The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1899-05-07


not - Clenfuesua 70 psocsea 70 aAAtta9o.
These letters both reached Smiley Nay =
and were naturally eomewAAa confuaina.
IL must - re0emhersd tAAa ~ shis tim
0chaey vae IN command cf n tndepen1ent
squadron: be was SAmpsoa's superior ofA-
ear. notu1thssanding the iasters courtesy
ute At acting rear admiral. and ~ AAA
under Simpsons command The eedor
placing Gchlsy under Sampson's ce1aaand
vas not iss,ssd until Nay - sampson was
Guiity of n npsrtineace In atfemptA0.
- he did. 70 issue ordsrus to ScAaey prior
to that time; = matter. by the Way. -
which Admiral 0chley has never inverted
Schley's orders came from Washington
ana to Warrington he directed his reports.
Schiey was NOT certain that CerverA's
Meet ives not In C1sEfnegos. In fact from
various Indications he wAs very. much ura-
der the suppression that IT. was there.
At that very time The scouting vessels e0
santiago had been unable 10 discover any
saguA Of Cervsra's feet Ia that hAr-
boz, % that the whereabouts of the Span
tah ooot u1e practically unknown When
Il was finally and definitely. dstssmined
that the 6canfsh neet was AZ santiago
Schley took his flest there and ESTABLISHED
hockAde
Now In I'll this II does not. aDoeas that
sSchl0y did otherwise than asa wise and
skfIaful commander should have done. That
he did not reckon upon the incredibaa tat
utty Of the 6panish commander Is net to
his discresdiI Neither did his mistake re-
suit In any possible injury TO Ansrican
interests Csrvsra went into Santiago
blunderingiy. Once there he did not know
what else to DO, 10 he stayed. Yet il vas
Tor this conduct Of Commodore 0chley that
sAmreon. passing over Ais brilliant night
ting on Santiago. inaimAted he shoald have
bean brought to . cour,-martia1.
In hts account Of the battle on Santiago
Mr.. Goode exhibits his partisan prejudice
in still more marked degree. He refuses
to concede that Commodore Schley was In
personal command Of the squadron IT the
time. a. he unquestionaby was. denies
that he issued any orders. and more by In
sanuation than direct charge tries TO make
Il appear that Schley deliberately sought
to take the Brooklyn out Of range OF the
Spanish guns. and sought to avoid close
quarters. The answer to this II that In
the battle Of Santiago the Brooklyn dred
more shots than any other vessel In the
feet. was struck more times BY the enc
my's IRE. and registered . greater per-
centaxe Of hits than any other vessel in
the feet. In fact a. many A. all the rest
Of the feet combined. The Washington
correspondent Of the New York Times. in
q recent article, shows by the report Of the
Rogers beard that twenty hits were made
on the Spanish feet by s-inch guns. The
Brooklyn was the only vessel In the squad
ron carrying guns OF that character Eight
hits were made by the finch guns Of the
Iowa. and only twelve hits by the other
guns Of larger caliber from the entire feet
combined. The Iowa and Brooklyn made
aeven-tenths Of all the hits scored by guns
Of four inches or greater.
Mr.. Goode tells an apocryphal story
evidently gathered from forecastle gossip
on the New York. about the navigating Of
ncsr Of the BROOKLYN demonstrating With
the commodore against his proposed
| change OF course. Yet furthar alon9 ~
| shows that In the chase the Brooklyn,
| from the position which she assumed %
| her ncw course. cut the Colon on froEa
! passing around a prosnonsory which ex
| tended far out into the Sea. leaving her
| the sole choice Of running the gauntlet Of
| fire Of both the Oregon and Brooklyn, by
| passing under their bows at close fan9a. or
| ing OF this maneuver Of the Brooklyn,
| characterixes II as tho crucial and de.
| Gliding feature OF the combat" 4 statement
| with which most students OF naval tactics
| viii be inclined to agree Mr.. 0oode. how
| ever. IL unable, even at this time. 10 sec
| what the meaning and effect Of the Brook
| lyn's mansuver really were and hi hnets
on tho NeW xOfk SeSu NOT 10 nave en-
| ijghtened him. He solemnly asserts that Il
| was done for fear OF being raramed by the
Colon. q statement Obviously absurd az
tho distance between the vessels 1T the
time was far in excess OF 4 mile, and
the leading Spanish veseels had already
swung aroond on their course 70 the west
ward, parallel to the course which the
| Brooklyn then assumed. In this particular
| instance Mr.. Goodies information prob
ably came from one Of the gallant marines
"a corps moro famous for bravery IN bat
tie than for knowledge Of naval maneu-
vers.
We fear that Mr.. Goodies defense Of Al
m,rai Sampson. hssed ~ II n entirely
upon censure OF Admiral Schley, win hard
iv dethrone tho latter from his present
high niche IN the temple Of public favor
and install the former therein. II contains
much. however that n OF historic value.
and is, IN fact. the most ambitious ard
, most successful attempt at a history 81
| the part which the navy OF the Atlantic
played IN the war with Spain.
The chapters contributed by the naval
officers mentioned have no bearing upon
the Sch,ry-Sampson controversy. and the
statement In made that the contributors
are not responsible FOR nor coEnIxant ~
anything contained In the book except
their individual chapters.
r. b.