Seventy went down to death as did those on the _Maine_, while Sampson and more than a score of others, after being blown a hundred feet through the air, saved themselves by swimming until they were picked up.

Sampson was commissioned as lieutenant commander in 1866, was at the Naval Academy from 1868 to 1871, cruised for two years in European waters and first commanded the _Alert_ in 1874.

Appointed to the superintendency of the Naval Academy in 1888, he held the situation for four years.
With the construction of the new navy, Sampson commanded in turn two modern ships, the cruiser _San Francisco_ and the battleship _Iowa_.

He was a close student of ordnance matters, gave special attention to torpedo work and was chief of the Bureau of Naval Ordnance from 1893 to 1897.

There can be no question of his fine ability nor that, had the opportunity presented, Rear Admiral Sampson, as he had become, would have proven himself among the foremost officers in our navy.