Evening star., 1901-10-16
coNcIlRHpEs NcIlRHpEs HIS STORY.
COMMANDER SEARS RECITAL OF
HRFl
THE SANTIAGO CAMPAIGN.
CrOss-EXamfned Regarding Important
Dz99
Features and Questioned by the
Court of Inquiry.

Lieut.. Commander Sears formerly flag
lieutenant of the Brooklyn, continued his
| recital of the details of the Santiago cam
paign, after The Stars report of the Schley
| court of i1qdfry closed yesterday after
| noon. The examination was conducted by
Mr.. Hanna, who asked especially concern
Ing the meeting Of the flying squadron with
Captain McCalla, when the squadron was
on it's way to Cienfuegos. but the witness
could not recall any conversation with Com
modore Schley relative to that occurrence.
Speaking of the Adula the witness said the
papers Of that vessel were all right; he had
looked into that matter himself.
Speaking Of the arrival of the Hawk at
Cienfuegos with dispatches. May %. 1893,
the witness referred again to the McCaila
memorandum, which stated that there was
a good landing place thirteen miles from
| Cienfuegos, but he said in reply to ques-
| tions that no effort had been made prior
| to the arrival of Captain McCalla on the
24th to find this landing place.
Continuing, the witness said that inStruc-
| tions were given Immediately after Cap
| tain McCalla's report that the Spaniards
| were not at Cienfuegos to proceed to San
| tlago. He had not heard that the commo-
| dore had other intentions than TO leave
| forthwith. and he knew nothing Of an al
| legged letter written on that date by Com
| modore Schley, saying that he would not
| leave until the 25th, the next day. The
| witness, with reference to the alleged diff
| fculty of coaling the Texas at sea, said
that he had had the authority of Captain
| Philip for that statement.
| Speaking of the speed of the Bro )klyn i'll
| the chase of the Colon. the witness said
it had been increased gradually. The rec
ord made of the revolutions of the engine
| showed that the vessel had covered forty
nine miles on that occasion.
| Mr.. Hanna asked why the Yucatan chan
mel, rather than the Windward Passage,
had been selected in making the retrograje
| movement The witness replied that his
| opinion was that the selection mad been
| made because of the general feeling that
the ships of the enemy might have gotten
| out of the harbor at Santiago and gone
| to the westward. In that event it felt
| that the Yucatan channel route would be
the better. The impression :haI 'rervera
had left Santiago, he said, had been Gre
| ated by information received from the
| Adula, but he could not now recall Just
what that information was The witness
said that the fleet under Commodore S1hley
never had been withdrawn from Santiago
| to a distance out at at night. AS Il
rule the ships were farther inside at night
than during the day. The ships never had
gone farther off than six miles. On one
| occasion the GOLFERS had been sent twenty
| five miles away.
| The court asked a number of questions
of the witness which, with the answers,
were as follows:
Were you present when Captain Cotton
delivered dispatches to Commodore Sciiley
| off Santiago?"
Il met, the captain at the gangway. but
whether he gave the dispatches to The
| commodore then | cannot say
| IF you heard those dispa atches read
| read them yourself please state their pur-
| port -
THE dispatch he brought. think. con-
| tanned the most positive information We had
| had that the enemy were in Santiago. |
remember that dispatch as being the first
! information of any positiveness that We had
| had since leaving Cienfuegos. l could iden-
| ify ho iSra fob / I
Did you hear any conversation that may
| have taken place between Commodore
schley and Captain Cotton? If so, please
| give it.
''Was any boat sent from the squadron
! to examine the shore at Cienfuegos with
the view to ascertaining the practicability
of landing ?'ftEs -,
| Not to my knowledge"
Signals Dnring Battle of July 3.
what orders if any, were signaled to
the squadron by the Brooklyn from the
| time the Spanish squadron appeared coming
| out until the Colon ran ashore
The prescribed signal was that the Span
| sh fleet was escaping. The next si-nal
was: Clear ship for action the next signal
| was Close in There was signal when
| the Fiscaya was hopelessly out of it for
| the Oregon to cease firing. The next signal
was to the Oregon to open fire with lhir-
| teen-inch guns. There were iignals then
| made between the Oregon and Brooklyn.
When the Oregon would fire would no
| tify her of the fall of her smells. When
| we fired the Oregon notified us Then,
| upon the approach of the New Iurk when
| she observed, signal was made l
| think, to the Texas. to be repea ted notify
| ing the commander in-chief that We had
| won great victory.
"Were these signals answered and these
orders obeyed by the ships of the squad
| ROM"
| THE orders were obeyed. l do not know
| whether the signals were answered or not.
| could not see. Later signals, those that
had nothing to do with the squadron at
| the end of the battle, were all answer Cd"
| WAS any examination of the coast, east
| and west of Cienfuegos, made with a view
| to finding a place where the Texas might
be protected from the sea while Coalng?"
| No"
| Did you observe smoke in the harbor of
| Cienfuegos? If so. describe it,
Il do not recollect any smoke at Glen
| fuegos.''
What orders were issued by Ccnmo-
dore Schley regarding the blockade of Glen
| fuegos?'
| 'I know of no orders"
| What signals were made to the flying
squadron by Commodore Schley on May
| 81 regarding the movement of the ships?"
"The range at which we were to fire
was signaled also the speed. l do not
| recollect whether Cease fire was made or
| not
''Did the Teresa turn to the westward
| before the Brooklyn commenced her turn
| to starboard?'
The BrOOklyn's Turn.
| 1.-THE Brooklyn was forging ahead gain
| ing speed and as l stated in my r4coIlec.
| ton of that event, the helm was eased
| The Teresa before she turned to westward
| appeared to move herself to keep her ram
toward us 1t is my impression that Cant