red as to the course to be pursued. In the end, General
Blanco, who was in supreme command, decided, after an exchange of views
with the Spanish Government and a consultation with the Captain of the
German cruiser Geier, then at Havana, to order the Spanish squadron to
attempt an escape from Santiago harbor. Cervera's sailors had hitherto
been employed in the defense of the city, but with the arrival of the
reinforcements under Escario he found it possible to reman his fleet.
An attempt to escape in the dark seemed impossible because of the
unremitting glare of the searchlights of the American vessels. Cervera
determined upon the desperate expedient of steaming out in broad
daylight and making for Cienfuegos.

The blockade systematically planned by Admiral Sampson was conducted
with a high degree of efficiency. Each American ship had its definite
place and its particular duty. When vessels were obliged to coal at
Guantanamo, forty miles distant, the next in line covered the cruising
interval. The American combined squadron was about double Cervera's in
strength; his ships, however, were supposed to have the advantage in
speed, and it was conceivable that, by turning sharply to the one side
or the other, they might elude the blockading force. On the very day
that Cervera made his desperate dash out of the harbor, as it happened,
the New York, Admiral Sampson's flagship, was out of line, taking the
Admiral to a conference with General Shafter at Siboney, a few miles to
the eastward. The absence of the flagship, however, in no way weakened
the blockade, for, if Cervera turned westward he would find the squadron
of Schley and the other vessels designated to prevent his escape in
that direction, while if he turned eastward he would almost at once
be engaged with the New York, which would then be in an advantageous
position ahead of the chase.

At half-past nine on the morning of the 3d of July, the first vessel of
the Spanish fleet emerged from Santiago Harbor. By 10:10 A.M. all the
Spanish ships were outside of the harbor mouth. Commodore Schley, on
the Brooklyn, hoisted the signal to "close up," apparently on the
understanding that Sampson's signal on leaving for Siboney to "Disregard
motions of the commander-in-chief" had delegated the command to him.
Though this question of command later involved a bitter dispute, it was
at the time of little moment, for clouds of smoke obscured the signals
so frequently that no complic