THE SPANISH-AMERICAN WAR. 384 under the red andgolden flag under which they had fought, and as later on their bodies were committed to the waves, three volleys werefired as a last salute.

While the survivors of the wrecked cruisers werebeing saved, the Cristobal Colon was steaming westward, and the pursuers were gaining on her. On the measured mile the Colon had made a trial speedof twenty-three knots. If she had beenable to do anything like that on the 3rd of July, she would have got safe to Havana, but she averaged, on her run out from Santiago, a speed of only between thirteen and fourteen knots.

At ten minutes to one the Brooklyn and the Oregon had got within range of the Colon and Vizcaya andher colleagueswas a work of danger and difficulty. Loadedguns were going off with the heat. Ammunition on deck and below was exploding, wreckage was coming down from above, and round the wreck the surf of the shore wasbreakingheavily. There wereghastly sights to be seen by the rescuers, for men who had diedin the attempt to escape hung here and there burning on the red-hot plates of the wrecked cruiser's decks and sides. The Cubans had to be kept at bay on the landside, whereseveral men werelanded. Some of those who escaped swam ashore, got safely into the woods, and pluckily made their way into Santiago and reported themselves ready for further duty.

Th«. No-vol Eitxttle o San.teo.30 11 WainWright, of the Gloucester, and Evans, of the Iowa, did all that brave and chivalrous men could do to rescue the survivors,many ot them wounded, and to honour the desperate bravery shown by the Spanish officers in this forlorn rush against superior numbers. Eulate was received by a guard of marines, who presented arms as he stepped on board the Iowa, and Evans, taking his hand, told him that he must not give up his sword. "You have surrendered," he said," to four ships, each heavier than your own. You did not surrender to the Powa only, so her captain cannot take jour sword." Eulate was deeply touched, and when Cervera wasbrought onboard he told him what Evans had said,adding that the incident would be one of the treasured memories of his life.

Three of the Spaniards, who died soon after being taken on board the battleship, werelaid opened fire upon her with their heavy guns. She hadno weapons that could evenattempt an effective reply to them. In the earlier stage of the fight, when she was in action just outside, she had received practically no injury. Her armour kept out all but one largeshell, an 8-inch projectile, which came through the side above the belt and wrecked her ward-room. Unlike her consorts built in Spanish dockyards, thisItalian-builtcruiser never was on fire. She was lost simply through lack of speed and through not having a proper armament which might have enabled her to make a real fight.

As her pursuers closed in upon her she headed for the shore in the little bay into which the Tarquino river runs, forty-eight miles to the west of Santiago. As the giant shells of the Oregon and Brooklyn roared through the air above her decks or sent geysers of waterover her