Juniata sentinel and Republican. [volume] (Mifflintown, Juniata County, Pa.) 1873-1955, 1898-12-14
THE MAINE" AT HAVANA.
aptain SiRsbee Tells of Her Recep-
tion In Havana Harbor.

Il
| sptain Siesbee Tells of Her Recep-
tion In Havana Harbor.
Captain Charles d. Sigsbee has writ.
en- for the Century's New War Series
his Personal Narrative of the Maine"
Captain Sigsbee says:
In command of the Maine at Havana,
! had but one wish, which was to be
friendly to the Spanish authorities, as
'equired by my orders. l took pleas
Ire in carrying out my orders In this
'espect. The first Spanish officer to
,Onie on board was a naval lieutenant
who represented the captain of the
port. His bearing was both dignified
and polite (which, by the way, is inva-
:iably the rule with Spanish naval off,
,ers), but l thought he looked embar-
rassed and even humiliated In carrying
,ut his duty. ! greatly regretted that
such should be the case. and did all
that l could to make him feel at ease.
After the arrival of a second Spanish
lieutenant. who seemed TO take matters
more philosophically. and of German
lieutenant. the naval officer who had
arrived first appeared to lose his en-
barrassment. l made all the visits re-
luired of me by usage. and was every
where received with courtesy. 1t Is
hardly to the point whether there was
any eat amount of actual frlendliness
for us beneath the surface. The Span
sh officials on every hand gave us alb
solutely all the courtesy to which we
were entitled by usage, and they gave
1t with all the grace of manner which
Is characteristic of their nation. l &C
.epted ii as genuine.
| Ii Is rot essential to enter here into
tie details of usage in connection with
salutes. 1t is enough TO say that con-
vention required the Maine to salute
| the Spanish ~ tiOnal flag and also to
salute Admiral Manterola. But such
salutes are given snly when 1t is known
that they will be returned. l there
fore deemed 1t prudent to determine
th.s poilt. although the visit OF Span
ish officer 10 the ship would ordinarily
be thought sufficiently convincing. In
the course of conversation with the
Spanish naval officer who was the first
to give myself the honor of salutina
your national flag: from which battery
VIII the salute be returned:" He re-
piled: From the Cabana." With that
assurance both salutes were fired and
returned. The salute to the Spanish
admiral was returned by his flagship,
the Alfonso Mi.
" n tnr ha rriC al of a
sent my aid, Naval Cadet j. II. Hold
en-. ashore to report TO General Lee. and
announce that | would soon follow. I
promptly ga,o orders that no Office: 8
or men Of the vessel should so ashore,
unless by my express order. desired
first TO test the public feeling, private
and official, with reference to the
Names visit. l made my visit to Ad-
miral Manterola in full dress. with
cooked hat, epaulets. etc. l landed at
the Machina. the man-of-war landing,
which is virtually at the Spanish ad-
miraIs residence. There was a crowd
assembled, but only of moderate size.
There was no demonstration Of any
kind: the crowd closed in about me
slightly. l thought the people stolid
and sullen, so far as could gather from
an occasional glance. but l took very
little notice of any body. On my retuI II
however. l noted carefully the bealing
of the various groups Of Spanish sol.
diers that l passed. They saluted me,
as a rule, but with so much expression
Of apathy that the salute really went
for nothing. They made no demonstra-
ton against me, however. not even by
look.
The same day made my visit to
General Lee. and arranged with him for
my visit to the acting captain and
governor general. who at that tDue was
General Parade, Captain General
Blanco being absent on tour of the
island. 1t is customary in the case of
high officials to make the visit at an
appointed time. When l made my visit
on Jan. 81, accompanied by General
Lee, there seemed at first to be proba-
bility of embarrassment We calle at
the palace of General Blanco at the ap-
pointed time. and apparently nobody at
the palace knew anything about our ap-
pointment. The ever-pi esent American
newspaperman relieved the situate
he ascertained that General Parade
was in a residence across the way,
where he was expecting us. We prompt
ly repaired the mistake, and were re-
ceived by General Parade with great
courtesy. He had a table spread with
refreshments for our benefit. All of
my official visits were returned prompt
ly. General Parade returned my visit
in person, and was given the salute OF
a captain and governor general; that Is
to say. of the governor of a colony
seventeen guns. the same salute which
is prescribed for the governor Of one