With the construction of the new navy, Sampson commanded in turn two modern ships, the cruiser San Francisco and the battleship Iowa.  He was a close student of ordnance matters, gave special attention to torpedo work and was chief of the Bureau of Naval Ordnance from 1893 to 1897.  There can be no question of his fine ability nor that, had the opportunity presented, Rear Admiral Sampson, as he had become, would have proven himself among the foremost officers in our navy.  It was a great personal misfortune that he happened to be absent from the front of Santiago when the Spanish fleet made its venture, but it must not be forgotten that, in anticipation of such action, he had planned the battle that was fought by the American ships.

[Illustration:  VIEW OF CHARLESTON HARBOR, SHOWING THE SUNKEN VESSELS.]

Winfield Scott Schley was born in Frederick, Md., October 9, 1839, and was graduated from the Naval Academy at the beginning of the Civil War.  After brief service on the storeship Potomac he was promoted to master in 1861, and served on the Winona, of the West Gulf blockading squadron, 1862-63.  He there gained a taste of real war and performed a number of exploits which proved his coolness and daring.  He received honorable mention for his services in the engagements which led to the capture of Port Hudson.  He was commissioned lieutenant in July, 1862, and was executive officer of the Wateree from 1864 to 1865, having been made lieutenant commander in July, 1866, after which he spent three years again at the Naval Academy, serving as instructor of modern languages.

Admiral Schley has done brilliant service outside of what is generally considered the routine duty of his profession.  When he was in Eastern waters in 1864 he landed 100 men, who protected the American consulate when threatened during a native insurrection among the natives of the Chin-Chi Islands.  His most famous exploit was the rescue of the Greely Arctic expedition.  In 1881 Lieutenant Adolphus W. Greely commanded an expedition of twenty-five men, which established an observation station at the farthest point in the polar regions then attained.  The expedition, when in a starving condition and with only seven men alive, was rescued at Cape Sabine, Grinnell Land, in 1884 by Captain Schley.  He was rewarded for this service by a gold medal from Congress and promoted by President Arthur to chief of the Bureau of Equipment and made captain in 1888.

[Illustration:  COMMODORE WINFIELD SCOTT SCHLEY.]

After resigning this position Captain Schley commanded the cruiser Baltimore, which bore the remains of Ericsson, the great Swedish inventor, to his native land, whose king presented Schley with a gold medal in recognition of this service.  He won the commendation of the Navy Department for his tactful success in settling threatened trouble over the stoning of a number of American sailors from the Baltimore by a party of Chilians at Valparaiso.  Commodore Schley is a fine tactician, possesses a winning personality and his work with the Brooklyn, off Santiago, on July 3, was neither more nor less than his friends expected of him.