The times., 1898-05-13
NEW YORK HARDOR CLOSED
Spanish Torpedo FIotilla ProwI-
ing Off the Coast.
MINES FILL OPEN CHANNELS
Loss-Lying, Dark-Gfay Boats Sight
ed Twenty-Seyen Miles OF Nam
tucket - Supposed to Be Part OF
Spanish FiotIIIa Prompt Meas
ures Taken to Protect New York.

tucket - Supposed to Be Part of
Spanish FIotIIIa Prompt Meas
ures Taken to Protect New York.
New York. May 12.-New York harber
was closed as effeetuaIIy after q o,c,ocl~
tonight as 1t would be il a Spanish aeet
! were approaching. Upon the RECENT of
reports from various quarters that Snan-
lsh war ships are cruising off the North
Atlantic coast, the Secretary Of War sent
| telephone orders TO New York early this
| afternoon 10 fill open channels with con
tact mines and to connect all observation
mines with the electric batteries on shore
and 10 keep men at the switchboards
! ready TO explode the mines.
When this order was received. Lieut..
McGregor. stationed at Sandy Hook. rs
ceived instructions in detail in reference
10 carrying ii out. Under regulations
governing navigation in the harbor. all
channels, except one marked by white
buoys. have been closed for some time.
The channels have been filled with mines
connected By cable with electric batterie.,
on shore. These mines could be exploded
by simply turning a switch allowing the
electric current To pass through the
cable. Lieut. McGregor's orders wer.
first to make sure that the connections
of all the observation wires were in work
ing order Having satisfied himself as To
this. he was directed TO assign a detail
Of men TO be ON duty constantly at the
switchboards at Forts Hamilton. Wads-
worth and Sandy Hook Lieut.. MeGregor
was then directed 10 make preparations
to remove the white buoys that marked
the open channel and 20 see that the
channel was flled E-ith contact mines
from Sandy Hook TO the upper end Of
the narrows by S O'Clock,
VigfIant Night Guaras.
Commandments at Fort Hancock. en
Sandy Hook. at Fort Hamilton and Fort
Wadsworth were notified of the instruc-
tions given to Lieut.. McGregor, and il
was suggested TO them that the night
guards at these forts be instructed TO be
especially vigiiant during the night. The
same suggestion was made to the com
mandants of the forts at the western en-
trace 10 Long Island Sound. All the fort
ton would be acted upon
The contact mines Will be removed in
the daytime
When a reporter was informed that the
harbor would be thus closed tonight the
man who gave the information was asked
If any warning Of the presence of contact
mines had been. or would be given TO
navigators. the reply was: NO. sir. When
it becomes necessary 10 plant contact
mines there Is no time to give a general
warning Navigators were warned days
ago that the harbor would be closed be
tween certain hours II any ships are
destroyed by reason Of coming in con-
tact with the mines or having observa-
tion mines exploded under them nobody
viii be to blame but the navigators-%
One Of the reports which led TO the clos
ing of the harbor was brought TO New
York this morning By Capt Mann. Of the
British tramp steamship Menantie. which
reached port shortly after sunrise. Capt.
Mann. as soon as he landed. went to Ad-
miral Erben. in the ArIny Building, and
told the story TO him
This is the story:
suspicious truft Sighted
''At about 12:90 O'Clock Wednesday morn
ing. the moon being up We sighted, about
cne-quarter of a mile off eur port quarter.
a low-lying, dark gray. one-funneI boat
that looked like a torpedo boat. This was
about sixty miles east of South ShoaI
light, which is tWenty-seven miles east
Of Nantucket The boat ran I'D near us
under cover of our smoke. She displayed
no lights and no signals. Running along
with US for a short time. she suddenly
sheered of and disappeared in the dark
ness. / think the boat had one mast. but
am not certain
About ten minutes after the boat dis
appeared a rocket was sent up from the
quarter toward which she had gone This
rocket was followed by a display of the
flash and dot lights of the Ardois signal
system. After a little these signals were
answered. evidently by another boat that
was OFF to the southwest. We held On
our coarse and at $50 O'Clock on the same
morning, twenty miles of Nantucket
Shoals light we sighted another boat
This vessel was much larger than the
first, but was painted in the same dark
gray color as the boat we had sighted a
few hours beforee. This boat 1 took 10
be a torpedo boat destroyer. She had two
tunnels and one mast with short arm
well forward of the first funnel. The
vessel was high at the bow and carried a
shield. behind which was mounted a gun
The vessel was some distance away. and
| could not make out her nationality
owing to the haze She was headed north
west and steaming slowly
Admiral Erben Acts Promptly
As soon as Capt Mann had made the
above report 10 Admiral Erben 1he lat
ser called up the Secretary of the Navy
on the Long Distance telephone and gave
him the substance of the captains report
The admiral then reported the facts to
Army officers in the Army building. who
communicated with the Secretary of War.
The result of the long distance talk be-
tween New York and Washington was
the closing of the Rarbor tonight
Admiral Erben said he had not the
slightest doubt that Mann's story was
true. He said he believed the two boats
sighted were only part of a squadron
flotilla of torpedo boats and torpedo boat
deStroyers which Spain had sent out to
harry our coast. He said that the Navy
Department. had received similar reports
from Halifax. Philadelphia and other
points along the coast.
He himself. several hours after reCeiV-
ing Capt Mann's received dispatch to
the effect that another boat similar in