The Virginia enterprise. [volume] (Virginia, St. Louis County, Minn.) 1893-19??, 1898-06-10
CAPT. S|GSBEE'S SALUTE"
Jooular Description Of Scout Duty
Off Santiago.
FORT FOR A TARGET.
No Doubt that Cervera's Fleet is In
side the Harbor-Cruised
Back and Forth.

New York, June 3.-The United States
auxiliary cruiser st. Paul, Capt. Sigs-
bee commanding, came into port early
today. Capt. Sigsbee went ashore and
thence proceeded to the navy-yard. Capt.
Sigsbee refused to he interviewed then
regarding the recent service of his ship
In the vicinity Of Santiago de Cuba, at
which port it has been said Capt. Sigs-
bee ran the st. Paul well into the mouth
OF the harbor and obtained the first
aehnlte information of the presence
there of the Spanish admiral, Cervera's
squadron.
!, After visiting Commodore Bunce at
the maynard, Capt. Sigsbee relaxed
from his reserve sufficiently to say to q
reporter: II had target practice right
along from the first day l arrived at
Santiago. on May %, and while none of
my men have been in the service long. I
am Wen satisfied with their work at the
guns. we have not been in any fight
SO far, but my men will give a good &C.
count of themselves.
Took Coal Away from Cervera.
1T was on the 25th when we captured
the Restormel. l knew the Snoniards
needed the coal very badly and I made
the effort to see that they did not ret it.
while off Santiago with Schley saw
two Spanish cruisers and Schley saw
two torpedo-boats. There is no 0nestion
that they are bottled up as tight as can
De IN santiago harbor. l went in so close
that l made sketches of the Notifications.
which which am sending to Washington.
Iheir guns could easily have reached
me, but the batteries made no attempt to
nre' Tor wnat reason | d" not know. 1t
might be the Spanish did not want to
reveal the strength and location of their
guns. am going to Washington with
dispatches from the fleet and as soon as
we nave coaled and provisioned we shall
put to sea again. This probably will not
De for three or four days.
LAS soon as l arrived outside the har
Dor of Santiago there were indications of
the presence of Cervera's feet on the in
side beyond the hills.
hugged the mouth of the harbor so
closely that it would have been impossible
Tor anything ahoat to sneak out without
our seeing them.
lit was either the third or fourth day
after our arrival that l saw two Spanish
vessels, which l was sure were the Viz
caya and the Cristobal Colon. They
crept cautiously into the stream and got
to the middle of the channel. As soon as
they caught sight of me they scamDered
back as rapidly as they could steam.
Spaniards Are Discourteous.
LAS soon as we arrived off the harbor I
announced my presence by the courtesy of
a salute, taking as a target one of the
Spanish forts. The fort evidently did
not intend to accord me the courtesy due
in return, for it's guns remained silent,
When l was satisfied with the practice
my men had had, l steamed the St. Paul
out OF range and resumed scout duty out
side the mouth of the harbor.
1T was directly under the guns of fort
and within easy range that I took the
Restormel with 24O tons of coal aboard.
This coal was evidently intended for the
Spanish feet and for the Restorme 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 before she hove
to. l put a prize crew aboard and sent
the collier to Key West
During the period | was at Santiago,
between May % and %, Schley came and
went several times, cruising little to the
westward. But the St. Paul remained off
Santiago harbor for all of the eight DAYS.
1T was on May 20 that saw heavy
lines of smoke from what l at first
thought was from the Spanish squadron
coming to the relief of Cervera. There
was great excitement on board the St.
Paul and Immediately put out after the
fleet. soon found the smoke was com
ing from Schley's ships returning to the
entrance of the harbor.
saw again positive evidence that the
the Santiago harbor.
"Wben came up with Schley's feet we
both signaled-Schley to me and l to
him.