The Worcester spy. [volume] (Worcester, Mass.) 1898-1904, 1901-10-01

''Is not that especially true when the
water is splashing?" They were all
ways nasty" the witness responded.
Captain Miller referred to his remoV-
al from the command Of the Merrimac
in order to turn the vessel over to Lieu
tenant Hobson. He said on that 1oAlt;
when / was taken out sumlnarily
from the Merrimac, nearly everything
1 had was lost, and the only thing
can remember now with the few notes
1 have here is in this log. -
The court asked: WAS there any
point near Cienfuegos where vessels
could have found protection from the
sea on May 24th?" The witness re-
piled: II do not think so, unless we
had gone up to the Isle of Pines or
very far to the eastward"
The court also asked: Gould you
have coaled any of the vessels on May
25. had you been ordered to do so2"
II should judge SO, to the best of my
knowledge, but then l could not have
coaled comfortably. For the other
ships it was what we called a nasty
sea, and squally, rainy weather. If l
had had my choice, | would not have
coaled on that day"
Captain Miller was succeeded on the
witness stand by Captain Theodore r.
Jewell, who commanded the cruiser
Minneapolis during the Spanish
American War Captain Jewell said
he had first fallen in with the flying
squadron, under command of Commo-
dore SchleW,on the evening Of May 26th.
Captain Temly qdoteo h'om Adi1i1Kf
Schley's letter to the senate committee
on naval affairs February Is. 1899, say
ing: after having been informed by
the scout ships, commanded by such
officers as Sigsbee, Jewell and Wise,
that although they had been of Santi-
ago for a week they had seen nothing
of Cervera's fleet since 1t left Curaco,"
and asked whether he had given to
Admiral Schley this information or any
other information concerning the
Spanish feet the witness replied: Il
gave him no information with refer
ence to that subject whatever"
The judge advocate asked: AT the
time you were within signal distance
of the flagship of the flying squadron
off Santiago, were you at any time
asked any question by Commodore
Schley as to the presence of the Span
lsh squadron in Santiago?"
mot to my recollection"
do you recollect whether you went
on board the flagship Brooklyn at this
timer" Il did not go on board that
day"
Capt. Jewell said that when he had
first seen Admiral Sehley's statement
as to the information he might have
given concerning Cervera's fleet he had
written a letter to the department de-
nying that he had done so. Objection
was made to this line of testimony and
it was not persisted in.
The witness said in reply to a ques-
ton from Mr.. Raynor that he had no
knowledge that Capt. Sigsbee, speak
ing for himself and for Capts. Jewell
and Wise had stated to Commodore
Schley on the 26th at Santiago that
neither he (the witness) nor Wise nor
himself (Sigsbee) had seen anything or
knew anything of the movements or
whereabouts of the Spanish fleet Nor
did he know whether Capt. Sigsbee
wrote a letter to Commodore Schley
stating that that was a fact.
The court here asked a question
which opened up the coaling question.
1t was as follows: How far could the
Minneapolis have gone with her 400
tons of coal at the time you state?"
IF I had burned 400 tons of coal I
could have made something like 1900
or 1900 miles. That would have left
the bunkers empty 1 was burning
about 50 tons a day and on that max
ing IA or Is knots"
Drawing from Capt. Jewell the fact
that the distance from Santiago to
Key West is $50 miles, Mr. Raynor
asked: I'm view of what you said just
now will you explain the signals 1
read: $3.50 p. m, May 26, flagship to
the Minneapolis: Have you enough
coal to go to Key West? Minneapolis
to flagship: Just enough How do you
explain that?"
II am giving my recollection at the
time. AS 1 said, my coal supply was
reduced and I was concerned. A great
many-signals were being made and l
replied to the signal without consult
ing the coal account particularly and
I considered that three days steaming
was about the limit I could safely 60"
There is an error here of about 500
to 600 miles. Eight hundred and 1900
or 400 are very different.
"I estimated the distance I could
steam. l did not usually provide for
burning every ounce of coal in the
bunkers and Furthermore we have got
to allow for contingencies. 1 was haul
ing the fires from the boilers very Of
ten on account of the leaks, starting
fresh fires in other boilers. My coal
expenditure was variable. / could not
depend upon It,"
f'Then at this time you had Just
enough. according to these signals. 10
Key West ?" Il arrived in Key West
with less than 100 tons of coal on
board"
Capt Jewell was then excused and
Cant. McCalla was recalled cor the
purpose of correcting his o mony.
While he was on the stand tie court
asked him two questions. which to-
gether with the replies were as fol-
lows:
was there any place in the vicinity
of Cape Cruz where the large vessels
could have found protection from
westerly or southwesterly winds"
There was no place where the large
ships could take protection from west
erly and southwesterly winds. The