CERVERA Y TOPETE, Pascual, ba'ra a to-pa'ta, Spanish naval officer: b. ince of Jerez, 18 Feb. 1833; d. Puerto Real, Spain, 3 April 1909. He was of noble birth on his mother's side. He was graduated at the Naval Academy of San Fernando; entered on active service in 1851; served against Morocco and was made first lieutenant in 1859; captain in 1868; and admiral subsequently. He was a prominent factor in the 10-years' war in Cuba, when he succeeded in blockading the ports and preventing the landing of was sent to London as a representative of Spain to take part with other nations in a conference bearing on naval questions of international importance; and commanded the fleet sent against the ican squadron operating in Cuban waters after the declaration of war in 1898. He took refuge in the inner harbor of Santiago de Cuba, and when, on 3 July, he attempted to escape, under imperative orders from his superiors, his entire fleet was destroyed by the squadron under the official command of Rear-Admiral Sampson and the actual command (in the temporary absence of that officer) of Rear-Admiral Schley.
miral Cervera and his surviving officers were sent to Annapolis, Md., as prisoners of war, and soon afterward were released and allowed to return to Spain. He was a man of cultured and genial manners, of a kindly disposition and was a gallant officer and received many official courtesies at the hands of his captors. Consult Spanish American War' (trans. from the Spanish, Washington 1899) and Cervera y i Topete, Views Regarding the Spanish Navy in the Late War' (Washington 1898); Alger, R. A., The Spanish American War.'