302 CHAPTER XX.

THE VOYAGE OF CERVERA'S SQUADRON.

so that she was able to concentrate only a few of her ships for active work at the outset of the war. And even these werenot allby any means fully equipped. One of the best ships of the cruiser squadron— the Cristobal Colon— went to sea without any heavy guns in her barbettes, and had to depend entirely on her secondary armament of quick-firers. She had been purchased fromItaly,herbarbettesbeing thenarmed with heavy Armstrongs. These were removed in order to substitute for them four Spanish Hontoria guns of the same calibre. But the gun-mountings were not ready when the wai began;so the Cristobal Colon was sent to sea only half armed. This curious state of things wasnot discovered by outsiders till a much later date, and at first the story was rejected as absolutelyincredible,butit was true.

THE Spanish fleet possessed only a single modernbattleship, the Pelayo,and even she was not ready for active service when war was declared. But the Spanish navy list was strong in armoured cruisers and sea -going torpedo boats, and on these were centred the hopes of those who anticipated that Spain would make a good fight upon the seas. Even American naval experts were so impressed with the possibility that the swift armoured cruisers and their formidable auxiliaries, the British-built torpedo boats or " destroyers," under the Spanish flag, might prove themselves dangerous foes even to the powerful squadron of heavily-armoured and armedships under Sampson and Schley, that in the first weeks of the war the chief anxiety of the WashingtonNavy Department wasto further reinforce the fleetin the Atlantic. The concentration of the Spanish cruiser squadron began (as we have seen) before the actual outbreak of hostilities. On April 1st a squadron of torpedo boats, consisting of the Furor, Terror,Pluton, Rayo, Azor, and Ariete, left Cadiz for the Cape Verde Islands. They weregood boats, mostlybuiltinBritishshipyards, and the three first represented the "destroyer" class in our own navy ;the rest were first-class sea-going torpedoboats. They wereescorted by the armedliner Ciudad de Cadiz, which served as a storeship. The whole squadron was under the commandofCaptain Villamil.

For thispurpose the battleship Oregon, which was stationed at San Francisco in April, was ordered to make her way with all speed to the West Indies. The actual distance she had to traverse was enormous. It was a voyage ol fourteen thousand miles, southwards to Cape Horn and then northwards along the Atlantic coast of South America, calling on the way at various ports for coal, information, and orders. A Spanish torpedo boat, the Temerario, was known to be on the Brazilian coast, and there were fears that she might intercept and attack the Oregon by night. There was also some anxietyabout thecondition in which the Oregon would arrive. It was the longest voyage ever madeby a ship of her class at high speed,and it might well be that when she reached the West Indiesher boilers and engines wouldbe in need of extensive repairs, and she would not be for some timeready for active service. But she did thedistanceatanaveragespeedof fifteen knotsan hour,and arrived with everythingingood order.

On the same day the armoured cruisers Vizcaya and Almirante Oquendo leftHavana for Puerto Rico. They coaled at San Juan, and on the 9th sailedfor the Cape Verde Islands. Next day the cruisersInfanta Maria Teresa (flying the flag of AdmiralCervera) and the Cristobal Colon left Cadiz for the samedestination. On the15th they reachedthe portof St.Vincentin theCape Verde Islands, and four days later the two other cruisers arrived from the West Indies. Thus, on the declaration of war, Cervera had under his command at St. Vincent four armoured cruisers,oneauxiliary cruiser,threetorpedo-boat destroyers, and three sea-going torpedo boats. Compared to the American navy in Atlantic waters, it was inferior both in numbers and m Had all the Spanish ships been as ready for sea as the vessels of the American navy were, a really powerful squadron might have been assembled in the Atlantic. But,unfortunately for Spain, there wasageneral condition of backwardness and unreadiness in her naval arsenals,