The St. Louis Republic. [volume] (St. Louis, Mo.) 1888-1919, 1901-07-25
BROOKLYN DID NOT
UNDERSTAND THE SIGNAL s. y


Newport. R. l., July 24.-Captain Francis
A Cook, who. during the Spanish American
war. was IN command of the cruiser Brook
lyn, which was the flagship of Adm raj
sch!ey's flying squadron" talked TO-DAY
Oh the statement which has been made. that
the Brooklyn was not in possession of the
code OF signals improvised for use between
the CUBAN insurgents and the American
ships
The Brooklyn said Captain Cook, was
not put in possession Of the code of signals,
and. on account of our lack of knowledge
of them. we were very much mystified by
certain signs that We observed on the
beach at Cienfuegos.
I'VE saw one night three horizontal lam
terms on the beach at Cienfuegos. AS we
afterwards learned they were sign from
the insurgents that they wished to comrnu-
ntcate with us. We thought the lanterns a
trap Of some sort, and We acted accord
ingly.
"At that time we had no knowledge what
ever Of the whereabouts of Cervera. We
had been informed by the Captain of a YES
sci. the Adu,a. that the feet had been seen
going into Santiago. but that they had been
seen coming out again. The Commander-in-
Chief thought possibly that they had gone
past us and had got into Havana.
when, however, we observed the lights
on the beach at Cienfuegos. the Commander
in-Chief believed they indicated the pres
ence of the Spanish ships there. Not know
ing that any signal code had been arranged,
we looked for no signs on the beach In the
daytime, but on the second night We again
observed three horizontal lights on the
shore. 1t was not till the second day, when
Captain McCalla came up. that we learned
that signals had been prearranged, and
that the lights that We had seen for two
nights on the beach expressed a desire of
the insurgents to communicate with us.
LACK OF KNOWLEDGE OF
SIGNALS CAUSED DELAY.
I'VE told Captain McCalla that we had
seen lights upon the beach. whereupon no
exclaimed: Why, they want to commune
cate with you This was the first init
nation We had of any such wish on the
part of the Cubans.
Captain McCalla explained that. as he
had some explosives for the Cubans, no
would go in and investigate. He did so,
and. as soon as he was able to inform us,
he said that the lights had really been sig
nails from the insurgents. who desired to
communicate with US. Captain McCalra
also informed us that the Spanish ships
were not in Cienfuegos."
While Captain Cook did not say SO, for.
indeed, he carefully avoided any statement
that would be likely to lead to further
discussion Of Santiago matters, 1t would
seem from the conversation that Admiral
Schley was handicapped in his search for
Cervera's fleet by not being able to employ
the apparently very useful code of signals
that had been arranged. and thus cooper
ate with the Cubans.
In fact. with the Cubans using the code
Of signals. and Schley naturally misunder-
standing their meaning, as was the case
on board the Brooklyn, it would seem as Ii
he were actually hampered by their one
sided use. Then too, 1t does appear from
Captain Cooks statement that, through
IS
the misunderstanding OF the signais on 'i ne
CerNcra.