A shot from the left barrel.

"Splendid," cried the lieutenant; "that was a fine shot! But lower,
lower, we're merely shooting their upper plates to bits," and the gun
went on steadily firing.

The turrets on the starboard side were hit again and again, the hostile
shells bursting perpetually against their armored sides. As if struck by
electric discharges the gunners were continually thrown back from the
rumbling walls, and they were almost deaf from the fearful din, so that
all commands had to be yelled out at the top of the lungs.

The raging storm and the rough sea prevented the Americans from using a
part of their guns. While the explosive shells from the enemy's heavy
intermediate battery were able to demolish everything on deck and to
pass through the unarmored portions of the sides, working fearful havoc
in the interior and among the crew, the light American secondary battery
was compelled to keep silence.

An attempt had been made, to be sure, to bring the 7-inch guns into
action, but it proved of no avail. The gunners stood ready at their
posts to discharge the shells at the enemy, but it was utterly
impossible, for no sooner had they taken aim, than they lost it again as
the hostile ships disappeared in the foaming glassy-green waves that
broke against their sides. The water penetrated with the force of a
stream from a nozzle through the cracks in the plates and poured into
the casemates till the men were standing up to their knees in water. At
last the only thing that could be done was to open the doors behind the
guns in order to let the water out; but this arrangement had the
disadvantage of allowing a good deal of the water which had run out to
return in full force and pile up in one corner the next time the ship
rolled over, and on account of this perpetual battle with the waves
outside and the rolling water inside, it was impossible for the men to
aim properly or to achieve any results with their shots. It was
therefore deemed best to stop the firing here, and to have the gunners
relieve the men at the turret-guns, who had suffered greatly from the
enemy's fire. The men in charge of the completely demolished small guns
on the upper deck had already been assigned to similar duty.

We therefore had to depend entirely on our 12-inch and 8-inch guns in
the turrets, while the enemy was able to bring into action all his
broadside guns on the starboard side, which was only little affected by
the storm.