The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1901-10-25
SCHLEY TESTIFIES.
CONTINUED from First Page.l

dispatch was enclosed the MCCalId
memorandum, saying that a good land
ing place could be secured thirteen and
a half miles west of Cienfuegos.
Hoods Memory Was Bad.
With regard to Conymander Hoods
testimony concerning the delivery of
these dispatches, the admiral said he
did not remember, and" he said, Il
think l can show you by a memoran-
dunn in the official government report
that if he had any verbal orders he
forgot to report them" This memo
randum had run to the effect that Hood
had said there are a good many OFF,
GERS here who do not believe the Span
iards are there"
That" said the admiral, goes to
show that Hood was not very certain,
or that If he had the information he
did not deliver it to the commander-in-
chief which was an indiscretion. He
seems to have remembered a good deal
that was said by me, but to have for
gotten a good deal that he should have
done
Admiral Schley also told of the ar
rival of the British ship Adula and of
his having that vessel boarded, and his
allowing it to proceed inside. He also
told of the report which the Adula
brought to the effect that the Saonish
fleet had arrived at, and later had left
Santiago, which, he said, lent color to
his own belief at that time.
The witness stated that he had seen
the signals on shore, and explained his
experience in this respect.
Lack of Signals the Trouble.
He said the surf was dangerous
there in the daytime. Continuing, Adj
miral Schley said.
"Nnt LOnuino~ whether or NOT there
were any insurgents to the west of this
place; not having communicated to me
any idea that there was a system of
signals arranged with them, though 1
asked the question; the withdrawal of
the squadron of Capt. McCalla and the
failure of Lieut.. Switzerland to give
me that information, was directly re-
sponsible for the delay in communicate
ing. To risk a boat through surf on a
coast believed to be occupied by the
enemy might have repeated Capt, Nc
Calais experiment. He found the coast
was pretty we'll occupied. l saw cav
airy on the coast once or twice. They
appeared for a moment, and then got
out of sight. / thought to waste am
munition on a solitary cavalryman was
like wasting big guns on sparrows. l
wanted to save all the ammunition we
had for use against the enemyS squad
ron, which I knew to be some
where in the vicinity. l did
everything that was possible during
the time we were there to maintain a
blockade as was contemplated. | did
all the coaling that was practicable OF
possible. With the later experiences of
the war after we got hold of golfers
that were very much better fitted TO
resist shock as well as to deliver this
coal rapidly-with that experience l
might have coaled on days of worse
weather. We had a great many acct
dents. One of the GOLFERS had
to go to New York absolute
ly smashed in. The Merrimac
had several holes punched through her,
and my impression now is a portion
of the upper works of the Sterling was
injured in some way but we man
aged, with more experience, to do a
little better than we did at first.
There was always at Cienfuegos roll
ing swell and vessels with projecting
Sponsors or projecting guns were al
ways in danger. I recollect in one case
later one of the siX-pounder guns on
the Brooklyn was bent at an angle OF
80 per cent. by coming in collision with
one of these golfers. In other words,
the problem presented at Cienfuegos
was one that had disturbed the navies
Of the world for fifty years"
McCalIa and His Signals.
McCalla on May "a bringing informa.
| ton concerning the shore signals from
the Cuban insurgents. He said that
when the captain came aboard he ask
ed: Have you seen any signals?"
II said, What do you mean?' He
then asked if I had seen three lights
at night and three horses in the day.
time. I had seen the lights, I said, and
he said they were trying to commu-
nicate with US. I expressed surprise
and asked who had made the arrange
ments. McCalla replied that he had
done so. / asked why they had not
been communicated to me, but that he
did not known. I then told him to
make a search Of the shore, which he
did. reporting that the Spanish fleet
was not there"
This information. the admiral said,
had been received about D. m, May
"a. and toward o'clock the squadron
formed column and steamed toward
Santiago. He said that the signals
made by the fleet were not made until
the fleet was fourteen miles from Glen
fuegos, and could not have been seen.
He then retold the details of the voy-
age. 1t was a dirty night, with a
lowering sky. I remember that when
looked out at the port hole twenty feet
above, the spray came in freely. Of
course, this was not serious for big
vessels, but it was for the smaller
ones"
He defended his course in keeping
the vessels together. holding the faster
vessels for the slower.
1--WE proceeded as a unit" he said
land hold that to do otherwise would
be unmilitary and unwise in changing
base with feet I hold that the use
full auxiliaries and supplies should
never be abandoned except under the