prizes. On the 27th of April a brush took place between batteries
at Matanzas and some of the American vessels, without loss of
life on either side, except for a mule which bids fair to become
immortal in history through being reported by the Spanish as
their only casualty and the first of the war. Admiral Sampson,
following the tradition of the American Navy of aiming at a vital
spot, wished to attack Havana; and a careful study of its
fortifications seems to show that he would have had a good chance
of success. Chance, however, might have caused the loss of some
of his vessels, and, with the small margin of naval superiority
at its disposal the Naval War Board was probably wise in not
allowing him to take the risk.

* A patrol squadron of cruisers under Commodore Howell was also
established to protect the coast from the Delaware capes to
eastern Maine. "It can scarcely be supposed," writes Admiral
Chadwick, "that such action was taken but in deference to the
unreasoning fear of dwellers on the coast."


It was, in fact, Spain which took the initiative and decided the
matter. Her West India Squadron was weak, even on paper, and was
in a condition which would have made it madness to attempt to
meet the Americans without reenforcement. She therefore decided
to dispatch a fighting fleet from her home forces. Accordingly on
the 29th of April, Admiral Cervera left the Cape Verde Islands
and sailed westward with one fast second-class battleship, the
Cristobal Colon, three armored cruisers, and two torpedo boat
destroyers. It was a reasonably powerful fleet as fleets went in
the Spanish War, yet it is difficult to see just what good it