The Worcester spy. [volume] (Worcester, Mass.) 1898-1904, 1898-10-24

well as the army. My loss yesterday
was over 500 men. BY all means, keep
up fire on everything in sight of you
until demolished. / expect, however,
in time and with sufficient men, to
capture the eorts along the bay
Admiral Sampson then says: i wrote
Gen. Shafter the following letter and
began making preparations to counter
mine and with the object of arranging
an attack upon the batteries at the en-
trance, a visit was arranged to Gen,
Shafter, so that the matter might be
thoroughly discussed and combined ac-
ton take place. ! had in view the en-
ployment of the marines for an assault
either on the MORO or Socapa battery,
while at the same time assaulting the
| defences at the entrance with the fleet.
u. S. flagship New York first rate,
off Santiago de Cuba, July 2, 1898. My
| dear general: I have your note of this
morning-just received at 1190 p. m. AS
an officer of my staff has already re-
ported to you the firing which we did
this morning. / must say in addition to
what he told you that the forts which
we silenced were not the forts which
would give you any convenience in cap
turing the city, as they cannot fire eX-
cept to seward. They cannot even
prevent our entrance into the harbor of
Santiago. Our trouble from the first
has been that the channel to the harbor
| is well strewn with observation mines
which would certainly result in sinking
I one or more of our ships if we attempt
ed to enter the harbor and by the sink
ing of q ship the object of the attempt
to enter the harbor would be defeated
by the preventing of further progress
on our part.
1t was my hope that an attack on
your part of these shore batteries from
I linRrtV
drag the channel for torpedoes. II 1t IS
vollr earnest desire that we should
force our entrance 1 will at once pre-
pare to undertake it. l think, however,
that our position and yours would be
made more difficult if, as is possible, We
fail in our attempt.
We have in our outfit at Guantanamo
forty countermining mines which will
bring here with as little delay as pos
sible, and if we can succeed in freeing
the entrance of distractions by their
use 1 will enter the harbor. This work
which is unfamiliar to us will require
considerable time. 1t is not so much
the loss of men as it is the loss or shlps
which has until now deferred me from
making a direct attack upon the ships
w Z. Sampson,
Rear Admiral u. S. N, COMMANDMENTS
Chief u. S. Naval Force, North At
lantic Squadron.
Major Gen. w r. Shafter, U. S. "
"July s.-The sortie of Admiral Ger
vera's squadron and its destruction has
been made the subject of separate pa
per. and need not be repeated here This
event closes the purely naval campaign
| crowning with complete success the
/ anxious work % almost exactly two
months
It is apparent from the following dis
| patch from Acting Secretary Alien TO
| the commanding officer of the fleet, and
| which appears in the report, that the
department felt some approximations re-
garding the movements and designs of
! The Austrian gunboat Maria Teresa,
which appeared in the West Indies dur
! ing the war;
Washington, June 10.
Austrian gunboat Maria Teresa in
4 the West Indies, is thought to regu-
larly visit various blockades to see if
/ effective. Upon tho arrival of our
! troops send without delay as
many as consider necessary of the con-
voy to Commodore No. 10 off Cienfue-
gos, Cuba, and as there is some similar
/ ity between Austrian and Spanish flags,
caution your ships against possible
mistakes
The apprehension by the department
at one time Of the possibility of the
escape of the Spaniards from Santiago
via Manzanillo. Cuba, is shown in the
/ following dispatch 10 Sampson:
"Washington--M When, tle Spanish give
up hope a. Santiago, they may attempt
to escape via Menzahfll6, Cuba. AS I'M
i derstood here, they receive supplies
now via Manzanillo, Cuba. Long"