wide, the waters within being little less in depth than the ocean. The city is situated on the southeastern shore of the bay, directly at the point of its greatest width. Founded by the Spanish adventurer Legaspi in 1571, it still retains many vestiges of its age, notably its old wall and moat, the cathedral and other ancient buildings, many of which have been sadly mutilated by earthquakes.

When the fleet had approached to a point about ten miles from the city, a detour was made in order to drop the supply ships, the McCulloch being left as convoy. At five o'clock the light in the east was sufficient to reveal the position of the fleet to the waiting enemy, and a few minutes later the great guns of the shore batteries sounded the challenge. Their aim, however, was so poor that the American ships made no reply, but steamed coolly, as if in a peace maneuver, toward the city of Manila. To its people, these grey messengers sent terror to the thousands of people who thronged the walls and the housetops. They expected nothing less than that the guns of the fleet would be turned upon their city, an expectation that the proclamation of Governor-General Augusti, in which he stigmatized the Americans as "social excrescences, guilty of outrages against the laws of nations and international conventions," had tended to foster. Nevertheless, in spite of the furious firing from the fortresses near Manila no

See Halstead, Spanish-American War for full translation, p. 99.

VOL. X-8

reply was made, and soon the watchers in the city beheld the fleet turn back on its course and steam toward Cavité, where the Spanish fleet was drawn up in battle order.

There were worse dangers for Dewey's ships, however, than shells from the shore batteries, for as the flag-ship bore down upon Sangley Point, behind which the Spanish ships were huddled, there was a sudden shock, an upheaval of the water, followed immediately by another; sufficient proof that the vaunted torpedoes of the harbor were, after all, not a myth. It is true that they were too far away to do any injury, yet too near to be comfortable, and ominously suggestive of more to follow. Yet there was no hesitation; silently and inexorably, the American warships swept unscathed toward the Spanish fleet.

Cavité, the arsenal of the Spanish forces in the Philippines is situated on the southern extension of a doublepronged peninsula, extending some five miles into Manila Bay. The two prongs at the end and the long strip of land itself form two bays, Cañacao and Bacoor. The Spanish admiral had anchored his ships across Cañacao, stationing the weaker vessels in the shallower waters of Bacoor. His fleet consisted of seven cruisers and three smaller gunboats, aggregating 13,351 tons displacement, and 110 guns (against which were opposed the 19,098 tons and 137 guns of the American fleet), and was arranged in line of battle as follows: Reina Chris

tina, Castilla, Don Juan de Austria, Don Antonio de Ulloa, Isla de Luzon, Isla de Cuba, Marques del Duero, El Cano, Velasco, and General Lezo.*

It was a half hour after the Spanish guns had opened upon their opponents that the order was given to return their fire. Throughout the battle Commodore Dewey stood on the forward bridge of the Olympia and by his side its captain, Gridley. He perceived that the strain of waiting, intensified by the terrific heat of the Philippine May morning, was beginning to tell on the men, so when a range of about three miles had been attained, he called to the captain of the flagship: "If you are ready, Gridley, you may fire." At his word one of the 8-inch guns in the forward turret roared forth its salute of death to the Spanish fleet. At the sound of the great gun, it is said that the shout "Remember

the Maine " rang out on all of the ships, and soon the guns of the whole fleet were in play. The firing from both fleets became more and more furious as the distance between them lessened; the American ships steaming back and forth in front of the Spanish line, delivering terrific broadsides now from the port, and again

from the starboard batteries.

At 7 o'clock, in apparent desperation, the Spanish flag-ship, the Christina, slipped her cables, and with splendid audacity, steamed out toward the American vessels. She became, immediately, the target for

*Maclay, History of the United States Navy, vol. iii., pp. 205-206.

every available gun of the fleet, and soon the effects of the fearful punishment she was receiving became apparent. For a while she staggered forward, the escaping steam from her injured machinery and the clouds of smoke from her hatches revealing how desperately wounded she was. At last aware of the folly of further effort, and in immediate danger of sinking, the ship was put about and made for the shallow water as fast as the crippled engines could propel her. Even in her death struggle, she was not to go unscathed, for before the survivors could escape, an 8-inch shell from the Olympia exploded in the engine-room, making havoc of the already ruined vessel, killing wounded and unwounded, and starting a fire that was soon beyond control. Orders were given to sink her, and the other ships closed around to pick up the survivors, among them Admiral Montojo, who was severely wounded.

While the attention of the fleet was held by the daring but foolhardy maneuver of the Christina, two small launches put out from Cavité, purposing, apparently, to attack the Olympia with torpedoes.* But the fate of the great cruiser was theirs also. They became in a few moments centres of a perfect storm of shells from the secondary batteries of the ships, one being sunk, and the other driven to the shore.

* Dewey, Official report of the battle of Manila. Maclay in his History of the United States Navy maintains that these torpedo-boat attacks were mythical. See vol. iii., pp. 177-178.