Evening star., 1898-05-23

There was lively expectation TODAY that
some sort of information would soon be re-
ceived with relation to the operations of
the feet. The time has come when It
may reasonably be expected that word will
come either of an engagement or that the
Spanish fleet was not found in the vicinity
OF santiago de Cuba If the Spanish fleet
Is in the harbor Of Santiago de Cuba II is
believed TO be bottled up there permanent
ly, but no surprise will be felt if the first
information from our fleets is to the effect
that the elusive Spaniards are not to be
found The conviction has grown stronger
that the Spanish admiral is expecting re-
Inducements and that vessels either have
or will soon sail from Cadiz to toin his
squadron.
Every inquiry at the Navy Department
Is directed toward the location of the differ
ent fleets and the chances of an early rom
hlct- But the sum total of the official adj
vices throws little or no light on the time
when, or the place where, a battle NAV oc-
cur IL Is said by those best Acquainted
with the situation that a decisive fight may
occur within the next few hours or NAV
not occur for Several days, possibly weeks
At the same time, the authorities believe
that the chances are greatly Iessened of
Admiral Cerveras prolonging his elusive
game much longer
spani"rds' DiainisIed Coal SuppI,.
There are several reasons for this. but the
main one is that the recent secret hurried
movements of the Spanish ships have made
inroads on their coal supply, and these in
roads have not been made up by any re-
coaliEg which they have been able to make
Each OF the armOred cruisers in the Span
ish fleet carries 1000 tons of COAL and each
of fba
tons on the ships OF Admiral Cervera's fleet
when II left Cape Verde. The run across
used up the greater part. If not all of this
supply. Since then stops have been made
at Martinique. Curacao and Santiago. but
at no one OF these places has II been possi-
Bile to take on more than enough coal for
temporary use. AT Martinique the French
decree OF neutrality prevented the Spanish
ships from getting more than enough coal
10 carry them to the next port which
would be 300 to 400 tons at most At Cura-
Gao the amount of coal secured did NOT ex
ceed 100 tons At Santiago there is no coal
unless collhers have brought it there recent
Iy. which Is not believed TO have occurred
AS against these small supplies the Span
Ism ships have been consuming much coal
on their elusive runs. and the coal exhaus-
tion has exceeded the coal supply
No CoaIinG Depots Open.
There are no other coaling depots In TN.
West Indian Islands open to the Spanish
ships except for their most temporary
needs. The British islands Jamaica. Bar
bados, and others, are closed against them
by the decree making coal contraband of
var. The Dutch islands will give them no
further coal relief. as a result of negotia-
tions with the Dutch authorities following
the eoaling of the Spanish ships at Cura-
Gao The Danish island of St. Thomas is
similarly closed against them. Guada-
lorpe and other French islands have ths
same restrictions Martinique
Haytiar ports are closed to them by a
strict treaty provision between Hayti and
the United States. which the Haytian
authorities will see Is not waived in the
present case Santo Domingo ports are
similarly protected against the chance of
Iecoaling by Admiral Ceryera's feet.
In he oh ady 10