pieces.

"We were circling in line with the other ships when the 'Isla de
Cuba' swung around to give us a broadside. The guns in the port
battery got the range on the 'Isla de Cuba,' and sent in a shot
that struck in amidships and made her tremble from stem to stern.
I was watching at the porthole at the time. The other guns of the
'Boston' followed the example of the port gunner, and for a few
minutes it seemed that the 'Isla de Cuba' was crumbling to pieces
like a falling building in an earthquake. We turned, and the
starboard guns did equally good work, and when the Spanish flag
came tumbling down we let out a yell that was heard around the
world, figuratively speaking, if not literally.

"I can never forget the scene after the battle. The forts were
smoking, and scattered all through the bay were the hulks of once
magnificent Spanish ships. Some were drifting helplessly about,
as though the men on board seemed not to know what to do and had
lost their heads entirely. Rigging was trailing in the water and
only remnants remained of the lifeboats. Over at one end of the
bay was the wreck of the once magnificent 'Reina Cristina.'
Further along were smoking hulks, and here and there could be
seen only the masts and rigging above water.

"To add to the horror of the scene, hundreds of corpses came
floating by, and it seemed as though the bay was full of dead
Spaniards, although I believe less than a thousand were killed. I
really think that the sight in the harbor that afternoon
impressed men more with the horrors of war than did anything
which occurred during the actual battle.

"During all the fight my men, except for a little while during
the interval for breakfast, were stripped to the bare skin and
wore only their shoes. The thermometer was over one hundred, and
to this was added the heat of the fire of the guns, until it made
one's blood fairly boil."

The plan of action was for the fleet to revolve in a great circle or
ellipse before the delivering their fire from starboard and port
batteries alternately. The first shot from the "Olympia" was a
250-pound shell, aimed at the Cavite fort, and discharged with a shout
from all hands, "Remember the Maine!" After two hours' fighting the
fleet withdrew for breakfast, returning to action in about two hours,
and af