The evening times., 1898-06-04
.HOWCERVERA WAS TRAPPED
Santiago Bay Purpesely Left
Unguarded for q Day.
STORY OF ST. PAUL'S OFFICERS
Exciting scenes ard Incidents of
tile Waters-Night Watches Oh
the Cubsn Const-Capture Of the
RestOrmel.

New York. June l.-Looking grim and
warlike in her coat of duh gray paint.
the auxiliary cruiser st. Paul. direct from
Cuban waters. entered the harbor early
yesterday morning and anchored Off
Tompkinsviile. Her commander, Capt. c.
D. Sigsbee, formerly of the Maine left
soon after for Washington. bearing dis
patches from Admiral Sampson and
sketches of the entrance to the harbor Of
Santiago de Cuba, made within range Of
the guns Of the forts.
1t was, announced that the St. Paul had
come here for coal and water. her high
speed making 1t unnecessary to deplete
the supply at Key West. She will take
| on 5000 tons Of coal. and water to her full
capacity. and will probably not leave be-
| fore Tuesday.
| There Is a natural inference that she
| will then sail eastward under sealed or
| ders, as did the st. Louis few days ago.
| These two swift cruisers, 1t Is argued.
would serve excellently well as scouts to
| observe and report on the movements of
! the reserve Spanish squadron, supposed
| to be preparing to leave Cadiz. The st.
/ Pauls destination. however. Is not known
| to her officers
The cruiser anchored of Sandy Hook
late Thursday night. displaying no sig
mails, and at first was mistaken for the
| St Louis. She was not recognized until
| daylight. when she steamed up the har-
Dor to her anchorage.
When reporter boarded the ST. Paul
yesterday afternoon she was in charge
| of Lieut.. Commander briggs. executive
officer. From him and other officers an in
! teresting account was obtained of the
| cruisers two weeks stay in the enemy's
I tu-n Slxs.
the ST Louis, but she did excellent work
as scout. having the honor of patrolling
! for eight days before the harbor of Sam
| tiago de Cuba. where Cevera's squadron
J lies in wait. She also captured the Brit
ish collier Restormel. one of the most i'm
portant seizures of the war. as the steam
er was laden with 2.4o0 tons of coal for
the Spanish fleet.
Officers of the st. Paul throw new light
on the maneuvers of Commodore Schley.s
| squadron. II has been stated that he
reached Santiago before Cervera. and
then withdrew a bait for the trap into
which the Spaniard sailed
| "Schley never saw Santiago harbor un-
| til May %" was the positive statement
! of one OF the officers. land Cervera
probably entered 1t between the departure
| of the st. Louis from those waters. on
| May 10. and our arrival on the following
| day
The ST. Paul left Philadelphia on Nav
= last. the crew guessing as to destina-
! ton. as the St Paul War Budget pub
| lfshed aboard the vessel plaintiyely
states She touched at Hampton Roads
| coaled al Newport News. and awaited or
| ders. Then came on May 15 Report at
Key West. and she reached that port
| two days la.er. Grew still guessing"
| adds the Budget.
Orders were received on May 10 to pro-
ceed with the utmost dispatch to Cape
| Haitien. The st. Paul picked I'D her
| friend. the Yale. next day. and they sped
| on in company. making the cape on May
| Il Here the Yale got orders for both
| vessels. and the ST. Paul steamed full
| speed for Santiago de Cuba, where the
/ willy Spaniard was already concealed She
sent solid shot singing toward the shore
as a polite notification that she had ar
/ rived, and then settled down to watch
| that harbor mouth with all her ewes
| For eight days she cruised of shore Of
ten steaming away until. to the Span
iards. she was hull down. then darting
back to sweep defiantly before the mouth
OF the harbor Haunting her gay ensign
| under the guns of the frowning forts.
This watchfulness did not interfere in
the least with preparations for battle.
From the first day target practice went
forward as calmly as If the cruiser were
lying on Sandy Hook. The men in the
forts could see her lying less than six
miles out. steaming slowly along. and
plugging lazily at floating targets drop
ped astern. If they derived any COM
fort from the sight. they are entirely well
come to 1t. Capt Sigsbee said yesterday
that the crew had made remarkable
progress in Workmanship.
There were no exciting Incidents during
the first three days. except the overhaul
ing of stray neutral vessels and news
paper boats. The big cruiser at night Law
we'll off shore. showing not so much as a
cigar light from water line to truck.
slipping easily through the black water
In ceaseless. sleepless vigil. A score of
times strange craft hove in sight, and
officers and crew had to spring to quar-
ters at the bugle's call. No matter if the
intruder were a peaceful. fruit laden old
bark or an enterprising newspaper tug
every one was at his appointed station
on the instant. and shotted guns were
trained through the blackness on the ad-
vancing craft, while the searchlight swept
her decks with questioning persistence
Frequent incidents like these gave the
men practice and confidence.
Thus when the real opportunity came
they were ready for it. An officer de-
scribed the capture Of the Restormel
thus:
1--WE were steaming along the coast
of May Is. Everything was quiet aboard
ship. and gang of men were washing
down the decks. There was a fresh
breeze. which stiffened as daylight
frightened. and the st. Paul went splash
ing through some pretty rough water.
Suddenly the lookout reported smoke
on the starboard bow, and general quar-
ters' sounded a moment later. We bore
away to cross the strangers bow, and
inside nf half an hour we could make
out black hulled steamer scudding along
toward the harbor's mouth. There is a
distinct excitement to chase that moth
ing else gives. The men stationed for
ward strained their eyes after the flying
vessel, and grinned when they saw the St.
Paul picking up the distance that inter-
vened. So intent were they on the pur-
suit that they hardly noticed that we
were drawing within reach of the guns
of the harbor forts.
But We simply had to stop that steam
er. A quiet order was given, and the
starboard 6-pounder forward barked n
warning across the water. There wasn't
assign of stacking from the straining ves-
sci ahead. and few minutes later ars
other order was given. This time the
gunner crouched behind his gun and
glanced carefully along the sights. When
he jerked the lanyard a 6-pound shot flew
whistling outward. and we saw 1t splash
hardly forty yards from the strangers
bow. He changed his mind then about
going to Santiago, and pulled up. It was
the Restormel, and Capt. Sigsbee prompt
ly sent a prize crew aboard her under
Lieut.. Pattson, and she steamed away for
Kew West. The captain, a good natured !