THE SPANISH-AMERICAN WAR. 196 before morning. The boats were for hours searching the bay for survivors who might still be afloat, but the search was fruitless, and at last the hope of further rescues had to be abandoned. Till long past midnight the flames from the wreck gave themlight enough. Along the wharves crowds looked on at the spectacle. At half-past eleven the great funnels crashed down on the deck, which was not? awash with the water forward, but high out of it astern.

begged that all wouldsuspend their judgment as to how it had occurred. His telegram, which reachedWashington at 3 a.m. on the 16th,ran as follows:— ""Maine blownup inHavana Harbourattwenty minutes of ten, and destroyed. Many wounded, and doubtless morekilled anddrowned. Wounded andothers on board Spanish man-of-war and Ward line steamer. Send lighthouse tenders from Key West for crew and few pieces of equipment still above water. No one had other clothes than those upon him. Public opinionshould be suspendedtill further report. All officers believed tobe saved. Jenkins and Merritt not yet accounted for. Many Spanish officers, including representativesof General Blanco, now ■withme, andexpress sympathy.— Sigsbee."

When the morning broke over Havana Harbour, though the fire had burned out, wreaths of smoke still rose from the wreck. Sigsbee came to the poop of the City of Washington, and, looking at what had at sunset been a gallant vessel, and was now" a heap of broken iron," and, thinking of the hundreds that had been killedor maimed in the deadly blast offire, his feelings overcamehim, and he broke down utterly,and stood silent,with the tears running downhis cheeks.

Fewin Havana slept that night. Under the flaring gas-jets in themilitary hospital on shore, and in the white glare of the electric light on the decks of the American steamer and the Spanish cruiser, the doctors were busy trying to save life or soothe the agony of hopelesslv injured men. There were severaldeaths among the wounded in the hospital and on the ships Till. "MAINE" ENTERING HAVANA HARBOUJt