Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1898-05-28
STILL HUNTING HIM.
NOTHING YET SEEN OF CERyERA
ny SIMPSONS FLEET.
SPANISH SQUADROrS CHANCES.
Slender Reason to suppose II Could
Elude Our Ships and Enter the
Florida straits-Incidents OF samp-
sons Cruising.

! ON BOARD THE ASSOCIATED PRES
DIsPATCH-BOAT DAUNTLESs, vii
KEY WEST. May q. p. Mp TO ]
o'clock this morning Friday) nothin
had been seen Of the Spanish feet. Net
ther Rear-Admlral Sampson nor tn,
naval officers with the fleet appear at al
sanguine that the Spanards unless hard
pressed, will attempt to run the gauntlet
| into Habana. Admiral Cervera, since he
| reached the Caribbean Sea, has shown
anything but a disposition to fight, and
our officers are inclined to think that If
he is driven from the waters south OF
Cuba he will double back to San Juan
de Porto Rico. where his ships could
oCal under the protection of batteries as
powerful as those at Habana, as Rear
Admiral Sampson ascertained when he
bombarded the forts there two weeks ago.
But the unexpected might happen. and
if it does Admiral Sampson is prepared.
CERVERA'S CHANCES.
Should Cervera run into the arms of
our fleet, as now constituted, his sur
render or annihilation would be inevi-
table There are but two passages by
From the eastward, $50 miles east of
Habana. the Bahama Ban& a great tri-
angular area Of shoal water, strung with
coral keys, extends northward from Cuba
to a point sixty miles east of the coast
OF Florida The southern end of the
banks is wedged down close to the coast
of Cuba, leaving between only narrow
passage, scarcely fifteen miles wide and
about sixty miles long, called the Ba-
hama channel. At the north, between the
Great and Little Bahama banks, the
in the Wall" as the seafaring men
about here term it, offers another door
to the Florida straits. The latter route
Is long and tortuous, fully 100 miles
from Cape Maysi the easternmost point
of the island. while the former, through |
he old Bahama channel, is scant 600 |
niles. almost in an airline as the crow |
ies.
Were the Spanish fleet to come up |
through the Windward Passage and
!round Cape Maysi it would have to
hoose between these two.
SIMPSONS FLEET IMPOSING.
The United States fleet makes an i'm
osing spectacle as 1t moves majestically
long, bristing with guns and stripped
or action. Lookouts are always in the
Military tops, sweeping the horizon with
heir telescopes. During the day the Ad-
niraPs orders are wig-wagged from the
agship. while at night orders are con-
eyed by streaks of light.
The newspaper dispatch-boats are
/
lin a position not nearer than five miles
stern, in order to be out of harms way
Mould collision with the enemy occur.
everal times each night the scouts far
1t on the horizon fash their reports to
lie Admiral. skimming through the
ater as fast as railroad trains, and
ing their colored rockets aioat in the
ack night 1t cannot but occur to those I
lversed in naval warfare that their bril- !
mt exchanges would serve as admira-
e advertisements for the location Of /
r feet should the enemy happen along.
PREPARATIONS FOR A FIGHT
rhe only exciting incident of the cruise c
Cured about II O'Clock Tuesday morn l
:, before a number of the ships which !
forwards Joined the feet had arrived. /
e fleet was steaming eastward in coll =
IN abreast; but when the smoke from \
zee strange ships was made out on the y
rizon, dead ahead, signal flags began :
stud the signal-yards of the flagship, | II
Rear-Admiral Sampson made his dis d
sltion for battle, should the strangers d
I'VE to be the enemy. Buges sounded b
! call to general quarters, and every in
scutive officer rang for steam, while 1cIl
smokestacks of our ships began to q
ch forth great clouds of smoke, as the Iii
sels swung into line ahead. 1t was ~
dent that Admiral Sampson intended bt
adopt the favorite formation Of sue st
sfu commanders in modern naval bat nj
, and fight his ships broadside on. tn
he speed was quickly increased to over ca
xnots, and the course altered slightly or
pass the strangers on the port quar- M Di
The very ships seemed to scent bat nd
as they ploughed through the heavy W,
H. which was dead against them, and e9 90
e 1t aside In clouds of spray. The Ad- I'M
ais commands were flung back from ra
to ship. From the Dauntless, with s", an
glasses, we could see the men at I
tiers, stripped to their waist Netting
,atch splinters were stretched from
chart-rooms and bridges, and every
g was made ready for the fray. 1t lad
a sight TO satisfy the pride of every ne,
rican as our feet bore down. Wy
A FALSE ALARM. KIN,
the military tops of the nea
strangers had removed all doubt as ist,