The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1901-07-28

court-maritaled for not keeping your entire
force on the blockade line and coaling from
Golfers
This weakening OF the line was an un-
avoidable feature of the blockade Although
We did do considerable coaling from the
golfers on the blOckading line, We Iounu
II impossible 10 keep a sufficient supply on
board all the vessels by this method. IL
must be remembered that the vessels were
constantly under way and had 10 Keep
steam in enough OF their boilers 10 be ready
10 move at good speed on immediate notice.
This involved the expending OF coal raster
than II could be put on board by coaIng IN
the open, and we We're. therefore, oDlgeu
10 send a vessel each morning 10 Guam
tanamo 10 coal, the vessel returning 10 her
olockading station at nightfall In this way
you can see that the whole force was on
hand throughout every nighttime uIne
wnen all supposed ii was most likely TO be
needed. Furthermore, while IL would, OF
course, have been best, had IL been posslole
10 nave had every ship in her station at all
times. there never was time from June
TO July when our force on the blockade
was not far superior 10 the Spanish force
inside So, the absence or one snip, as
events afterwards proved. lett US with
sufficient force to make successful the out
come of the engagement"
THE message, whicn you sent 10 the
Navy Department Immediately after the
victory and which read, the fleet under my
command offers the Nation as Fourth OF
July present. etc. Admiral as you know
has caused much criticism. Was that writ
ten by your or at your dictation?
NO, the message was written by mem
Der of my staff: don't clearly recoilect
which. l approved the message, however
The Colon was on the beach. was sinking
and all hands were making every enort TO
save this vessel for the government. 1
must say If i had dictated the message
myself l should have expressed the facts
differently. | am not attempting IN me
least TO shift the responsibility for this
message TO any other person. / read IL ana
approved it and accept the full responsible
ity for it,"
'As to the blockade Schley had insti-
tuted, did it meet your approval OF what a
blockade should be-"
"Of course. l was not an eyewitness to
the blockade, as IL was maintained during
the few days prior 10 my arrival. The
only official information that l have on the
subject is contained i'll the official records,
10 which you and every one else may have
ent, however, shortly after my arrival, TO
issue an order of blockade. distributing the
force in a semicircle. with the entrance TO
the harbor the center, with radius OF
six miles in the daytime and a lesser radius
at night After bombarding the batteries
and discovering their weakness this radius
was decreased; vessel was stationed with
her searchlight lighting up the entrance
and all that part OF the harbor visible
from the entrance. so that no sortie could
have been attempted without having been
discovered long before the enemy reached
the entrance. Assurance was made doubly
sure by stationing at night picket line OF
small vessels in a Semicircle well inside the
fighting line and third semicircle OF
ships launches still farther inside. L am
or opinion that none of these things was
done previous TO this time but whether or
not the blockade previous TO this time was
efficient, you must. as | say, form your
opinion from the official records comprising
orders. signals and reports. There is a
most interesting and presumably authentic
pamphlet that has been published by the
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