The Spaniards made a daring venture, and with a less vigilant foe they might have succeeded.  It was known in the fleet that General Shatter was closing in on the city and that Admiral Cervera’s position was desperate, but it was supposed that he would remain in the harbor and train his guns on the American land forces as long as possible, and that he would blow up his ships rather than allow them to fall into the hands of the enemy.  It is certain that Admiral Sampson did not expect Cervera to make a break for liberty, although the American commander has known for several days that the sinking of the Merrimac did not completely block the channel entrance to Santiago harbor.

At 9:35 on Sunday morning the flagship New York, with Admiral Sampson on board, was many miles to the eastward, bearing the admiral to a conference with General Shafter.  The fleet as a whole was much farther off shore than usual.  Any one looking seaward from Morro Castle and seeing the distant specks on the water would not have realized that the port was effectively blockaded.  Evidently the Spaniards had been waiting for the American fleet to become thus scattered.  They thought our fleet was napping, and that this was the time to make a quick exit and start homeward.

Very soon after the New York had started to Siboney the shore batteries opened fire on the American fleet.  As the vessels were practically out of range and not in the usual line formation this firing from the shore caused some surprise.  In the first place, these batteries had been shelled the day before, and it was supposed that they had been silenced, and in the second place it seemed foolish of the Spaniards to undertake haphazard firing.

At that time the vessels of the blockading squadron were at varying distances of from three to ten miles from the harbor entrance.  Most of the American cruisers were at the usual Sunday morning quarters, and not one ship was really prepared for immediate action.  Almost as soon as the batteries opened fire a Spanish cruiser, the Cristobal Colon, was seen to emerge from the channel entrance and head toward sea, firing her forward battery as she came.  Then the signals hurried from one ship to another, and on every American vessel there was a rush of activity.  In every engine room there was a signal for full speed.  The entire fleet began to move in toward the shore, heading for the channel entrance.  At 9:45 the Oquendo slipped out of the channel.  By this time the Cristobal Colon had turned to the west, and with a good headway was attempting to slip past the blockaders.  The Maria Teresa, the Vizcaya, the two torpedo-boat destroyers, the Furor and the Pluton, and a gunboat were all clear of the channel entrance and racing for liberty when the American vessels opened fire at long range.  The Brooklyn, Massachusetts, Texas, Oregon and Iowa bore down upon the Spaniards and opened fire, but they were too far away to get a good range.  As for the Spaniards, they began to shoot as soon as they came out of the harbor and continued to blaze away until they were utterly defeated, but they showed poor judgment and bad marksmanship.