The daily morning journal and courier., 1901-10-25

| knot speed, that being the highest al
 the vessels of the squadron could make
 The squadron at that time consisted O
 the Brooklyn, Massachusetts, Texas Scorpion and Sterling, the latter being
 a collier. The admiral said the Ster
 ling was lost sight of the first night ou
 in a dense fog, and he never saw hel
 again until he met her off the soutf
 side of Cuba
 The flying squadron arrived at Key
 West on the 17th, the admiral thought
 and on the next day he went ashore tc
 pay his respects to Commodore Remey
 after having saluted his flag. Contin- uing his narrative, the admiral said. l Whilst there the commodore showed
 me a telegraphic order from the honor
 able secretary of the navy directing me
 to proceed with all dispatch to the | blockade of Santiago. He also showed
 me number of other dispatches, the 1 purport of which I remember but the l contents I do not. During the time
 was on shore, after having had my con ference with him, there were several of l the Cuban people residents there whc l informed me that the province in which | Cienfuegos was situated, and from that | to the westward was almost thorough 1 ly occupied by Spanish troops and that l we had better be careful in any attempt at intercourse. I hastened off, and on | my way to the ship in the forenoon I thought I saw the New York approach Ing. At all events, when got on board, determining to go at once off Santiago, the flagship had arrived and salutes
 were exchanged.
 T went on board to pay my respects and also to talk over the situation with Admiral Sampson. I found that the admiral was very much worn, and nee
 essarily so, because his responsibility
 had been very great. He had had great
 trouble in keeping his squadron togeth-
 CT, and he appeared to me as if he was
 in good deal of anxiety which I could
 readily appreciate. He showed me a
 number of orders. Among them was
 one which stated that division of the
 two sauadrons had been decided upon,
 one for the north and the other for the
 south coast of Cuba, in which he was
 given the preference of commanding.
 The order if I remember correctly, stated that under any circumstances I was to remain with my command, and I asked him which of the two stations he would take and he said he proposed to hold the Havana or north one. He also told me that whichever side l went on to remember that they were very heavily fortified, and that his confden- tial instructions, which he delivered to me verbally were that we were not to risk our battleships against the forti- fled places of the coast until after the Spanish squadron had been disposed of. My recollection is that he told me that it was at Curacoa. The impression left upon my mind was that it was some where in the Venezuelan gulf and that 1t was supplied with ammunition and stores destined to Havana, and that that was undoubtedly the point it was to reach. He said his information was that the orders of the Spanish fleet to reach Havana or some point in rail- road communication with it, were i'm perative, and that he believed, and he thought, that Cienfuegos would be the point, as that came under the accepta- tion of the order more directly. We looked over maps, and must say that I agreed with him. I could not imagine that any one who had studied the milf tary situation of the island at all could have supposed that Santiago would have fulfilled any of the conditions of this instruction.
 ''We had a. talk together. I told him that had been ordered to report for duty to Admiral Remey and that, in- agined. necessarily meant himself, and T +oo at "a set that I should be loyal, absolutely and unreservedIy, to the cause we were both representing. Captain Chadwick, who was present-I don't remember all the time or not-said, Of commodore, any one who has known your character would know that it would be impossible for you to be than loyal I asked the ad- rniral if there had been established any means of communicating with the in whether there were any pilots or whether any locality was known where they were to be found. He told 1 me that he did not know, but that when he got the situation better in hand he would communicate with me, but that | he thought that it would be better for | me to start as early as we could get | away and blockade Cienfuegos.
 q said very well, that I was prepar- | ad of course to go anywhere. then | went aboard my own flagship in order | to hasten the operations of coaling. Whilst there the Algonquin came out bearing an order from the secretary of l he navy, through Commodore Remey, directing me to go off Havana. l sig nailed to the admiral to know whether ,r not he understood that my orders were to go off Havana He replied by signal that he understo ood that his com ng to Key West modified my orders, md that I should be prepared to carry ut the orders we had agreed upon in he afternoon. I do not remember whether that was on that afternoon or n the morning, but it was before I left or Cienfuegos."
 The next move on the part of the fly ng squadron, the witness said, was rom Key West to Cienfuegos, Cuba, md the admiral told how, as the com in- chief of that squadron, he lad the vessels coaled so that at or 8 clock on the morning of May 19 all he ships of the fleet turned their backs pon American soil and laid their curse for the southern coast of Cuba. his he said, was done under the order |