Consequently, Commodore Schley determined to find it. Himself in the lead with the flagship, he started toward the harbor. The Spanish troops at the works and batteries could be seen, through glasses, preparing in haste to give the American ships as warm a reception as possible.
When about five miles from the batteries the lookouts reported the masts of two ships, and Flag Lieutenant Sears and Ensign McCauley made out the first to be the Cristobal Colon. Two torpedo boats were also made out and a second vessel of the Vizcaya class was seen.
All this time Commodore Schley was upon the afterbridge of the Brooklyn making good use of his binoculars. Arrived at the harbor entrance, when the ships were sighted from the deck, he turned his eyes from the glasses long enough to wink and say: "I told you I would find them. They will be a long time getting home."
THE VOYAGE OF THE OREGON.
The voyage of the Oregon from San Francisco to Florida is a matter of historic interest, for it was the first craft of the kind to weather the famous cape. When it anchored off Sand Key, Fla., it had completed the longest trip ever made by a battleship. Altogether she sailed 18,102 miles in eighty-one days, and this includes the days she spent in coaling. Prior to this trip the record for long voyages had been held by a British flagship, which steamed from England to China. The distance from Puget Sound to Sand Key is more than two-thirds the circumference of the earth. The big trip was a record of itself, and it included within it several minor records for battleship steaming. For example, the Oregon ran 4,726 miles without a stop of any kind for any purpose. Such a run is longer than the voyage from New York to Queenstown or to Bremen or to Havre. It is comparable with the great runs of the magnificent merchant ships of the Peninsular and Oriental Steamship Navigation Company from London to Calcutta, Bombay and Madras. It was a triumph for any kind of a ship, but it was a wonder for a battleship. The Oregon left Puget Sound March 6, left San Francisco on March 19 and drew up at Sand Key, Fla., on May 26. Everything on board of her was shipshape. Her engines, of 11,111 horse power, were bright and fresh and ready for another voyage of 17,000 miles. Not a bolt was loose; not a screw was out of order.
HOBSON WINS FAME.
On Thursday, June 2, Admiral Sampson decided to send the collier Merrimac into the bay of Santiago and sink it in the channel's narrowest part, for the purpose of holding Cervera and his fleet in the harbor, until the time when their capture or destruction seemed advisable. He called for volunteers, explaining that it was a desperate mission, death being almost certain for all those who ventured in.
Then the navy showed the stuff of which it is made. Admiral Sampson wanted eight men. He could have had every officer and man in the fleet, for all were more than ready. Lieutenant Richmond P. Hobson was selected to command the expedition, and Daniel Montague, George Charette, J. C. Murphy, Osborn Deignan, George F. Phillips, Francis Kelly and B. Clausen were detailed to accompany him.
Just before 3 o'clock on the morning of the 3d the collier, deeply laden with, ballast material and some coal, was headed without preliminary maneuver straight for the entrance, over which the remaining batteries from Morro frowned from one side, and those from Socapa from the other. In the darkness of the early morning the Merrimac, without a light showing anywhere, dashed within the line of the forts before it was discovered, Sampson's ships thundering at the enemy's batteries to divert their attention from the collier. The Spaniards soon detected it, however, and brought every possible gun to bear. In the face of a terrific fire of shot and shell from Spanish guns the Merrimac ran into the narrow channel, where it was swung across and anchored. Then Lieutenant Hobson blew a hole in the ship's bottom and with his seven men took to a boat. They first made an effort to row out of the harbor and regain the American fleet, but soon realizing that, to attempt to pass the aroused batteries would mean certain death to all, they turned and rowed straight towards the Spanish squadron, and surrendered to Admiral Cervera, who held them as prisoners of war.
The Spanish commander sent his chief of staff, Captain Oviedo, under a flag of truce to Admiral Sampson, bearing the information of the safety of the heroes. The Spanish officers were enthusiastic in their praise of the bravery shown by Hobson and his men, and looked upon them with amazement as heroes whose gallantry far exceeded any Spanish conception of what men might do for their country, and it was with great chagrin that Admiral Cervera was prevented by the Madrid authorities from returning the heroic young officer and his brave men to Admiral Sampson, but was compelled to deliver them to the military authorities ashore as prisoners of war.