The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1898-06-04
sIGsBEE AT SANTIAGO.
behed Spanish Batteries and Saw the
Spanish Cruisers.


New York, June 3.-The United States
auxiliary cruiser st. Paul, Captain
Sigsbee commanding, came into port
carry today. Captain SigSbee went
ashore and thence proceeded to the
navy yard. Captain Sigsbee refused to
De interviewed regarding the recent
service of his ship in the vicinity of
Santiago de Cuba. at which port, it has
been said, Captain Sigsbee ran the st.
Paul into the mouth of the harbor and
OBTAINED the first definite information
of the presence there of the Spanish
Admiral Cervera'S squadron.
After visiting Commodore Bunce at
the navy yard, Captain Sigsbee re-
lapsed from his reserve sufficiently to
say TO reporter:
Il had target practice right along
from the first day arrived at Santiago,
on May %, and while none of my men
have been in the service long, L am
well satisfied with their work at the
guns.
I'VE have not been in any fight so far,
but my men will give a good account
of themselves. 1t was on the 25th we
captured the Restormel / knew that
the Spaniards needed coal very badly,
and L made every effort to see that they
did not get it.
while off Santiago with Schley, 1
saw two more Spanish cruisers, and
Schley saw two torpedo boats There is
no question that they are bottled up as
tight as can be in Santiago harbor.
went in so close that mace
sketches of their Notifications, which
I am sending to Washington.
Their guns could easily have reach
ed me, but the batteries made no at
tempt to fire, for what reason I do not
know. It may be the Spaniards did not
want to reveal the strength and loca-
tim IF I q crnir n WASH
ington with dispatches from the fleet,
and as soon as we have coaled End pro-
visioned, we shall put TO sea again.
This probably will not be for three or
four days.
''As soon as I arrived outside the
harbor Of Santiago, there were indica-
lions Of Cervera's fleet on the inside,
beyond the hills.
81 Rugged the mouth of the harbor
so closely that it would have been i'm
possible for anything afloat to sneak
out without our seeing them.
at was either the third or fourth day
after our arrival that l saw two Span
ISL vessels. which I was sure were the
Vizcaya and the Cristobol Colon. They
crept cautiously into the stream and
got to the middle of the channel. AS
soon as they caught sight of me they
scampered back as rapidly as they
could steam.
As soon as we arrived OH the HdTDOT
l ar2ounced my presence by the cour-
tesy Of a. salute, taking as target one
of the Spanish forts. The fort evil
IDENTIFY did not intend to accord me the
courtesy due in return, for its guns re-
manned silent. When I was satisfied
with the practice my men had had,
steamed the ST. Paul out of range, and
resumed scout duty outside the mouth
of the harbor.
at was directly under the guns of a
fort. and within easy range that 1 took
the RestormeI, with 2,400 tons of coal
aboard.
'"This coal was evidently intended for
the Spanish fleet, and for the Restormel
to run our blockade and enter Santiago
harbor would of itself have been good
evidence that the Spanish were there.
We had to fire several shots at her be-
fore she hove to. l put a prize crew
aboard, and sent the collier to Key
West -