The record-union., 1898-05-30

the batteries opened fire on two Amer
lean warships lying off the harbor. The
firing began at Il o'clock and lasted
until l:30 p. m. The ships probably
We're the Harvard and the cruiser Min
neapolls, though not certain. At mid
night, the next day, he saw the lights
OF seven ships, about seventy miles
south, one-half west of Santiago de Gu
ba, and believed they were the Span
lsh Meet Tor the next. day, when he
arrived at Kingston, there was a cable
gram announcing the arrival of the
fleet there. He saw nothing of the
American ships. He had been told that
the Spanish ships only stayed there for
a day and then left.
Perhaps the most important inforna-
uon Dy MN was that given by pilots
al Clen1uegos and Santiago who, of
course, may not be entirely reliable
he SAID that twenty-seven electric
mines mad been laid in Cienfuegos har-
Dor, but that they did not work well
ana that the electric connections We're
broken ana the mines would be fixed
so as to explode by contact. He did
not know the position of the mines.
When he was in the harbor a week ago
tnere was enc torpedo boat which had
been somewhat damaged in an en-
counter with the Eagle, one of the
united States auxiliary gunboats, and
TWO gunooatS about the size of a large
tug The harbor of Santiago had
about tWenty-one electric mines in it
and the place from which they were
worked was a low thatched hut on the
west side Of the entrance. 300 wards
inside. There were no contact mines
there that he knew of.
The Adula was allowed to oo ineida
and running up to the entrance to Glen
fuegos sIgnaled for a guide. One of
the little gunbOats ran out. taking care
to keep in the lee of the neutral YES
sci and in few minutes after party
guided 1t IN. The statement of those
on board the British ship led Commo-
dore Schley to take a different view of
the matter and instead of running right
on to Santiago he concluded to remain
at Cienfuegos and investigate the har-
Dor, believing that if not already hidden
they would come along the coast
The harbor is very deep and runs in
behind the hills. 1t is reached by two
sharp turns, thence up a narrow pas
sage only wide enough for a single ship
every hour to hear from the Minneapo-
lis or the Harvard and in the mean
time thought it wise to wait until the
British steamer came out, suspecting
that perhaps they might not let him
come out, which would indicate the
presence of the enemy The Hawk
was sent to Key West with dispatches
and mail.
On Tuesday, May 9th, the officers
and men were routed out of their quar-
ters in hurry, the officer of the deck
having announced that smoke of three
steamers on the horizon to the south
was visible. The alacrity and the en-
thusiasm with which the men got to
the guns was remarkable. When the
ships hove ''hulls up on the horizon
they proved to be the United States
cruiser Marblehead and the two con-
verted yachts Eagle and Vixen The
Marblehead brought out mail and tele-
grams. Commander McCalla told
Commodore Schley that the shore sig
nails which the fleet saw Monday were
from the insurgents, who had agreed
with him before he left the locality to
communicate. AT this writing Com
modore Sehley believes the Spanish
feet 80 be IN the vicinity of Cienfuegos
and an attempt to force an entrance
into the harbor may be made tonight.
Commodore Schley's belief of the To-
cality of the fleet is that there is rail-
road connection with Havana and none
from Santiago; that the fleet came
here as soon as they found that the
blockade had been raised by the Unit
ed States fleet prior to the arrival of
the flying squadron.
The squadron is now heavy and for
midable one.
Three thousand rounds of ammuni-
tiOn were transferred to the Marble
head this morning and there was an at
tempt made to land it.