“As we were going past the torpedo-boats, I ought to have mentioned two men in the water, stripped, to whom we threw life-buoys, with which they expressed themselves satisfied. It is impossible in such a case, with two of the enemy’s ships going ahead of us, to stop.
“We had not passed the two ships I mentioned far, until we saw the Vizcaya head in, and soon she was on the beach and aflame, at Ascerraderos, right under the old Cuban camp.
“There was still the Cristobal Colon, a good way ahead, the newest and fastest and much more powerful. We had passed the Iowa (which we left with the burning Vizcaya) and the Indiana, which we ordered to return off the harbour, and tailed on to the procession after the Cristobal Colon, which consisted of the Oregon, the Brooklyn, and Texas, and the Vixen. We got each of our extra boilers into operation until we were going a good fifteen knots, and we were overhauling the advance somewhat.
“The Oregon and Brooklyn kept well up, and soon the Oregon began to fire, and we could see the Cristobal Colon gradually edge inshore, so that we knew the game was up and the victory complete; soon she headed in, and went under one of the points which come down from the mountains, which here (some sixty miles west of Santiago) are close at the water’s edge, and are the highest (seventy-eight hundred feet) in Cuba. We hurried forward and soon saw she had hauled her flag down, and was ashore.
“The Brooklyn had sent a boat, and Cook, who had gone in it, came alongside on his return, and stated he had received their surrender, stating he was not empowered to make any condition as to personal effects, etc., as to which they seemed anxious.
“I then went on board and arranged things, the admiral allowing them, of course, to take with them all their personal belongings, so while we were dividing them up among the ships (525 men) along came the Resolute, reporting having been chased by a Spanish armoured ship, so we put all the prisoners in her. This was a long job.
“The thing was to save the Cristobal Colon, as she is one of the finest modern ships of her class. We hurried a prize-crew aboard from the Oregon, closed all water-tight doors, as she was evidently leaking somewhere, but for all we could do she settled down on the beach after floating with the rising tide. It was a great pity, but the rascally engineers’ force had opened all [pg 288]the valves connecting with the sea, and we could not get at them.
“We finally, after eight hours of hard work, left her in charge of the Texas and Oregon, and are now steaming back to our post off Santiago. The failure to save the Colon was too bad. It is possible to do so, of course, with the assistance of a wrecking company, but she was practically in an undamaged condition. She had one man killed and twenty-five wounded.
“I am only too thankful we did not get ashore this morning. Poor Higginson, who was down at Guantanamo coaling, will be full of grief, as also Watson, in the Newark.
“I had forgotten to mention that day before yesterday we bombarded the forts very heavily, knocking off a good deal of the poor old Morro, and bringing down the flagstaff and the flag which was so proudly flaunted in our eyes for more than a month.