The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1901-09-26

U utlANEIGG.
What was said about the dis
patches2"
II delivered to Commodore Schle
} the original cipher in which the dis
Patches had been received by me a
ST Nicholas mole, together with tn
translation of those dispatches mad
by Lieutenant BeaI of the Harvard.
handed them personally to him in hi
cabin in the order of their date. H
received them, read them and com
? mented in a general way upon thei
purport; spoke of the difficulty he ha6
in getting coal on board his ships while
at CienfUegos and subsequently to the
date Of which l am speaking. May q
and said it had been an almost impOs-
sibility to get coal on board on &C
count of the weather.
He questioned me relative to the
practicabiiity of coaling ships at St
Nicholas mole ard Gonaives mole AS
/ to st. Nicholas mole, 1 said, There is
no question the small ships can coal
As to GOnaives channel. I know of no
reason why we 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 cOaling big ships at St.
Nicholas mOle2 L said. You cannot
/ coal your big ships there / had ref
erence in my reply to the hattleshipS
and protected cruisers of the BROOKLYN
U
OF the fact that my own ship had been
there and was of some 1000 tons dis
| placement and nearly 600 feet in length,
Possibly, under favorable conditions,
you might b. able to coal the large
ships there, one at time But the
area of deep water for the anchorage
of large ships is so little there it was
not practicable to coal al the very
utmost more than one large ship at a
time there, and in case the weather be-
came bad she would Immediately have
10 go to sea
II was anxious while / was there
with the Harvard, on account Of her
size, and / would have left at once in
case r d weather heS come on. AS I
remember, 1 recOllecr no qualification
is to Gonaives channel"
Vessels Could Have Coaled.
Admiral Cotton said in response to a
question from Captain Lemly that yes
sells of the feet could have cOaled when
they were there on the 9th, lat some
tine during that day" he said. As
indicative OF the condition of the seas
he iiaG used q cookie shell boat in go
ing from the Harvard TO the Brooklyn
and had worn white unnosm
Was anything said about going 10
Key West for cOal2f
Returning to what 1 said With ref
erence TO the difficulty which Com
mOdOre Schley stated to me he had
had in getting coal on board of any Of
the ships at Cienfuegos, lie said he
was very anxious. The coal supply
was getting short. the weather was
bad and it had been bad almost con-
unucusly. 1t was a very serious prob
lem as to how or whether he could
possibly get coal on board ships off
Santiago He said - he found the
weather did not improve and he found
il impraCticable to coal there, he could
only see one resort, and that he would
be compelled 10 return 10 Key West
in order TO supply his ships with coal.
Having that question in view, he
was apprehensive, especially as to one I
ship, the Texas He old not even know [
at that moment whether she had on /
board sufficient coal to enable her to /
return to Key West. During any visit /
he gave an order to make Signal, a 4
general signal as l. remember it, not I
limited TO the flying squadron alone, I
to report whether the ships had suffi- 1
cient coal to reach Key West.
The signal was made, or at least !
assume il was made 1t all events. /
during my presence with Commodore +
Schley he received a report to the 4
effect that all the ships. including the /
Texas, had sufficient coal to return to 1
Key West. I think the commodore was /
very much relieved when he received /
this information. Shortly after, 4
should say within a few minutes. he J
signal to be made prepara- |
tory for the ships to return to Key
West. The order was given in a gem /
eral way. L cannot give the words of I
the order but what l have stated was
the purport. /
Ordered to Key West
While was still there he received |
signals 20 the effect that the signals 1
were. received Before 1 left the ship /
he ordered signals to be made for the /
5nlps TO form preparatory for steaming /
10 Key West
To go back a bit 1 had informed /
Commodore Schley that il was utterly 1
impossible for the Harvard to get any
" mere except TO Kingston I had not 1
s-tl4iClenl coal TO go to Key West. and I
ne verbally authorized me to proceed /
AZ once to Kingston to receive such an I
amount of coal as / could get there /
suiiclent 70 enable me to return to /
the nearest United States pOrt I left /
the Brooklyn about noon. possibly a /
rev minutes before Immediately after /
my departure the Brooklyn commenced !
steaming ahead, and 1 noticed that
many OF the ships at the moment nm
Ter Commodore Schley's command were
n motion, presumably preparatory to 1
aking their stations in steamine order
% return 10 Key West. As soon as 4
10 my snip. after my boat was 4
loisted. steered to the southwest for |
Did you state in specific terms that /
'ou agreed with Commodore Schley as /
o the difficulty in coaling?"
The question was not discussed and 4
expressed no opinion"
Did this conversation occur before /
r after the dispatches which you took
board had been read by the conmo-
ore?'
After"
In response to further questions Ad-
niral Cotton said that he had the orig
nal TRANSACTIONS Of the cipher dis
,atches addressed to the Harvard. The
lspatch of May % was then read to
i'm, as follows.
Washington, May IS. 1898.
harvard, St. Nicholas Mole, Haiti:
Proceed at once and inform Schley
nd also the senior officer present of
santiago as 70 lows:
All departn' ent's information indi-
ates Spanish division is still al San
iago. The dep lTtment looks to you
o ascertain the facts. and the enemy.
therein, does not leave without de-
iSlNe action Cubans familiar with
anuago say that there are landing
faces nVe or six nautical miles west
rom the mouth of harbor. and there
lsufBents probably wiz be found and
OF TIE Spanish From tI-e surrounding
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