utes, the Spanish admiral had two ships
sunk under turn. We withdrew for a short time, not knowing we had them
whipped. As we were leaving, three ships were burning. At
nine-twenty-five, we started again. In a short time the arsenal went
up and the Government buildings were in flames.

"The battle lasted altogether three hours and some minutes. At
eleven-fifteen the white flag was shown, and you might hear us cheer.
The ship was hit about six times. The Spaniards lost terribly. The
rebels attacked the enemy. It is something wonderful when you consider
the advantage they had over us. They had eleven ships to our six.
Their ships could run behind a neck of land near the navy yard. The
shore batteries were firing on us from three points. But our
marksmanship was too much for them; our fire was so rapid they could
not stand it. They lost about two thousand men, so the rumor says. We
sank four ships and burned seven. It was a grand, beautiful sight to
see those ships burn.

"I was ashore yesterday, and we destroyed all the guns. I managed to
get a few souvenirs. Two torpedo boats attempted to blow us up, but
one was sunk and one was beached. I saw her. She was full of holes and
blood was all over her bow ...

"I hope the ships at home have as good luck as us. I wrote this on
captured paper with a Spanish officer's pen."

Like many other vessels in the navy, the Olympia has a complete
printing outfit on board, and issues, at intervals, a very creditable
sheet called the "Bounding Billow." This is its account of a Spanish
shot:

"One shot struck the Baltimore in the starboard waist, just abaft one
of the six-inch guns. It passed through the hammock nettings, exploded
a couple of three-pounder shells, wounding six men, then across the
deck, striking the cylinder of a gun, making it temporarily useless,
then running around the shield it spent itself between two
ventilators, just forward of the engine-room hatch. The shell is in
possession of the captain."

[Illustration: Strange course of a Spanish Shell.]

When the news of the glorious victory in Manila Bay reached the United
States, the people went wild with joy. Commodore Dewey was thanked by
Congress, and afterwards was made a rear-admiral. In December,
Congress revived the grade and rank of admiral and conferred it upon
Rear-Admiral Dewey, and he and all of his men were presented with
medals of honor made expressly for the purpose. The raising of Admiral
Dewey's n