The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1898-10-11
THE SP0oK FLEET STORY.
a REPORT HI WAR OFFICE SAYS
DELAYED SHAFTER At TAMPA.

Tho Truth 10 That Lieut.. Switzerland nd
Sight y Squadron of WRrships, and Com
nnahdor Eaton of the Resolute Says He
Was Chased by -Four Mysterious Vessels.
WARRINGTON. Oct. 10.-The truth about the
incident which officials OF the army admins
tration have dubbed the spook feet affair. -
and which the War Department contends
caused Skaters departure from Tampa for
Santiago to BIO delayed for a week, came out
to-day through the mention In a newspaper
that Lieut.. W. II. II. Switzerland Of the gun
boat Eagle made the report which caused 30
much concern to the Government, right at a
time when every effort was being made to get
the Santiago expedition started. 1t has been
an open secret in naval circles that Lieut..
boutheriand was the officer who re ported that
no had seen four suspicious warships. pre-
sumably Spanish. cruising of the north coast
OF Cuba In tho track to be. followed by the
transports. For the reason that the profess
sional reputation OF q worthy and efficient
oficer might be injured by too much publicity
on the subject. the part played by Lieut..
Switzerland in the matter has been kept Sc
cret. and the whole truth Of the affair would
not now be told were II not for the attempt that
Will be made to prove to the War Department
commission OF Inquiry that Shafter would
have started from Tampa for Santiago at least
a week sooner than he did II Lieut.. Souther-
land had not fancied he saw the so-called
"spook fleet Of the enemy. Aside from the
merits OF the contention that Skater was de-
layed by Lieut.. Southerland's report. which
naval officers deny. holding that Shafter was
not even ready when the report was ascer-
tained to be erroneous. or. at least. not to APP
ply to Spanish warships. It Is contended by
those who are familiar with the facts in the
case that Lieut.. Switzerland did exactly right
in reporting that he had seen a squadron Of
warships. which. for various reasons, he be-
lieved were Spanish.
From a report just submitted to the Navy
Department by Lieut.. Switzerland and from
other information which a SUN reporter Sc
cured to-day it appears that the Eagles COM
mander was justified In making the report he
did. Furthermore. was learned that another
officer. older and m pro experience than
Lieut.. Switzerland. reported having seen the
same mysterious squadron. This officer Is
Commander JIG Eaton Of the auxiliary cruiser
Resolute. and the information he:furnished to
Commodore Watson, commanding the north
ern blockading squadron, tailed exactly with
that given by Lieut.. Switzerland. Commander
Eaton went even further than the Eagle's:com-
mander in reporting that he had been chased
by the four mysterious vessels.
The reasons that Lieut.. Switzerland had for
believing that he had sighted a Spanish squad
ron are given in his report. He says that at 9
p. NJ. June Z. a white light was seen bearing
N. N. W. The Eagle headed for it, but at the
same time the light disappeared. After run
ming some time without seeing anything the
chase was abandoned. At about 9:45 a light
was seen bearing north by east. half east.
Again the Eagle started in chase and made the
private night signal. displaying it for two min
IIfau durfn0 r-hinh kt~,a tha lt-LA
and the vessels, hull could be made out. No
answer was made to this signal, Five or ten
minutes slgnat ,n later rod the Eagle e repeated the night
chase displayed a white light and was imme-
diately, answered by the display OF three other
and to the westward. The Eagle, in the mean
time having approached at full speed. could
Eagle steamed within a distance Of a mile of
these vessels for over half an hour. During
the interval the vessels could be plainly made
The fact that the night signals were not an
sTered and the presence OF white stern lights.
enemies. The Eagle then turned to the west.
ward and fastened to Key West. Shortly af-
but this could not be seen from the deck.
shortly after her arrival at Key West the Res
olute reported having been chased by four yes;
sells a short time after the occurrence related
above. Naval officers say that the failure OF
the strangers to answer the private night sig
warships. and their failure to notice any signal
was sufficient reason to believe that they were
enemies. 1t has also been. shown to the Navy
Department that every officer and man OF the
actly what lieut., Switzerland reported, a re-
markable, coincidepce of opinion as sailors
are notorious for the habitual inclination to
dispute the views Of commanding officers OF
the vessels on which they sail.
The mystery Of the four suspicious war
ships remains a mystery to this day. The
Navy. Department, is convinced that those seen
by Lieut.. Southerland and Commander Eaton
were not SPANISH vessels. although a few on
GERS are inclined to believe that the squadron
seen was composed of the cruiser Isabel IL.
the auxiliary cruiser Alfonso NIL. the tor
pedo boat destroyer Terror, and one OF the
little Spanish gunboats that had escaped from
JJ aan, P %ns T KEGS, du Phme the W Tnp al rb at v SaR
most generally held at the Navy, Department
United States cruiser New Orleans. a foreign
built ship. and three other American vessels.
which were on their way to Santiago at the
time, But the New Orleans and her consorts
did not see either the Resolute or Eagle, and
both vessels were in plain siRnt OF the stran-
gers on a bright moonlight night and dis
played the private signals Of the American
naval service.