The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1901-09-26
SCHLEY AT SANTIAGO
HIS CONDUCT WHILE IN COMMAND
THERE REVIEWED.
ADMIRAL COTTON TESTIFIES.
HE THROWS CONSIDERABLE LIGHT
ON THE SUBJECT.

patches to Schley-The Latter Was
Very Anxious on the Subject of
COaling, and Seemed to Think 1t
Necessary to Return to Key West.
He Did Not Discover the Spanish
Fleet I'm Santiago Bay and Made no
Effort to Do So, So Far as the Wit
ness Was Aware.
Washington, Sept. 25.-Two new wit
nesses were introduced in the Schley
court to-day. They were Admiral Cot
ton, who as captain commanded the
auxiliary cruiser Harvard, and Capt.
Wise, who commanded the auxiliary
cruiser Yale during the Spanish war.
Both these vessels were used as scouts
and both came up with the flying
May, before the retrogada movement
to Key West was begun.
Admiral Cotton testified that he had
gone aboard Admiral Schley's flag
ship, the Brooklyn, on that date to
take dispatches to him, and he said at
first that he gave him four or five dis
patches addressed to the commander
of the squadron. He afterwards mod
ified this statement, saying that prob
ably all but two of these dispatches
We're addressed to himself (Cotton),
but that they contained information
which he thought should be in Admiral
Schley's possession. One of these was
a copy of a dispatch from Admiral
Sampson, which had not been printed
in the official records, stating that the
Spanish fleet was at Santiago. He also
said that coal could have been taken
from the Merrimac on the 9th day of
May, the day on which the retrogade
movement to Key West was begun
for the purpose of coaling.
Capt. Wise testified that on the 9th
of May he had signalled Capt. Philip
of the Texas his opinion that Cervera
was inside the harbor at Santiago, but
the testimony was ruled out
The first witness called to-day was
A. B. Claxton, the machinist on board
the Texas, who had begun his testi
mony when the sittings of the court
were so abruptly terminated yesterday
morning by the death of Judge Wilson.
'.Fun Speed Asterp.e
Mr.. Claxton said on July 3, 1898, he
had been on duty in the engine room
called for full speed ahead early in
the morning, which had, within an
hour after the beginning of the action
been changed to full speed astern."
To his knowledge there had been no
signal for the reversal of the engines
He said that he had been excused from
service in the engine room, but still
he knew that the engines were revers-
ed for about two minutes.
A dY1,f
ant of the Norfolk navy yard, who
commanded the auxiliary cruiser Har-
ward during the Spanish war, was the
next witness. He said that on May o.
1898, he had delivered dispatches to
Commodore Schley from Admiral
Sampson, and the navy department.
He had, he said, boarded the Brooklyn
about 1870 o'clock. The weather was
then moderate and he had no difficulty
in going aboard the Brooklyn.
What was said about the dis
patches?"
Schley Discussed Dispatches.
Il delivered to Commodore Schley the
original cipher in which the dispatches
had been received by me at St Noch-
olas Mole, together with translation of
| those dispatches made by Lieut. Beail
| of the Harvard. / handed them per-
sonally to him in his cabin in the or
der of their date. He received them.
read them and commented in a gener-
al way upon their purport; spoke of
the difficulty he had had In getting coal
on board his ship while at Cienfuegos
and subsequently, to the date of which
1 am speaking. May %. and said it had
been almost an impossibility to get coal
| on board on account of the weather.
He questioned me relative to the prac-
ticability of coaling ship at st. Nicho-
las Mole and Gonaives channel AS to
| st. Nicholas Mole, l said: There is no
question the small ships can coal there.
| AS to Gonaives channel, l know of no
reason why you should not be able to
| coal there. The commodore made
some remarks upon my statements. the
language of which do not recall, but
| he asked me, How about the large
| ships at st. Nicholas Mole?' l said:
You can't coal your big ships there.
l had special reference in my reply to
the battleships and protected cruisers
of the Brooklyn and New York class.
l said, thinking of the fact that my
own ship had been there and was of
some 900 tons displacement and near
| ly 600 feet in length, Possibly, under
favorable conditions, you might be able
to coal the large ships there, one at a
| time But the area of deep water for
the anchorage of large ships is so lit
| tie there ii was not practicable to coal
! at the very utmost more than one large
ship at a time and in case the weather
became bad she would Immediately
| have to go to sea. 1 was anxious
while ] was there with the Harvard
on account of her size, and / would
have left at once in case bad weather
had come on. AS l remember, I recol-
lect no qualification as to Gonaives
channel"
Could Have CoaIed May 27.
Admiral Cotton said in response to a
question from Capt. Lemly that ves-
sells of the fleet could have coaled
where they were on the 9th, at some
time during that day. AS indicative OF
the condition of the sea, he said he had
used a cookie shell boat in going from
the Harvard to the Brooklyn and had
worn white uniform.
WAS anything said at this time
about going to Key West for coal?"
Returning to what / said with ref
erence to the difficulty which Commo-
dore Schley stated to me he had had
in getting coal on board Of any OF the
ships at Cienfuegos, he said he was
very anxious. The coal supply was
getting short, the weather was bad and
II had been bad almost continuously
n was a very serious problem as &c
how or whether he could possibly gel
coal on board ships off Santiago. lie
said IL he found the weather
ana not improve and II he found i'm
practicabie TO coal there he could onlD
| 80 &c reqort and that was he would