THE SPANISH-AMERICAN WAR. 278 word. He passed the order to the forward barbette for theheavyeight-inch guns to engage thebattery onSangleyPoint.

an injury which, although it was thought at the time to be a very trifling matter,led soon after to his beinginvalidedhome. TheBaltimore did not escape so easily. A shot passed right through her, happily touching no one. Then The thunder of the Olympiads cannon was the signal to the other ships to begin. The Baltimore and the Boston brought their heavy guns into action, taking for their mark the Castilla and Montojo's flagship, the Reina Cristina. The heavier .guns of the American navy still use the old-fashioned powder, and the fleet was now advancing through a dense cloud of whitesmoke.

a shell ripped up her main deck, smashed the carriage of a six-inch gun,put it out of action, and exploding some of the ammunition that lay near it, seriously wounded eight men. Another smallshell struck theBoston's foremast, just above the head of her captain, who stood on her forwardbridge. Luckily for himit sailed to burst. Fires were caused by shells bursting in her wardroomand hammock nettings, but these werequickly put out.

The Spaniards redoubled their fire, and as the Olympia led the line, heading straight for theenemy's centre, she was the mark for most of it. The Spanish gunners shot fairly well, and there was a good deal of luck in the way the flagship escaped serious injury. " Their ship and shore guns were making things hot for us," wrote the New York Herald correspondent, who was beside the Commodore. " The piercing scream of shot was varied often by the bursting of time-fuse shells, the fragments of which would lash the water like shrapnel, or cut our hull and rigging. One large shell, that was coming straight at the Olympiads forwardbridge,fortunately fell within less than a hundred feet away, one fragment cutting the rigging exactly over the heads of Lieutenants Lamberton, Rees, and myself. Another struck the bridge gratings in line with it. A third passed just under Dewey, and gouged a hole ir_ the deck."

But meanwhileit was going badly with the Spanish fleet. The battery on the Point was running short of ammunition, and its fire had almost ceased. Close by, the old Castilla had burst into flames under the rain of shells. Her guns were silent, and her crew was abandoning her. The Reina Cristina, Montojo's flagship, had been hit some seventy times in the first three- quarters of an hour. Her steering gear was shatteredby a shell,which made her unmanageable. Another burst in the engineroom and destroyed the main pipe of the condenser. On the gun deck men were lying betweenthe guns,dead, or desperately wounded. Montojo himself had been hit by a fragment of a shell,hut still stuck to his post, with a handkerchief tied round his wounded leg. The chaplain was killed as he tried to help a wounded sailor. The boatswain and chiel gunner weredead. One of the doctors,the chief engineer,and three other officers were wounded. Some fifty men had lost their lives, and three times as many were more or less badlyinjured— this out of a crew of 370 officers and men. Shortly before half-past six a heavy shell burst in the after-part of theflagship,killing a number of men at their guns and setting the decks on fire. With the engines disabled, the fire-hose could not be got to work,and all astern was in a lew minutes a mass of flame. The admiral signalled to the little cruiser,Isla de Cuba, that he would transfer his flag to her, and told Cadarso, the captain of the Reina Cristina, and one of the finest officers in the Spanish navy, to abandon the burning ship and to save the few that were left of his gallant crew. Some boats were got away, with a number of the wounded on board. Others of the men swam to the Point. The admiral, withhis flaglieutenant, was rowed to the Isla 'Is Cuba, on The range was now reduced to 4,000 yards. The water was shoaling,and the flagship turned to starboard, and, followed by the fleet, ran alongthe Spanish front, Dewey givingthe order to open fire with all the guns. The rattle of the quick-firers mingled with the heavier note of the big turret guns, and a storm of shells burst upon the Spanish ships and batteries.

Opposite SangleyPoint the fleet turned and ran back againalong the Spanish line,bringing the guns on the other side of the ships tobear. This manSuvre of running up and down the line was twice repeated. Those of the Spanish ships that were under steam also altered their positions, occasionally running in behind the anchored Castilla, off Sangley Point. 1 o j A shellburst against the side of the American flagship, close to one of the ports. Another cut the halyards, just above the hands of the signalling officer on her after bridge. Captain Gridley, stepping out of the turret, received