ay before the entrance to the
harbor for three days, not knowing whether or not the Spaniard was
inside. On May 30th it was positively discovered that he had Cervera
bottled up in the narrow harbor of Santiago. He had been there since the
19th, and had landed 800 men, 20,000 Mauser rifles, a great supply of
ammunition, and four great guns for the defense of the city.

OPERATIONS AGAINST SANTIAGO.

On May 31st Commodore Schley opened fire on the fortifications at the
mouth of the harbor, which lasted for about half an hour. This was for
the purpose of discovering the location and strength of the batteries,
some of which were concealed, and in this he was completely successful.
Two of the batteries were silenced, and the flagship of the Spaniards,
which took part in the engagement, was damaged. The Americans received
no injury to vessels and no loss of men. On June 1st Admiral Sampson
arrived before Santiago, and relieved Commodore Schley of the chief
command of the forces, then consisting of sixteen war-ships.

[Illustration: RICHMOND PEARSON HOBSON.]

Admiral Sampson, naturally a cautious commander, suffered great
apprehension lest Cervera might slip out of the harbor and escape during
the darkness of the night or the progress of a storm, which would compel
the blockading fleet to stand far off shore. There was a point in the
channel wide enough for only one warship to pass at a time, and if this
could be rendered impassable Cervera's doom would be sealed. How to
reach and close this passage was the difficult problem to be solved. On
either shore of the narrow channel stood frowning forts with cannon, and
there were other fortifications to be passed before it could be reached.
Young Lieutenant Richmond Pearson Hobson, a naval engineer, had attached
himself to Admiral Sampson's flagship, _New York_, just before it sailed
from Key West, and it was this young man of less than thirty years who
solved the problem by a plan originated by Admiral Sampson, which he
executed with a heroic daring that finds perhaps no parallel in all
naval history. At three o'clock A.M., June 3d, in company with seven
volunteers from the _New York_ and other ships, he took the United
States collier _Merrimac_, a large vessel with 600 tons of coal on
board, and started with the purpose of sinking it in the channel. The
chances were ten to one that the batteries from the forts would sink the
vessel before it could reach the narrow neck, and th