About three o'clock
It was at any rate a slight victory which greatly raised the spirits of the crews of the gunboats . Within the next few hours the Americans caught up with a few Malayan sailing ships , to which they paid no attention ; later on a little black freight steamer , apparently on the way from Borneo to Manila , came in sight . The little vessel worked its way heavily through the water , tossed about by the ever increasing swell . About three o'clock the strange ship was near enough for its flag -- that of Holland -- to be recognized . Signals were made asking her to bring to , whereupon an officer from the _ Mindoro _ was pulled over to her in a gig . Half an hour later he left the _ Rotterdam _ , and the latter turned and steamed away in the direction from which she had come . The American officer had informed the captain of the _ Rotterdam _ of the blockade of Manila , and the latter had at once abandoned the idea of touching at that port .