THE SPANISH-AMERICAN WAR. 298 The fleet which Admiral Sampson concentrated for the attack on San Juan consisted of the armoured cruiser New York (his flagship), the battleships Iowa and Indiana,the monitors Terror and Amphitrite, the cruisers Detroit and Montgomery, the tug Wampatuck, and the torpedoboat Porter.

for want of adequate navai strength, without which no maritimeposition possesses value."

Actingon suchconsiderations as these Admiral Sampson determined to bombard the batteries of San Juan, Puerto Rico, as a prelude to an attack in which a small land force would cooperate. There were already sufficient troops available for such an operation. It was never expectedthat the first attack by the fleet would secure the surrenderof the place. Al! that was hoped for was that the batteries would be so crippled as to clear the way for a serious attack, while,at the same time, the defences of the place could be thoroughly reconnoitred. Accordingly, Admiral Sampson, having refilled his coal-bunkers and magazines at Key West, sailed for Puerto Rico, leaving his lighter ships to maintain the blockade of Cuba.

At dawn on Thursday, May 12th, the fleet was off San Juan. The day was fine, and the air almost perfectly still;but there was a heavy swellon the sea, and as the morning advancedit wasoppressively hot. The attacking fleet kept under easy steam,runningin and delivering its fire, then, turning, standing out a little to sea, andcoming in again so as to bring the gunson the other side to bear. In this way the range was being continually varied, to the obvious puzzlement of the Spanish gunners. At a quarter-past five the squadron opened fire, makingits first advance upon the forts. Morro Castle was the chief object of attack, and the Porterran boldlyin between the big ships and the shore, having orders to lie in wait for and torpedo anySpanish warship thatmight happen to bein the harbour,in case she should venture out. There was an idea,quite unfounded, that one of the powerful armed cruisers of the Spanishnavy wasat SanJuan,andthatshemight make a dash at the fleet. Hence the position assigned to the Porter. The torpedo boatkept to the eastward of Morro, and it wassupposed that there were no heavy guns on the sea wall at thispoint. But here, again, the Intelligence Department was at fault, for, as the large ships turned out to sea, a battery opened fire from this very section of the wall. "The little Porter" wrote her commander, " occupied a position of undue prominence, and in consequence received the entire attention of this battery, directly under which she lay. It is hard to understand how such a storm of projectiles could all have missed her; but it was not a chance to be risked a second time, and before the battery could fire again the Porter was turning out at full speed, firing back with her one-pounders, and swallowed up in a cloud of black smoke from her own tunnels. It was a narrow escape, and it is evident our report of 'no damage and no casualties' was received by the flagship withmuch relief."

San Juan is at once the military stronghold and the chief harbour of Puerto Rico. It is the onlyport which is shelteredfrom the heavy gales of the winter season. The deep water inside it is not of any great extent. There are two entrances, one to the west, the other to the east of the rocky island on which the city of San Juan is built. The eastern entrance, by the San Antonio Channel, is so shallow that only thesmallestcraft can useit. It is guarded, nevertheless, by the two forts of San Geronimo and San Antonio, which are also intended to prevent an attacking force seizing the east end of the island. Across the island, near the forts, there run two lines of entrenchments. The western or main entrance to the harbour is under the walls and batteries of the city. It is so narrow as to be easily protected by mines. On the west of it is the strongfort of Canuelo, built on a shoal between Cabras Islandand Palo Seco Point. This fort crosses its fire with that of theguns of Morro Castle and the St. Helena and San Augustin batteries on the town side of the channel. Thecity is completely surrounded by a bastioned Avail, and on the sea front the defences areformed by the castles of Morro and San Cristobal,witha strong wallanda numberof minor batteriesbetween. Many of the batteries and forts are wholly or partly cut out of the living rock. There are large magazines and bomb-proofs in the rock under the fortifications. Several modern guns of large calibre had been mounted on the seaward batteries during the weeks of busy preparation before the war. GeneralMachias, the commandant, was a good soldier, who had made the most of resources for defence at his command.

When the fleet closed in for its next attack, the Admiral signalled to the lighter cruisers to keep well out from the forts, and the rest of the bombardment, which lasted just three hours, was left to the heavy- armoured vessels— the