cely as long as there were any combustibles above
water to feed them.

"Lieut.-Commander Wainwright on his return reported the total and awful
character of the calamity, and Captain Sigsbee gave the last sad order,
'Abandon ship,' to men overwhelmed with grief indeed, but calm and
apparently unexcited."

The quiet, yet at the same time sharp, words of command from the captain
aroused his officers from the stupefaction of horror which had begun to
creep over them, and this handful of men, who even then were standing face
to face with death, set about aiding their less fortunate companions.

As soon as they could be manned, boats put off from the vessels in the
harbour, and the work of rescue was continued until all the torn and
mangled bodies in which life yet remained had been taken from the water.

Capt. H. H. Woods, of the British steamer _Thurston_, was among the first
in this labour of mercy, and concerning it he says:

"My vessel was within half a mile of the _Maine_, and my small boat was
the first to gain the wreck. It is beyond my power to describe the
explosion. It was awful. It paralysed the intellect for a few moments. The
cries that came over the water awakened us to a realisation that some
great tragedy had occurred.

"I made all haste to the wreck. There were very few men in the water. All
told, I do not believe there were thirty. We picked up some of them and
passed them on to other vessels, and then continued our work of rescue.

"The sight was appalling. Dismembered legs and trunks of bodies were
floating about, together with pieces of clothing, boxes of meats, and all
sorts of wreckage. Now and then the agonised cry of some poor suffering
fellow could be heard above the tumult.

"One grand figure stood out in all the terrible scene. That was Captain
Sigsbee. Every American has reason to be proud of that officer. He seemed
to have realised in an instant all that happened. Not for a moment did he
show evidence of excitement. He alone was cool. Discipline? Why, man, the
discipline was there as strong as ever, despite the fact that all around
was death and disaster."

[Illustration: CAPTAIN SIGSBEE.]

The commander of the _Maine_ was the last to leave the wreck, and then all
that was left of the mighty ship was beginning to settle in the slime and
putrefaction which covers the bottom of Havana harbour.

Calmly, with the same observance of etiquette as if they had been
assisting at some social