Admiral Dewey preferred to remain on the bridge--and there were four fragments of Spanish shells that passed close to him, striking within a radius of fifteen feet.

The Admiral, when told there had been some remark because he had not occupied the conning-house in the action, walked with me to the tower, the entrance to which is so guarded that it resembles a small cavern of steel--with a heavy cap or lid, under which is a circular slit, through which observations are supposed to be made.

"Try it," the Admiral said, "and you find it is hard to get a satisfactory view." He added, when I had attempted to look over the surroundings: "We will go to the bridge;" and standing on it he annotated the situation, saying: "Here you have the whole bay before you, and can see everything." I remarked: "The newspaper men are very proud of the correspondent of the Herald who was with you on the bridge;" and the Admiral said: "Yes; Stickney was right here with us." There were many reasons for the officer commanding the American fleet that day to watch closely the developments.

The Spaniards had, for their own purposes, even falsified the official charts of the bay.

Where our vessels maneuvered and the flagship drew twenty-two feet of water and had nine feet under the keel, the chart called for fifteen feet only! It is not a secret that the President wanted Admiral Dewey, if it was not in his opinion inconsistent with his sense of duty, to go to Washington.