ships under the sea, but its gunners, unable to face the Montgomery, fled under cover like prairie dogs.

The squadron was before the town for two hours. It was plain that a position could be taken just west of the Morro, out of range of the modern guns along the sea-front, where the city would be wholly at the mercy of our guns. The Spanish afterward admitted that they would have surrendered within an hour had we taken that position, although the real damage done by our shells was inconsiderable. But to take the town was useless so long as we had no men to land to hold it. As a matter of fact not one of our ships was fully manned, let alone providing a permanent landing party.

The marksmanship of the Spanish gunners was worse than at Manila. There was a zone about two miles from their forts, where the majority of their shell fell. In crossing this zone the New York and the Iowa were struck by a shell each. Frank Widemark was killed on the New York, and Samuel Feltman, Michael Murphy, Michael Sprown, and William Rapp were wounded. They were all near the eight-inch gun on the port side. On the Iowa G. Merkle, R. C. Hill, and John Mitchell were wounded. A man on the Amphitrite died of the heat in the stoke-hole. No damage was done to any of our ships.