W. T. Sampson,

Rear Admiral United States Navy, Commander in Chief United States Naval Force, North Atlantic Station.  The Secretary of the Navy, Navy Department, Washington, D. C.

Burning of the Alfonso XII.

Two batteries silenced; two gunboats put to flight; the Alfonso XII., a transport of 5,000 tons, loaded with ammunition, beached and burned; those were the Spanish losses in the second battle of Mariel on Wednesday, July 6.  The Hawk, Prairie and Castine fought it, destroying the most valuable ship and cargo that Spanish daring employed to run into Havana’s relief after the blockading squadron stationed itself before Morro.

The Hawk began the battle Tuesday night off Havana.  Lieutenant Hood had taken his destroyer yacht far in under the guns to watch the western approach to the harbor.  Twenty minutes before midnight he reached the eastern limit of his patrol, six miles west of Morro, and went about, swinging farther in shore as he turned.  The Hawk had not finished circling when the forward lookout sighted a huge four-masted steamer creeping along in the shade of the shore a quarter of a mile nearer the beach, a mile to the westward.  His “sail ho” warned the master of the steamer that he was discovered and he put about at the cry and steamed furiously away toward Mariel.

Lieutenant Hood was after him in an instant.  Eastward within call lay six warships, but Lieutenant Hood wanted the steamer for his own prize, and started after her without calling for aid.  Mile after mile the two vessels reeled off, the Hawk waiting to get its prey well away from the squadron before striking.  Twenty miles from Morro the steamer began drawing away from the destroyer.  The Hawk’s men were at their quarters, and when Lieutenant Hood saw his prize slipping from his grasp his forward six-pounders began to speak.  Some of the shells must have landed, for the Spaniard ran for shoal water, apparently hoping to catch the Hawk among the rocks.

Lieutenant Hood was game, however, and the light-draught Hawk kept hammering away with her rapid-fire guns and burning signals for help from the bridge.  Two miles east of Mariel the hunted Spaniard broke for the narrow harbor mouth, and Lieutenant Hood’s jackies, pumping steel across the moonlit waters, groaned in the fear that she might escape.  The raining six-pound shells upset the pilot, however, and the fleeing ship struck hard on the bar at the west side of the entrance and stuck fast.  With wild cheers the Hawk’s crew tumbled into the boats and boarded the prize, but the steamer’s rail was lined with riflemen and the popping Mausers drove the Hawk’s tars back to their ship.