The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1901-09-26

next Witness
He told of meeting the flying squadron.
under Commodore Schley, off Santiago on
May 27, 1898, and said that on that date
ne had delivered dispatches to the then
commodore from Admiral Sampson and
the navy department He had, he said.
boarded the Brooklyn about 1920 O'Clock.
Inc weather was then moderate, and he
had had no difficulty in going aboard the
brooklyn from his boat. He had worn
his sword
What conversation took place between
yourself and Admiral Schley?'' asked
Capt Lemly.
1T will be impossible for me to state
the entire conversation the witness re-
Piled. 81 was on board, generally speak
ing about two hours. The converse ton
naturally covered a very wide range, the
most important part Of which was, or
course, relative to the dispatches [ had
delivered"
What was said about the dispatches?''
Il delivered to Commodore Schley the,
original cipher in which the dispatches
mad been received by me at ST. Nicholas
Mole, together with translation of those
dispatches made by Lieut.. Buell. of the
Harvard. l handed them personally TO
him In his cabin In the order of tfeil.
date. He received them. read them and
commented in a general way upon their.
purport; spoke Of the difficulty he said
while at Cienfuegos, and subsequently the
date of which I am speaking, Nav 27
and said it had been an almost impOs-
s1bll1ty to get coal on board or account
of the weather. He questioned me rala-
tive to the practicability of coaling shipss
at st. Nicholas Mole and Gonaives cham
mel AS to st. Nicholas Mole, I said,
there is no question the small ships can
coal there. As to Gonaives channel /
Know of no reason why you should not
be able to coal there The commodore
made some remarks upon my statement.
the language of which l do not recall
but he asked me: How about the large
ships at st. Nicholas Mole?' I said: You
can't coal your big ships there | had
special reference in my reply to the bat
tleships and protected cruisers of the
Brooklyn and New York class. said
thinking of the fact that my own shin
mad beer there, and was of some 1900
tons displacement and nearly 6OO feet in
length, possibly under favorable condf-
tlons you might be able to coal the large
ships there, one at a time But the area
of deep water for the anchorage of larg6
ships is so little there it was not prac-
t1cable to coal at the very utmost more
than one large ship at q time there. ana
In case the weather became bad, she
would Immediately have to go to sea. Z
was anxious while I was there with the
4
would have left at once in case bad
weather had come on. AS remember. 7
recollect no qualification as to Gonaives
channel
COULD HAVE COALED MAY q.
Admiral Cotton said. in response to a
question from Capt. Lemly, that the fleet
could have coaled swhere they were on
the 9th, 'at some time during that day.
he said. AS indicative of the condition
of the sea, he said he had used cockle-
shell boat in going from the Harvard to
the Brooklyn, and had worn white uni
form.
WAS anything said at this time about
going to Key West for coal?''
Returning to what I saIu with refer
ence to the difficulty which Commodore
Schley stated to me he had had in get
ting coal on board of any of the ships at
C1enIuegoS, he said he was very anxious.
The coal supply was getting short, the
weather was bad and it had been bad
almost continuously. 1t was a very Sc
r1ous problem as to how or whether ne
could possibly get coal on board ships
off Santiago. He said if he found the
weather did not improve and he found it
impracticable to coal there he could
only see one resort, and that was he
would be compelled to return to Key
West in order to supply his ships with
was apprehensive, especially as to one
ship, the Texas. He did not even know
at that moment whether she had on
board sufficient coal to enable her to re-
turn to Key West. During my visit
he gave order to make signal, gen.
eral signal, as I remember it, not linz
tied to the flying squadron alone. to re-
port whether the ships had sufficient
coal to reach Key West. The signal
was made, or at least / assume it was
made. At all events during my presence
with Commodore Schley he received a.
report to the effect that all the ships, in
Guiding the Texas, had sufficient coal to
return to Key West 1 think the CONF
modore was very much relieved when he
received this information. Shortly after
wards, I should say within few Minis
utes, he directed signal be made prepare
atory for the ships to
RETURN TO KEY WEST.
The order was given in a general way.
cannot give the words of the order but
what I have stated was their purport.
While I was still there he received a rec
port to the effect that the signals wera
read. Before 1 left the ship he ordered
signals to be made for ships to form
for steaming to Key West.
To go back bit. 1 had informed Cons
mander Schley that it was utterly in-
possible for the Harvard to get anywhere
except to Kingston. I had not sufficient
coal to get to Key West and he verbally
authorized me to proceed at once to
Kingston to receive such amount of coal
as could get there, sufficient to enable
me to return to the nearest United
States port. I left the Brooklyn about
noon, possibly few minutes before. Ims
mediately after my departure the Brook
lyn commenced steaming ahead, and
noticed that many of the ships at that
Continued ON Third ege.