“It looks very much as if she were salvable. The _Almirante_ was much worse off. She had been subjected to a much heavier gun fire, being racked and torn in every part; she is much more out of water, and the forward part is much distorted and torn by the explosion of her magazine and torpedoes. The loss of life was very great. Charred bodies are strewn everywhere, the vicinity of the port forward torpedo-room, particularly, was almost covered. The torpedo exploded in the tube; it may be by a shot. This is a question which it is hoped may be conclusively decided. The fact of so many bodies being about would seem to bear this out, but two of her crew, taken off the beach this afternoon, were questioned, and both stated that it was the result of fire, and that the number of bodies is to be accounted for by the fact that the operating-room is just below, and that many wounded came up that far and were suffocated. The two men were intelligent young fellows, and talked freely. They said that the gun fire was such that it was impossible to keep the men at the guns. One was a powder passer, the other at a 57-mm gun. In the forward turret were two officers and five men, evidently killed by the entry of a 6-pounder shell between the top of the turret and the gun shield. Altogether the ship was a most striking instance of what rapid and well-directed gun fire may accomplish. She was terribly battered about. “While the flag-ship was lying near the _Almirante_, and her steam cutter was alongside, and a small boat from the press tug _Hercules_ lying on the starboard quarter, a shell exploded in a 15-centimetre gun, and a piece went through the tug’s boat, cutting it in two; the man in the boat was not hurt. It is somewhat extraordinary that this shell should have waited so long to act, as the after part of the ship was generally well cooled off. There was still much heat and some flames about the bow. One extraordinary fact is the survival, in proper shape, of many powder grains, baked hard; several of these were picked up about the deck. “A board has been ordered by the commander-in-chief to report in detail upon the stranded ships.” On the fifteenth of July Admiral Sampson made his official report, which is given in full: “U. S. FLAGSHIP NEW YORK, FIRST RATE, OFF SANTIAGO DE CUBA, CUBA, July 15, 1898. “_Sir_:—I have the honour to make the following report upon the battle with and the destruction of the Spanish squadron, commanded by Admiral Cervera, off Santiago de Cuba, on Sunday, July 3, 1898: “2. The enemy’s vessels came out of the harbour between 9.35 and 10 A. M., the head of the column appearing around Cay Smith at 9.31, and emerging from the channel five or six minutes later.