rangement there was at least a certainty would have speedily overhauled the Cristhat nothing would get out of the harbor tobal Colon. undetected.

From the moment the Spanish vessel exhausted her first burst of speed the result was never in doubt. She fell, in fact, far below what might reasonably have

Thirteenth. After the arrival of the army, when the situation forced upon the Spanish admiral a decision, our vigilance increased. The night blockading been expected of her. Careful measuredistance was reduced to 2 miles, and a battle-ship was placed alongside the search-light ship, with her broadside trained upon the channel in readiness to fire the instant a Spanish ship should appear. The commanding officers merit the greatest praise for the perfect manner in which they entered into this plan and put it into execution. The Massachusetts, which, according to routine, was sent that morning to coal at Guantanamo, like the others had spent weary nights upon this work, and deserved a better fate than to be absent that morning.

I enclose for the information of the department copies of orders and memoranda issued from time to time relating to the manner of maintaining the blockade. When all the work was done so well it is difficult to discriminate in praise. The object of the blockade of Cervera's squadron was fully accomplished, and each individual bore well his part in it, the commodore in command of the second division, the captains of ships, their officers and men. The fire of the battle-ships was powerful and destructive, and the resist ance of the Spanish squadron was in great part broken almost before they had got beyond the range of their own forts.

The fine speed of the Oregon enabled her to take a front position in the chase, and the Cristobal Colon did not give up until the Oregon had thrown a 13-inch shell beyond her. This performance adds to the already brilliant record of this fine battle-ship, and speaks highly of the skill and care with which her admirable efficiency has been maintained during a service unprecedented in the history of vessels of her class. The Brooklyn's westerly blockading position gave her an advantage in the chase which she maintained to the end, and she employed her fine battery with telling effect. The Texas and the New York were gaining on the chase during the last hour, and, had any accident befallen the Brooklyn or the Oregon,

ments of time and distance gave her an average speed, from the time she cleared the harbor mouth until the time she was run on shore at Rio Tarquino, of 13.7 knots. Neither the New York nor the Brooklyn stopped to couple up their forward engines, but ran out the chase with one pair, getting steam, of course, as rapidly as possible on all boilers. Το stop to couple up the forward engines would have meant a delay of fifteen minutes, or 4 miles in the chase.

Fourteenth. Several of the ships were struck, the Brooklyn more often than the others, but very slight material injury was done, the greatest being on board the Iowa. Our loss was one man killed and one wounded, both on the Brooklyn. It is difficult to explain this immunity from loss of life or injury to ships in a combat with modern vessels of the best type; but Spanish gunnery is poor at the best, and the superior weight and accuracy of our fire speedily drove the men from their guns and silenced their fire. This is borne out by the statements of prisoners, and by observation. The Spanish vessels, as they dashed out of the harbor, were covered with the smoke from their own guns, but this speedily diminished in volume and soon almost disappeared. The fire from the rapid-fire batteries of the battle-ships appears to have been remarkably destructive. An examination of the stranded vessels shows that the Almirante Oquendo especially had suffered terribly from this fire. Her sides are everywhere pierced and her decks were strewn with the charred remains of those who had fallen.

Fifteenth. The reports of Commodore W. S. Schley and the commanding officers are enclosed.

Sixteenth. A board appointed by me several days ago has made a critical examination of the stranded vessels, both with a view of reporting upon the result of our fire and the military features involved, and of reporting upon the chance

San Antonio, BATTLE OF, one of three parts of a general engagement fought on Aug. 20, 1847, between the Mexican and American troops, the others being known as the battles of Contreras and Churubusco. See MEXICO, WAR WITH.

of saving any of them and of wrecking rative of his early life under the title the remainder. The report of the board of From Forecastle to Cabin. will be speedily forwarded. Very respectfully, W. T. SAMPSON. Samuels, SAMUEL, seaman; born in Philadelphia, Pa., March 14, 1823; went to sea when eleven years old as cabin-boy, and advanced to merchant captain when twenty-one years old; commanded the Dreadnaught for several years; captain of the United States steamship John Rice in 186364; general superintendent of the quartermaster's department in New York City in 1864; commanded the McClellan at the taking of Fort Fisher in 1865; captain of the Fulton in 1866; the Henrietta yacht in her race from New York to Southampton; the Dauntless in her race with the Cambria from Queenstown to New York in 1870, and with the Comet in 1877. He organized the Samana Bay Company of Santo Domingo in 1872; and later was San Francisco, the commercial metropat the head of several large business enter- olis of California. On June 17, 1776, prises. Captain Samuels published a nar- two friars, Francisco Palou and Benito

San Diego, a city and county seat of San Diego county, Cal.; on San Diego Bay, which gives it importance as a port of entry, and ranks as the second bay on the Pacific coast for commercial purposes, San Francisco being the first. Cabrillo discovered the bay in 1542, and Father Junifero Serra made the first settlement here when, in 1769, he established the mission of San Diego, the earliest of the celebrated California missions. The present city was laid out on the magnificent water front in 1867.

Cambon, left Monterey with seven civil- filled with gold-seekers. The excitement ians and seventeen dragoons and their was so great that at one time 400 ships families, reaching, June 27, the place where they established the Spanish mission of San Francisco, Oct. 8, 1776. The settlement by Americans dates from 1836, when Jacob P. Leese, an American residing in Los Angeles, obtained from Governor Chico a grant of land in Yerba Buena, and built a small frame - house on present south restored, but in 1856 another vigilance

were in the harbor, which had been deserted by their crews. The usual conditions of a frontier mining town soon developed, and crime became so rampant that a vigilance committee was formed in June, 1851, which hung several murderers and banished many others. Order was soon

committee was organized, which did its work thoroughly.

side of Clay Street, west of Dupont, celebrating its completion by raising the American flag, July 4, 1836. In 1840 there San Francisco contains a larger numwere four Americans, four Englishmen, ber of Chinese than any other American and six other Europeans in Yerba Buena. city. They occupy a quarter of the city In January, 1847, the name was changed which is much visited by tourists. to San Francisco. The first steamer of The Mid-winter Exposition of 1894 the Pacific Mail Company reached San brought many thousands of visitors from Francisco Feb. 28, 1849, and the discovery the East, and since then San Francisco of gold in the same year brought hun- has been a favorite place for holding dreds of steamships and sailing vessels national and international conventions. In

August, 1847, the population was 459, and increased to 36,154 in 1852, owing to the discovery of gold. In 1860 it was 56,802; 1870, 149,473; 1880, 233,959; 1890, 298,997, and in 1900, 342,782.

San Jacinto, a river in Texas, on whose bank was fought the last battle of the Texan war for independence, April 21, 1836. See TEXAS.

San Jose, a city and county seat of Santa Clara county, Cal.; population in 1900, 21,500. In 1782 the Spaniards established a pueblo here, and on the adoption of the first constitution of California the State capital was located in the town.

Emperor of Germany, who decided in favor of the United States, in October, 1872. The island was evacuated by the British on Nov. 22, following.

San Juan, city, seaport, and capital of the island of Porto Rico. in the department of Bayamon, on a long and narrow island, separated from the main island at one end by a shallow arm of the sea, over which is a bridge connecting it with the mainland, which runs out at this point in a long sand spit some 9 miles in length, apparently to meet the smaller island; at the other end the island ends in a rugged bluff or promontory some hundred feet high and three-fourths of a mile distant from the main island. This promontory is crowned by Morro Castle, the principal fortification of the city. At this end of the island is the entrance to the harbor, with a narrow channel and rocky bottom, so close under the headland that one can almost leap ashore from a passing vessel. The water here is some 30 feet deep. To a mariner unacquainted with the locality, or when a norther is blowing, this entrance is one of difficulty and danger. After rounding the bluff one

finds a broad and beautiful bay, landlocked and with a good depth of water, which is being increased by dredging. It is by far the best harbor in Porto Rico, and probably as good a one as can be found in the West Indies.

The island upon which the city stands is shaped much like an arm and hand; it is about 24 miles long and averages less than one-fourth of a mile in width. The greatest width is a little over half a mile in the portion representing the hand, which also contains the major part of the city. San Juan is a perfect specimen of a walled town, with portcullis, moat, gates, and battlements. Built over 250 years ago, it is still in good condition and reSan Juan, a small island near Van- pair. The walls are picturesque, and couver's Island. The possession of this represent a stupendous work and cost island, commanding the strait between in themselves. Inside the walls the British Columbia and the United States, city is laid off in regular squares, was disputed, under conflicting interpreta- six parallel streets running in the directions of the treaty of Washington respect- tion of the length of the island and seven ing the boundaries, June 12, 1846. The at right angles. The houses are closely matter (by treaty of Washington, May 8, and compactly built, of brick, usually of 1871) was referred for arbitration to the two stories, stuccoed on the outside and

painted in a variety of colors. The upper Marina and Puerta de Tierra, containing

2,000 or 3,000 inhabitants each. There are also two suburbs-one, San Turce, approached by the only road leading out of the city; and the other, Cataño, across the bay, reached by ferry. The Marina

floors are occupied by the more respectable people, while the ground floors, almost without exception, are given up to negroes and the poorer class, who crowd one upon another in the most appalling manner. The entire population depends and the two suburbs are situated on upon rain-water, caught upon the flat roofs of the buildings and conducted to the cistern, which occupies the greater part of the inner court-yard that is an essential part of Spanish houses the world over, but that here, on account of the crowded conditions, is very small. There is no sewerage, except for surface water and sinks, while vaults are in every house and occupy whatever remaining space there may be in the patios not taken up by the cisterns. The streets are wider than in the older part of Havana, and will admit two carriages abreast. The sidewalks are narrow, and in places will accommodate but one person. The pavements are of a composition manufactured in England from slag-pleasant and even, and durable when no heavy strain is brought to bear upon them, but easily broken and unfit for heavy traffic. The streets are swept once a day by hand, and are kept very clean. Besides the town within the walls there are small portions just outside, called the

sandy points or spits, and the latter are surrounded by mangrove swamps. Onehalf of the population consists of negroes and mixed races. There is but little manufacturing, and it is of small importance. The Standard Oil Company has a small refinery across the bay in which crude petroleum, brought from the United States, is refined. Matches are made, some brooms, a little soap, and a cheap class of trunks. There are also ice, gas, and electric-light works. The climate is warm, but for three months of the year agreeable, although one is subject, from the sudden change, to colds and catarrh. The natives are particularly susceptible to this class of ailments, and to consumption and bronchitis.

According to the census taken by the United States War Department in 1899, the population of the city was 32,048. For military and naval operations connected with San Juan, see PORTO RICO; SPAIN, WAR WITH.