p and got killed in the best
possible shape. Six hundred of them died in less than thirty minutes,
so you can see that there was very little flinching on Cervera's ships.

"During the fight there were two very interesting moments, the
first when the four big cruisers of the enemy came outside of the
harbor, firing away with mechanical regularity and presenting a most
magnificent spectacle. They were not hitting anything, but that made
little difference at that time, they tried hard enough. As we closed
in, there came a moment when the fleeing Spanish ships had an almost
perfect chance to use their rams on our vessels. I submit now that
not a single one changed his course a single inch. They came out
of that harbor and ran away, and that was all they attempted to do,
fighting as they went.

"The second point was when 'Dick' Wainwright misread a signal. I
know he won't admit that he did misread it; however, I'll tell you
the incident. In the Gloucester Wainwright was just off the harbor
mouth when the two Spanish torpedo boat destroyers were noticed making
straight at him. The Indiana signaled 'The enemy's torpedo boats are
coming out.' Wainwright read it 'Close in and attack enemy's torpedo
boats,' and you know the rest of the story.

"There was a dramatic picture which I want to call your attention
to. It was after the Vizcaya had run ashore, and I had to stop the
Iowa, some 400 yards away. I saw the survivors on a sand bar, which
was merely a narrow strip of about 200 yards from shore, on either
side of a small inlet. On one side a school of hungry sharks were
making fierce rushes toward the men, and on the other, the Cubans were
shooting away, utterly regardless of the fact that they were fighting
a helpless foe. Out in front we were not supposed to be very friendly.

"Finally, I saw Captain Eulate, of the destroyed ship, coming toward my
vessel in a small boat. Now Eulate is what you call a black Spaniard,
one of those fellows that would cry as though his heart would break
every few minutes when in trouble. He sat in the stern of a small
boat that had belonged to his vessel. She was partly stove in and had
about a foot of water, or I should say blood and water, in her bottom.

"As I looked down in the gangway I think it was the most horrible
sight that I ever witnessed. In the bottom of the boat lay two dead
Spaniards, one with his head completely shot away. The Spanish Captain
was wounded in three places, and e