“The Texas and the New York were gaining on the chase during the last hour, and, had any accident befallen the Brooklyn or the Oregon, would have speedily overhauled the Cristobal Colon.
“From the moment the Spanish vessel exhausted her first burst of speed, the result was never in doubt. She fell, in fact, far below what might reasonably have been expected of her.
“Careful measurements of time and distance give her an average speed, from the time she cleared the harbour mouth until the time she was run on shore at Rio Tarquino, of 13.7 knots.
“Neither the New York nor the Brooklyn stopped to couple up their forward engines, but ran out of the chase with one pair, getting steam, of course, as rapidly as possible on all boilers. To stop to couple up the forward engines would have meant a delay of fifteen minutes, or four miles in the chase.
“14. Several of the ships were struck, the Brooklyn more often than the others, but very light material injury was done, the greatest being aboard the Iowa.
“Our loss was one man killed and one wounded, both on the Brooklyn. It is difficult to explain the immunity from loss of life or injury to ships in a combat with modern vessels of the best type, but Spanish gunnery is poor at the best, and the superior weight and accuracy of our fire speedily drove the men from their guns and silenced their fire.
“This is borne out by the statements of prisoners and [pg 284]by observation. The Spanish vessels, as they dashed out of the harbour, were covered with the smoke from their own guns, but this speedily diminished in volume, and soon almost disappeared.
“The fire from the rapid-fire batteries of the battle-ships appears to have been remarkably destructive. An examination of the stranded vessels shows that the Almirante Oquendo especially had suffered terribly from this fire. Her sides are everywhere pierced, and her decks were strewn with the charred remains of those who had fallen.
“15. The reports of Commodore W. S. Schley and the commanding officers are enclosed.
“16. A board, appointed by me several days ago, has made a critical examination of the stranded vessels, both with a view of reporting upon the result of our fire and the military features involved, and of reporting upon the chance of saving any of them, and of wrecking the remainder. The report of the board will be speedily forwarded. Very respectfully,