While the U. S. gunboat _Eagle_ was on the blockading route in the vicinity of the Isle of Pines, on the south Cuban coast, about five miles from the shore, she sighted the schooner _Gallito_, provision laden. She immediately gave chase, and the schooner ran in until about a quarter of a mile from the shore, when she dropped her anchor, and those aboard slipped over her side and swam ashore. Ensign J. H. Roys and a crew of eight men from the _Eagle_ were sent in a small boat to board the schooner. They found her deserted, and while examining her were fired upon by her crew from the beach. Several rifle-shots went through the schooner’s sails, but no one was injured. The _Eagle_ drew closer in, and sent half a dozen shots toward the beach from her 6-pounders, whereupon the Spaniards disappeared. The _Gallito_ was taken into Key West. _July 7._ Congress having passed resolutions to the effect that Hawaii be annexed to the United States, the President added his signature, and a new territory was thus added to the American nation. Secretary Long gave orders for the departure of the _Philadelphia_ from Mare Island for Hawaii. She was to carry the flag of the United States to those islands and include them within the Union. Admiral Miller, commanding the Pacific station, was charged with the function of hoisting the flag. _July 8._ Admiral Camara, commander of the Spanish fleet, which was bound for the Philippines, informed the Egyptian government that he had been ordered to return home, and would, therefore, reënter the Suez Canal. _July 12._ The auxiliary gunboat _Eagle_ sighted the Spanish steamer _Santo Domingo_, fifty-five hundred tons, aground near the Cuban coast, off Cape Francis, and opened fire with her 6-pounders, sending seventy shots at her, nearly all of which took effect. While this was going on, another steamer came out of the bay and took off the officers and crew of the _Santo Domingo_. When the men from the _Eagle_ boarded the latter they found that she carried two 5-inch and two 12-inch guns, the latter being loaded and her magazines open. The steamer had been drawing twenty-four feet of water and had gone aground in twenty feet. The men from the _Eagle_ decided that the steamer could not be floated, and she was set on fire after fifty head of cattle, which were on board, had been shot. The _Santo Domingo_ carried a large cargo of grain, corn, etc. While the steamer was burning, the vessel which had previously taken off the crew emerged from the bay, and tried to get off some of the cargo, but failed. The Spanish steamer burned for three days, and was totally destroyed. _July 17._ The cruiser _New Orleans_ captured the French steamer _Olinde Rodriguez_ off San Juan de Porto Rico, as she was trying to enter the port with passengers and a cargo of coffee and tobacco. The U. S. S. _Mayflower_ captured the British steamer _Newfoundland_ off Cienfuegos while the latter was trying to run the Cuban blockade.