Page:Under Dewey at Manila.djvu/283

Rh and the Isla de Cuba, each, of a thousand tons, carrying a mixed battery of ten guns, and manned by a hundred and sixty officers and men. There were also the General Lezo, mounting half a dozen guns, the Del Dueroe, and also the Spanish mail steamer, Mindanao, which had been hastily pressed into service as an auxiliary cruiser, with a battery of no mean proportions. Added to these vessels were four torpedo boats and the transport Manila. The total number of officers and men on the various vessels was estimated to be between eighteen and nineteen hundred—about a hundred more than in the American forces.

A word may be added concerning Admiral Patricio Montojo y Pasaron. He was not only the commander of the fleet, but also the commander at Cavite. He was an old and trained naval officer, known to be brave to the degree of rashness, and even by Americans it was felt that he was a foe fully worthy of Commodore Dewey's steel. The men beneath the Spanish admiral were as bold and hard fighters as himself. All in all, the coming contest was to be a battle of giants, and what the outcome of that mighty contest was to be no person at the outset could tell.