largely of the green recruits under the command of Second Lieutenant John Twiggs Myers, were shooting accurately enough to cause Captain Glass to smile pleasantly. By the time the convoy crossed the 180th meridian, the officers and men felt they were ready for the enemy. Capture On June 20, Captain Glass arrived off the shore of Guam, and he noticed that the only ship in the harbor was a Japanese ship that was trading copra. Many of the men on USS Charleston were disappointed that there were no Spanish ships to engage. As the cruiser proceeded on its way, a small group of curious inhabitants gathered on the shores of Piti, a landing place down the bay. These locals were aware of the presence of the American vessels, for they had been sighted early that morning. All of the important citizens of Guam were there with the exception of the governor, Don Juan Marina. The chief officials present were a lieutenant commander of the navy and captain of the port, Don Francisco Gutiérrez, Don José Romero, naval surgeon, and Captain Pedro Duarte Andurra of the marine corps, and José Sixto, civil paymaster. Among the prominent civilians at the beach were Francisco Portusach, the leading merchant of Guam, and his brother José Portusach. While the gathering was looking curiously at the cruiser and the three transports, Charleston fired 13 rounds at the old Spanish fortress from three of her guns. There was no return fire, and there was no apparent damage to the fort. Pedro Duarte turned to his companions and said that the ship must be saluting the fort, so he hurriedly dispatched a messenger to Agana, the capital, which was about away, requesting the governor to send artillery to Piti to return the salute. The captain of the port, the naval surgeon, and a native Chamorro named José Paloma got into a boat furnished by Francisco Portusach and went out to welcome the visitors. José Portusach went along with the party to act as interpreter. When they finally got aboard the deck of Charleston, Glass immediately informed them that war had been declared between the U.S. and Spain. The Spanish officials were amazed when they heard this and the news that they were now prisoners of war, because no dispatches or mail had arrived since April 9 to enlighten them. They were then paroled for the day when they