"Cervera's fleet was not there; it was already two weeks out from the Cape Verdes ; our squadron could move at very slow speed on account of the monitors; we were 1,000 miles from Havana, which had to be covered; the Flying Squadron, as far as we knew, was still north; we had no land force with which to hold the place, and no time to spare to await one if we were to look after Cervera—all those considerations made immediate movement westward imperative." So says Captain F. E. Chadwick, who was Sampson's chief-of-staff, as well as Captain of the New York, in a review of the navy's work written for Scribner's for November, 1898.

Back to Key West they went with the speed of a tow of coal barges. It was humiliatingnerve-destroying but once Key West was reached (May 18th), the Flying Squadron was found there—at least the Brooklyn, Massachusetts, and Texas were there, and the St. Paul, auxiliary cruiser, under Sigsbee from the Maine, was with them. Here were ships for a squadron fit to search for Cervera, but a new complication had arisen. Cervera had actually reached American waters. He had coaled at Curaçoa, and gone north toward Cuba.

The St. Paul was at once sent away to scout on the south coast of Cuba, while Schley, with the Brooklyn, Massachusetts, and Texas, was

ordered to Cienfuegos on the south coast. The Iowa was sent a day later to join him there, for Sampson was convinced that Cervera would go either to Cienfuegos or come by the east end of Cuba to race through the blockade and enter Havana. Schley sailed on May 19th.

Having sent Schley south, Sampson himself took the New York, the Indiana, the monitors Puritan, Miantonomoh, and Amphitrite, with the cruisers Cincinnati, Detroit, Montgomery, and a host of gun-boats and auxiliaries, and cruised away to Nicholas Channel on the north coast. It was on Saturday, May 21st, that he started east once more. In Nicholas Channel he awaited the enemy.

But this cruise, like the other, was in vain. The Spaniards had proved once more the adage that the timid slink more dangers than brave men run. On May 19th Cervera had entered Santiago harbor with his four beautiful cruisers and two destroyers, the third destroyer that he had brought over the sea having gone to San Juan, Porto Rico.

What was done when this fact was learned shall all be told in another chapter, save only that Sampson returned at once to Key West. When there a most welcome sight met his eyes, for the Oregon, all the way from San Francisco, had come (May 26th) to lend a hand in the work that was now to be done.

:

teen days, and she had 600 tons of coal still on
board when she arrived. A few trifling leaks
developed about her boiler-tubes, but they were
repaired without decreasing the speed of the
ship.

At Callao the machinery was entirely
overhauled-cleaned and adjusted. While this
was in progress the bunkers were refilled under
the eyes of two cadet engineers, "who took
twenty-four hours' watch at a time." The
engineers were at work on the machinery for
the same length of time without rest.

Meantime, "it was evident that war with Spain was inevitable," and "to guard against any treachery on the part of Spanish sympathizers," sentries were doubled and armed to shoot, while steam-launches were manned with armed crews and kept patrolling about the ship all night.

In the Straits of Magellan an increased speed was maintained, because a Spanish torpedoboat that had been in Montevideo was expected to appear from behind one of the many capes in the narrow waters; while the men stood at the rapid-fire guns to give her a hot welcome.

At Sandy Point, the Chilian settlement of the Strait, the machinery was again overhauled and more coal taken. Of the work here, Captain Clark wrote: "The spirit on board this ship can best be described by referring to instances such as the engineer-officers voluntarily