The times. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1890-1903, 1901-10-25

He defended his course in Keeping lie
vessels Notwithstanding the faster YES
sells for the slower. I'VE proceeded as :, .
unit, he said. land hold that to DO
otherwise would be unmiitary and unWlse
in changing base with a fleets L hola th,s
useful auxiliaries and supplies sho u
never be abandoneo except under lle
erea test necessity
Taking up the, coal question. he salo
that it was absolutely impossible to coal
on May 18th. Il watched the situation
Closely he said, land felt that was
more capable than any other man q
judging the situation in that respect. On
the Goth the weather was still! rouSh,
especiallysrin the morning." He told also
of sending Commander Switzerland away
with the Eagle, and said that it was done
because Southerlano' had signalled that he
was dangerously short of coal. He said
that Switzerland had neither protested
against leaving or insisted that he could
coal. tie regretted the necessity. as
did. but it was impracticable for him to.
coal. He might have taken on little
coal in boats. but he would have burnt
it as fast as he took it,
Referring to his course in leaving Glen
fuegos. he said it was made so as to
give him the widest position. My. course
projected he said would have carried
me to China. If there had been no Islands
in the way" He spoke of the necessity
of action upon his own responsibility
of having to act without having any
private information from Havana.
Therefore, he said 81 had to Go a
good deal from guesswork Sometimes 1
was right and sometimes wrong
THE ASSURANCE OF SIGSBEE
Admiral Schley then told of meeting
the dispatch boats st. Paul. Minneapolis.
and Yale. He said at that time there was
heavy sea on. He remembered Cap
tain Cook saying to him or the passage
over that he had never seen more motion
on the Brooklyn and that some of the
youngsters were aseasicE. Captain Sigs-
bee came on board continued the wit
ness, and | think my recollection is al
most vivid enough to describe his dress.
l recollect distinctly that he had on rub
Der boots and an old blockading cap,
which we all more or less wore, heavy
blouse suit l met him at the gangway.
I was very glad to see him, as he was,
Of course. to see me. The first thing i
asked Sigsbee when he came over the
side-and I want to say before / make
this statement that | do not believe Cap
tain Sssbee would mistake anyt--.ng for
his commission. l do not believe that
he is capable of stating what is not true
think in this instance his recollection
is at fault, and not his veracity. l said
to him: Captain, have you got the Dons
in here He said: No, they are not
in here I have been in very close he
said. They are not here; they are only
reported here I said to him: Have any
Of the other vessels seen them. the Yale
or the Minneapolis He said: No, they
have not; they have assured me So and
upon that was the assurance to which L
referred when ! spoke OF the assurance
of such men as Wise. and Jewell and
Sigsbee Now l do not believe that my
Of these men would misstate the facts.
They did not communicate verbally with
me. but I assumed from the conversation
with Sigsbec that he was bearing to me
The assurance of all of them.
TALKED WITH NUNEZ.
"At the same time Nunez was aboard,
and he and had a conversation in Span
ish. Among other things l said: MI
nez. what do You think of the report that
these people are not here?' Well, he
said, I do not believe that they are here
at all, because the channel way is very
narrow; the huoys have also all been re-
moved We have to make the turns very
quickly and the channel is very crooked.
If they had a tug Or a most favorable
day, perfectly smooth weather do not
say that they might not get in but I do
not believe they are there now He said
he had been plotting sixteen or eighteen
years. We subsequently found he was q
very expert pilot and rendered us Valu-.
able service.
My habit of life. not only. in principal;
command of a squadron, but also in COM
nland Ola ship, was to assume the re-
sponsibility and the danger Of censure
of any movement, but 7 was never will
ing under any circumstances to be a par
tcipant,-in glories that"I would not di-
vide. That was the general principle
upon which acted in this matter. did
not call any couLcil of war. The infor-
nation which these people gave me led
me to infer that the telegraphic informa-
ton was a ruse similar to that which
was teegraphed from Cadz that the
squadron had returned to Cape Verde"
Continuing, the Admiral said: IF any
of us at any time made a mistake during
the campaign OF Santiago or elsewhere.
it was in surprising that the Sraniards
would ever do right at the right time"
At this point Admiral Schley described
the movements of his squadron about
Santiago. saying that he had concluded
the move eastward to be unHise. 1t
would not have been wise TO uncover San
tiago He said that their movements
every minute Of the day We're known in
Havana.
THAT RETROGRADE MOVEMENT.
Just as we approached Santiago on
the 26th the collier Mcrrimac, which had
been giving us a good Deal Of trouble,
broke down. I determined that an I'M
mana geable collier was not a very pre-
ferable thing to have with the squadron
if we met the enemy. SO / first detern1in-
ed to send her to Key West with the
Yale It then occurred to NE that if I
sent her to Key West and she was taken.
we would be out a collier and the Span
ish. if they were outside, would be in so
much COAL
In this connection Admiral Schley ex-
planned his retrograde movement, social
ed to the westward, saying nat he had
not considered the economical aspect of
this step, as the economical features
could never be taken into consideration
in military movements. He had, he said,
mace careful inquiry as to the coal sup
ply OF the various ships and had
turned over in his mind the question
of their endurance in battle. q was"
he said thinking over in my mind that
Il squadron, in its coaling endurance or at
least in its speeding endurance, was equal
only to it's weakest member, just as the
srced of a fleet depends upon its slowest
member: that it would be necessary to
as nearly as we could their
standards of steam in order to be Of ef-
feCtiVe. use as q unit, and that determined