Page:Under Dewey at Manila.djvu/70

48 up, and the docks were lined with people, while rescue boats put out from all directions.

"The shock came without an instant's warning. Captain Sigsbee was seated in his cabin, writing a letter to his wife, while many of the officers and sailors had retired for the night, when there came a deafening report, followed by thick volumes of smoke and a shower of iron piping and splinters, and then the vessel began to sink, her heavy structure and armor plate twisted, bent, and broken like a battered wash-boiler.

"The officers who were below, and who had escaped serious injury, rushed or rather swam on deck, only to find themselves in a mass of wreckage from which it was almost impossible to extricate themselves. The explosion occurred close to the men's quarters, and but few of the gallant jackies got out alive. One ladder leading from the rear torpedo compartment was literally jammed with men struggling for life.

"Fortunately the Alfonso XII. was lying close by, and a powerful searchlight was speedily turned upon the scene. The steamer City of Washington, also close at hand, sent out all her boats and brought in a great number of those swimming about,