arriving at guantánamo bay via charleston 25 june, "hist" joined the blockading fleet off santiago de cuba on the 29th. the following day was a memorable one. that morning, in company with "hornet", "hist" captured the spanish schooner "nickerson". their prize in tow, the two ships were joined by "wompatuck" and the column headed for manzanillo bay. on their way. they engaged a spanish gunboat, which they sank, and were fired on by shore troops at niguero. reaching manzanillo, the three american vessels engaged an enemy torpedo boat, four gunboats, four pontoons, a battery of field artillery, enemy troops firing from the shore, and a spanish-held fort. when the smoke and fire lifted after an hour and 40 minutes of sharp fighting, "hornet" had been disabled but towed to safety by "wompatuck", "hist" had been hit 11 times; the spanish had received the worst of the battle, losing a gunboat, a pontoon, and a sloop loaded with troops as well as suffering serious damage to the gun and torpedo boats. no american casualties resulted.