The daily morning journal and courier., 1898-07-27
SAMPSON LND SCHLEY Their Reports on the Battle Off Santiago Aarbor
 Made Public. FRICTION BETWEEN LINES
COMMODORE SCHLEY FORWARDED
 HIS REPORT TO SAMPSON.
The Admiral Then Forwarded It to

Washington With His Own and Those
 of the Commanders of the Other
 American Ships Engaged Which Are
 Also Made PubIic-Sampson Admits
 That His Flagship Was Never Within
 the Range of the Heavy Spanish Ships
 -Schlcy Was Under Very Heavy Fire
 Sea Valves Were Opened and Broken
 TreacherousIy After Her Surrender.
 Washington, July 26.--The report of Admiral Sampson on the destruction of Ceryera's squadron was given out for publication tonight. The report includes the reports of the other com manders and is as follows:
 United States Flagship New York, first rate-Off Santiago de Cuba, July 15
 Sir: i. have the honor to make the following report upon the battle with and the destruction of the Spanish squadron commanded by Admiral Cer- vera, off Santiago, on Sunday, July 8, 1893.
 2 The enemy's vessels came out of the harbor between 9:35 and 10 a. m., the head of the column appearing around Caysnith at 9:31 and emerging from the channel five Of six minutes later.
 B. The positions of the vessels of my command off Santiago at that moment I1rn T,h ,1.:x. York was four miles east of her block ading station and about seven miles from the harbor entrance. She had started for Siboney, where I intended to land, accompanied by several of my staff and go to the front and consult with General Shafter. A discussion of the situation and 0 more definite un- derstanding between us of the opera tions proposed had been rendered nec- essary by the unexpectedly strong re- sistance of the Spanish garrison of Santiago. I had sent my chief of staff on shore the day before to arrange an interview with General Shafter, who had been suffering from heat prostra- tion. I made arrangements to go to his headquarters and my flagship was in the position mentioned above when the Spanish squadron appeared in the channel The remaining vessels were in CT near their usual blockading posi- tions, distributed in a setnf-circle about the harbor entrance, counting from the eastward to the westward in the fol- lowing order: The Indiana, about a mile and half from shore; the Ore gon the New York 6laced between +l tyryr> tt,n A. ID, lyn the latter two miles from the shore west of Santiago. The distance of the vessels from the harbor entrance was from two and one-half to four miles, the latter being the limit of day block ading distance. The length of the arc formed by the ships was about eight miles. The Massa aehusetts had left at 4 a. m. for Guantanamo for coal Her station was between the Iowa and Texas. The au&iliaries Gloucester and Vixen lay close to the land and nearer the harbor entrance than the large vessels, the Gloucester to the eastward and the Vixen to the westward The torpedo boat Ericsson was in company with the flagship and remained with her during her chase until ordered to discontinue when she rendered very effi- cient service in rescuing prisoners from the Vizcaya. I enclose a diagram showing approximately the positions of the vessels as described above.
 4. The Spanish vessels came rapidly out of the harbor, at a speed estimated at from eight to ten knots, and in the following order: Infanta Maria Ter esq, (lagship), Vizcaya, Cristobal Colon and the Almirante Oquendo. The dis~ tance between these ships was about 800 yards, which means that, from the time the first one became visible in the upper reach of the channel until the last one was out of the harbor, an in- terval of only about twelve minutes elapsed. Following the Oquendo, at a distance of about 1900 yards came the torpedo boat destroyer Fulton, and af- ter her the Furor The armored cruis- CTS, as rapidly as they could bring their guns to bear, opened a vigorous fire upon the blockading vessels and emerg- ed from the channel shrouded in smoke from their guns.
 5. The men of our ships in front of the port were at Sunday quarters for inspection" The signal was made sim ultaneously from several vessels, "ene- ny's ships escaping" and general quar- ters were sounded. The men cheered as they sprang to their guns and ire was opened probably within eight min- utes by the vessels whose guns com- manded the entrance. The New York turned about and steamed for the es- caping fleet, flying the signal, ''close in towards harbor entrances and attack vessels and gradually increasing speed until toward the end of the chase she was making 16 1-2 knots. She was not, at any time, within the range of the heavy Spanish ships, and her only part in the firing was to receive the undivided fire from the forts in passing the harbor entrance and to fire a few shots at one of the destroyers, thought at the moment to be attempting to es- cape from the Gloucester.
 6. The Spanish vessels, upon clearing the harbor, turned to the westward in column. increasing their speed to the full power of their engines. The heavy blockading vessels, which had closed in