The herald., 1898-05-25
INCLINED TO CRITICIZE
BECAUSE cERvERA HAS NOT
,BEEN FOUND u
WHEN SAMPSON IS HEARD or
He Il Expected to Be Able to Silence
the Impatient Naval Experts
ASHORE

Associated Press Special Wire
NEW YORK, May A.-A Washington
dispatch to the Times says:
News from Admiral Sampson and Com
modore Schley is looked for at the Navy
Department every hour. but no one at the
department appears to be able or willing to
say just where the news Is to come from.
All that can be positively ascertained there
is that the United States fleets are some-
where out of Key West looking for Admiral
CerverA and hoping to come up with and
fight him. Whether 1t will be at Santiago,
Cienfuegos or somewhere between these
points, or at San Juan de Porto Rico. not
the most speculative expert will venture to
say. .
Meantime, there is some doubt among
naval officers about the actions Of the fleets
of Admiral Sampson that suggests spirit
Of criticism. Naval officers, who have the
highest respect for the men who are sup
posed to have designated the plan Of cam
paign for the United States fleet, are openly
expressing wonder that Admiral Sampson
was permitted to travel all the way from
San Juan to Key West, to consume great
deal Of coal. and then to coal again merely
to sail back over the course he had just
traversed. His personal inclination, It is
believed, would have led him to remain In
the Windward Passage, holding position
of great strategic advantage until his
scouts brought him news Of the presencecf
the enemy, and many officers believed him
to be there after he had returned to Key
West.
To the suggestion made to these officers
that the Washington authorities did not
know the Spanish fleet was at Martinique.
until Sampson was fairly on his return trip,
the unofficial strategist answers that the
Navy Department knew a week ago that
Cervera was at Curacao; that 1t had at its
command two or three swift vessels that
could have stopped Sampson before he had
come half way on his return, and that COLI
iers could have been provided to take coal
to him and that he might thus have been
able to intercept the Spanish fleet on Its
way to Santiago harbor. AS 1t was, Ad-
miral Sampson left Key West the day the
news was received there from Washington
that Cervera had arrived. II the news of
SIMPSONS departure worked its way to
Blanco he probably sent 1t by wire to San
tiago the next day and Admiral Cervera was
afforded chance to move out and renew
his explorations OF the Caribbean Sea.
But the Navy Department will forget the
waste of time by Admiral Sampson IL 1t
learns tomorrow or next day that he has
arrived at Santiago and found Admiral Ger
vera still there. When he started from Key
West last Thursday ne had to steam 700
miles 10 reach Santiago. At a ten-knot
pace he should have made the distance in
three days.
The almost unanimous opinion Of naval
| officers is that whether Cervera has de-
cided to stand and fight or run and wait d
little while before giving battle he cannot
long postpone a meeting with Admiral
| Sampson and perhaps with Commodore
Schley at the same time.
The policy Of silence concerning naval
movements has been very strictly OBJ
served now for a couple of weeks, but not
so strictly that 1t did not become known
here that Commodore Schley got away
from Key West little sooner than Ad-
miral Sampson. If 1t was but half a day
sooner he ought to have been able, with
his swiftest ships to reach Santiago de
Cuba on Saturday. 1t is assumed that he
did so by those who conclude that the de :
partment sent him to look for the Spanish
fleet where it was last heard of. 1t is be-
lieved that Schley went to the south of
Cuba by the Yucatan passage.
Naval officers assume that everybody is
now familiar with the formation of San
tiago harbor and the disadvantage in which
fleet would be placed that retired into it
to await the coming Of an opponent. Few
Of them believe that Cervera has at
tempted this course. They incline to the
opinion that he went toward Martinique
| to meet golfers sent over to provide him
with the fuel he must now need and per-
haps be Joined by some of the vessels often
reported at Cadiz or some other Spanish
port, but which some conservative naval
officers are firmly convinced may have
been on their way across the Atlantic to
reinforce him.
| This last possibility will not spoil the
chance, now seemingly good. of an early
fight. Very prominent naval officers
who today talked with members of the
administration expressed very decidedly
the view that Admiral Cervera had neither
sufficient skill nor coal to escape the con-
fiict which Sampson and Schley are seek
ing.
| A gentleman who Is not connected with
the navy but who is very much interested
| in seeing 1t do its work we'll, says that II
is mistake to suppose that the Naval
Strategic Board has trammeled Sampson
or Schley or both with conflicting or en-
barrassing orders.
practically" said this gentleman, "Ad
mlral Sampson has had his own way In
| all that he has done. If he returned tc
Key West when Cervera was at Curacao
knowing that he must return to find him
he did so for a reason that seemed i'm
perative to him."
The Coal Question
NEW YORK, May PA passenger or
board the Atlas Line steamer Altai from
Kingston, Jamaica, which reached port to
day says that he was at Barbados three
I weeks ago when the Spanish troop shiI
Alfonso XIII put in there for coal. TIT
i port harbor master found that she hat
100 men over the number Of her crew
The Spaniards desired to purchase larg'
quantity Of provisions and COAL but wer
| onlv rern1itted To huy suff3cient to last Il