundred miles above Rio, after signaling them, 'Come to
Bahia, or run ashore if attacked by overwhelming force.' I reached
Bahia on the 8th, but we were told to 'Come on.' We sailed next
morning, and this run to Barbadoes was the most thrilling of the
entire voyage. We steamed absolutely without a light.

"Indeed, the entire trip from Sandy Point to Jupiter Inlet was a
lightless voyage. In pitchlike darkness we drove along at our highest
speed--seeing lights many times, but always avoiding the ships that
bore them. We were out of court. We had no right of way without a
light. Even if we met a vessel on our port, we gave way.

"Night and day the men stood at the guns. Not for a single moment was
vigilance relaxed. The strain on the men was terrible. For four days
at a time hammocks were never strung. Watch and watch about, the men
lay beside the guns, sound asleep, while the men on duty stood
silently above them. All the lookouts were doubled and changed with
unusual frequency.

"Barbadoes was reached just before daylight, May 18, and after rushing
two hundred and fifty tons of coal aboard, we sailed the same evening.
Still the orders read, 'Come on.' From our consul I learned that
Cervera's fleet was at Martinique, just to the north of us. This fleet
had been extolled for speed and fighting qualities. I am not a rash
man. I was not looking for that fleet. The situation seemed critical.
Sailing just before dark, I headed northwest, apparently into the
heart of the Caribbean Sea. This information, I have no doubt, was
promptly communicated to Admiral Cervera. But as soon as the darkness
of a moonless night had thoroughly set in, I changed the course to due
south; and ran below Barbadoes and thence far to the eastward before
I took the Oregon to the northward. We thus passed far to sea east of
Martinique, and eventually turned into the north Atlantic beyond St.
Thomas. I carefully avoided the Windward Channel and the shallow
waters of the Bahamas.

"I didn't know where the Department wanted to use me. I was in the
dark as to the locati