Captain Sigsbee of the U. S. S. St. Paul, in reporting his cruise of twenty-three days, gave the following account of a meeting with the enemy off San Juan de Porto Rico on the 22d of June:
June 22. “We came off the port on the twenty-second. The weather was fair, the trade wind blowing fresh from the eastward and raising somewhat of a sea. At about 12.40 the third-class cruiser Isabel III. came out, and, steaming under the Morro until she was abreast [pg 183]of the batteries, commenced edging out toward us, firing at such a long range that her shots were ineffective.
“As her purpose evidently was to put us within fire of the batteries, we took but little notice of her, lying still and occasionally sending in our largest shell at her to try the range.
“Soon afterward she dropped to the westward, and the torpedo-boat destroyer Terror, or it may have been her sister ship, the Furor, was sighted steaming along shore under the batteries.
“We watched her for awhile, and worked along with her, in order to separate her from the cruiser and keep her in trough if she came for us. She then circled to get up speed, and headed for us, firing straight as far as direction went, but her shots fell short.
“When within range of our guns, the signal ‘commence firing’ was made, and for several minutes we let fly our starboard battery at her at from fifty-five hundred to six thousand yards, the shells striking all around her.
“This stopped her. She turned her broadside to us and her fire soon ceased. She then headed inshore, to the southward and westward, going slow, and it was evident to all on board that she was crippled. Off the Morro she flashed some signals to the shore, and afterward a tug came out and towed her into the harbour.
“All this time the cruiser was firing at us, and some [pg 184]of her shots and those of the Terror fell pretty close. The cruiser followed the Terror back toward the port and soon afterward was joined by a gunboat, and the two steamed under the batteries to the eastward; but when the St. Paul, making an inshore turn, seemed to be going for them, they returned to the harbour, and we saw no more of them.”
June 23. The U. S. monitor Monadnock left San Francisco for Manila.
The U. S. dynamite cruiser Vesuvius again shells the Santiago fortifications.[26]