THE ANNIHILATION OF THE SPANIARDS 383 LieutenantMorton, to collect the prisoners and keepback the Cuban guerillas,who were troopingdown to the coast,firing on the Spaniards as they swam ashore, and knocking them on the head as they tried to land. This murderous work was stopped by a threat to turn the Gloucester's guns on the cowardly ruffians. Cervera, as he stepped ashore, toldMorton that he surrendered to him, and asked to be taken on board the gunboat. He was rowed to the Gloucester. As he came on board the ship, CommanderWainwright grasped his hand and said warmly:"Icongratulateyou,sir,on having made as gallant a fight as ever was witnessed on the sea."

effected by her own magazines. She blew up on the beach, the explosion of the forward magazine nearly cutting her in two just ahead of the bow barbette. As soon as she went ashore, Sampson, who had comeup in the New York, signalled to the Indiana to resume the blockade of the port. Two auxiliary cruisers, the Hatvard (formerly the Atlantic liner New York)and the Hist,had also come up from the eastward. These assisted the Gloucester in rescuing the crew of the Oquendo. The flagship New York,, accompanied by the Ericsson, joined ha the pursuit of the remainingships,but Sampson was yet too far astern to take any share in the fighting. It was at a quarter-past ten that the burning flagship drove ashore at Nimanima, six and a half miles from Morro Castle. The Vizcaya and the Cristobal Colon were still in good condition, and seemed to be gaining on the Americans ;but the other cruiser,the Almirante Oquendo, was in diredistress, and onlysurvived theflagship a quarter of an hour, drivingashore near her consort, seven miles west of Santiago, at half-past ten. No ship in the whole squadron received sucha terriblebatteringas sheendured from the quick-firers of the Texas, Brooklyn, Oregon, and Indiana. The sides were riddled with shells and fragments of shells. One gun of the quick-firing battery was dismounted, another piercedby a shell. Ammunitionhoists were cut through, ventilators and fire mains smashed. An 8-inch shell came through the roof of the bow barbette, killedeveryone in the turret, and disabled the forward heavy gun. But, although her fighting power was thus seriouslydiminished,it must be notedthat, like the Maria Teresa, she had her water-line belt and her engines intact,these being, in the case of every cruiser in the fleet,perfectly protected by the under-water armoured deck. What put her out of action was the setting on fire of woodwork. These fires broke out in several places, and it was impossible to keep them all under. One of their first effects was to interfere with the draught to the furnaces and slow the engines. The ship, hard pressed by the Indiana, was driven ashore to save life. According to one account, her captain, Don Juan Lazaga, the son of a Spanish admiral, blew his brains out when he saw that he could not save his ship. Stories of this kind must be received with caution. It is far morelikely that he was brained by a bursting shell.

The complete destruction of the Oquendo was The Cristobal Colon had shot out well ahead of the Vizcaya. The latter washardpressedby theIowa,and was evidently in trouble,for her fire was slackening, and she was losing speed. Several shells had burst in her gun-deck, oneraking it from the stern forward, and killing and woundinghalf the men on one side of the ship. She washeadedoff by the Brooklyn, and the Spanish captain, Don Antonio Eulate, recognising that this was the quickest ship in the enemy's fleet,and that if she were crippled it would be the means of saving his colleague, Captain Diaz Moreu, of the Colon, made a plucky attempt to close with Schley's flagship, in e>rder to ram or torpedo her. The Brooklyn easily avoided this manSuvre,and the torpedo which Eulate had placed in his bow tube ready to he fired proved the destruction of his fine ship. It was exploded by the impact of a shell, and wrecked and set fire to the fore part of the vessel. The ship was already on fire in the gun-decks and coal-bunkers. Headedoff by the Brooklyn, close pressed by the Iowa and the Oregon,Eulate ran his burning ship ashore at Asseradores, fifteen miles from Santiago, and hauled downhis flag. Asit fell a new explosion shook the unfortunate Vizcaya. The American crews cheered wildly, but on board the Iowa Captain Evans checked the hurrahs of his men. " Don't cheer, boys," he said; " those poor fellows are dying." It was about a quarter-past eleven. Evans, with the Iowa, stood by the wreckof the Vizcaya,by the Admiral's orders, to rescue the survivors of her crew. Meanwhile, the Brooklyn leading, then the Oregon, next the Texas and the cruiser Vixen,with the New York far astern, continuedthe chase of the Cristobal Colon, which had got a lead of six miles,and seemed likely to escape.

The rescue of the Spaniards from the burning