Evening star., 1898-12-28
THE SANTIAGO CHANNEL.
shafter's Plan to Open Way for
Sampson's Fleet.

THE SANTIAGO CHANNEL.
Skaters Plan to Open Way for
Sampson's Fleet.
From the New York World
On the I'd of July General Shafter cabled
the War Department that it would be alb
solutely necessary for the navy to force
an entrance into the harbor of Santiago,
engage the Spanish feet and cooperate
with the army in its final reduction of the
city. This cablegram was Incorporated in
Admiral SIMPSONS report The following
day Cerveras S feet left the harbor, and was
destroyed.
Again General Shafter told Admiral
Sampson that he ought to force an entrance
with one of his vessels and clear the chan
mel 50 as to allow the feet to follow His
desire was to lessen the enormous loss of
life that would follow a general assault on
the Spanish trenches. The presence of the
fleet in the harbor would have hastened the
surrender and saved the army from the
loss of life caused by protracted exposure
in the trenches.
Sampson Refused.
Still Admiral Sampson refused to risk the
loss of one of his ships
1t was then that General Shafter tele-
graphed the War Department that if neces-
sary he would send in transports for the
purpose of clearing the channel of mines
and opening a path for the navy to enter,
without any other danger than the fire
from the land batteries.
The answer of the War Department. as
published in the World, with the sugges-
ton to use baled bay as protection was
received by General Shafter on July g. or
three days after thessdestruction of the
Spanish fleet. no 3N
Instead of sending for the hay. as sug-
gested, Shafter ealled1Colonel Humphreys,
chief of the q1rnrtern1aster's department,
confided to him his PLAN and selected him
for the extremely dangerous mission of
seeing it carried8out. tHhere was to be no
general call for volunteers.
Col. Humphreys first step to select
suitable steamen and a pilot sufficiently
familiar with. the channel 10 take the boat
in. After carefal study the transport
Aransas was chosen as filling, all the re-
quirements. She fhaa a good. strong huh;
her light drauSht would permit her to run
over any ground ninaS without coming in
contact with them. Furthermore. she was
the only vessel in tie fleet with twin
screws. necessary ito insure quick maneuv-
ering in The tortaauss ehannelaiy- IL
Familiar with Channel.
Capt. Faircloth, commanding one of the
transports was thoroughly familiar with
the channel. and volunteered to steer ir
the ship His terms We're a few thousand
dollars, to be paid his wife IN case of death.
Gen. Shafter readily assented ,te pay the
amount. for. he said. "Everybody who
goes aboard will stand more chances of
pelns killed than of coming through alive"
That Iobson had succeeded in forcing the
Merrimac so far into the harbor before
SINKING her was good argument in favor
or the plan: The failure of the batteries or
mines to destroy her was proof that the
Aransas could repeat the exploit push
further in and drag the channel at the
same time. AS subsequently, proved. the
strength of the land batteries and the num-
no oh
overestimated. At that time the army and
navy We're in ignorance of the exact state
OF the defenses, and some hesitation was
shown before ordering men to what ap-
peared 10 De certain destruction.
Cant. Hrice Volunteers.
Capt. Stewart M. Rrice. commissary Off
Ger of Skaters staff. Immediately voIun-
teered and was accepted. Humphreys then
selected dozen more trusted officers and
men, mostly of the staff
The secret of the expedition was confided
to the writer of this article, and he was
asked to form one of the party. The offer
was accepted.
Every one of these men was willing to
sacrifice his life in the endeavor to hasten
the surrender and prevent loss of life incl
dent to assault OF sickness.
secrecy was enJoined on everybody. and
the secret would still have been kept if the
War Department had not published the
the plan
The transport was prepared for the des-
perate rush through The men were noti-
fled that their services would probably be
required on the night of July 10, and every
thing was in readiness. ~
At the last minute Gen. Shafter received
information that the Spanards would GER
tainly surrender. He then forbade the ex-
ecution of the plan. The picked crew was
still anxious to carry out the program, but
the general refused to risk so many lives.
He believed his point could be gained with
out that risk.
This is the exact inside history of a plan
that. II carried out, would have rivaled the
exploit of Hobson and opened the way for
ried out, have fallen on the 10th instead of
the 17th.
Col. Humphreys (now brigadier generaD
and Capt. Stewart NJ. Brice showed their
courage in the conception and development
of the plan.
GEORGE BRONSON REA.