Personal impressions in battle have been described in prose and poem
until the subject is hackneyed, but it may be of interest to note that
the impressions experienced by the novices in naval warfare manning the
"Yankee," during the bombardment of Santiago, consisted mainly of one
feeling. It was well-voiced by "Hod," who said many days later:

"I felt just as I did one time when I attended Barnum's circus in
Madison Square Garden. They had three rings, two platforms, a lot of
tight-ropes and trapezes and other things all going at the same time.
Before I had been in the place three minutes I was wishing for a hundred
eyes. And that is the way I felt at Santiago."

What we saw of the bombardment was limited to the range of our gun port,
but that little was worth all the hardships and toil and discomforts of
the whole cruise. The spectacle of the fleet itself was almost enough.
To see the great ships ploughing through the water, each enveloped in a
shroud of smoke, shot here and there with tinges of ruddy flame; to see
that mighty line swinging and swaying in front of the enemy; to see the
shells land and explode in fort and battery; to see the great gaps torn
in cliff and earthworks; to see the geyser-like fountains of water spout
up here and there as the Spanish shells struck the surface of the
bay--to see all this, and to hear the accompanying thunder and
booming of the guns, was payment in full for coal handling and
standing watch and "Government straight." Not one of the "Yankee" boys
would have missed the spectacle for anything earth could offer.

[Illustration: ON THE GUN DECK DURING THE BOMBARDMENT]

During the second hour of the attack we were enabled to observe the work
being done by other vessels of the fleet. Near us was the gallant "New