The San Francisco call., 1901-10-25
Meets Captain Chester.

: was mistaken"
Meets Captain Chester.
The admiral also related his meeting the
Cincinnati and the Eesuyius the next morning
of San Antonio. Captain Chester, IN COM
lnand Of the Cincinnati. came aboard the
Brooklyn. remaining for about three-quarters
of an hour. He related the details OF his con-
tbey had ..threshed out a good many subjects -
After mentioning a number Of the subjects
which did not bear upon the present inquiry
the ADMIRAL said that Captain Chester had ex-
pressed himself specially oesirous OF JONI
ing the flying squadron with ms snip pSt sac e
would be compelled to go TO Key West at
very early date to replenish II Admiral
Schley said that be had terminated this part
of the conversation by saying 70 Captain Ches1
Ter that as his ship not in his CSchley 50
squadron. In the same connection witness said
that CAPTAIN Chester had asked permission to
coal the Cincinnati from the nying squadron
collier, but he CSchley) had declined this prop
osition. -
Z then asked him II he had ever crused in
the West Indies, as had never been on the
south side Of Cuba and II he knew of any
Tlace that would be favorable for coaling.
where fairly smooth water could De expected
He suggested place some thirty miles 70
the eastward on q bank, or to the southwark
On another bank, coaling upon which would
he problematical and dependent upon the
state of the weather and the sea
Il do not" the admiral added, ''recollect
Just at this moment any other conversation,
except Captain Chesters disappointment that
he could not join my squadron, which
thought extremely Prsiseworthy; thy, p- -.
admiral said that one OF the places that had
been recommended by Captain Chester for
coaling was to the southwark Of Cienfuegos
Il did not agree" he said, that that would
an ordinary would be aggravated in shoal
water"
Admiral schley placed his arrival off Glen
f'iegos at near midnight Of May 2I. He told
OF hearing guns early that evening while still
port. Describing this incident. he said:
Toward sundown OF that afternoon I was
sanding on the bridge of the Brooklyn and
distinctly heard six or seven guns fred with
The cadence Of Ssl0ss The fact c Of bearing rim
tie officer Of the deck spoke OF it. I happened
q be there et the time"
He said that the feet stopped for the night
ten or twelve miles OF shore off Cienfuegos;
that he had sent the Scorpion ahead of the
feet pilot, and toward daylight on the
following morning May e. all the ships had
steamed In close to the harbor entrance.
Ny NY recollection ion Is f ne said n that we wen:
owing to trees and other distractions it was
impossible 20 see into the harbor. I never saw
any snokestacks. and was a very close
morning until y or o'clock at night. There
was scarcely a circumstance of any kind that
The admiral said that after this inspection
Of the harbor he had taken sition with
Z generally he said. gave the position
that the squadron was from the beach by the
Ordinarily
ten"
Dispatch From Sampson.
AT O'Clock on the evening of the 22d the
rived with dispatch from Admiral Sampson.
re es,s, eispsteh . referred gs to was the Dear
4 did not remember the fact until within
the past few months, because there were du-
plicates Of that letter. but I now recall IL
atwad in Obedience to the Higncfion 10 c6n 6ne
tained in that letter TO communicate with the
scouts, about whose presence off Santiago I
was uncertain. as i think the admiral was on
account OF orders having been cent directing
ISL main to look for the squadron. The ad
miral was not certain whether they had got
back. nor was L Therefore l sent the ScSr.
pion east, and that fact fixed the receipt Of
ADMIRAL schley also said that the Iowa had
arrived to join the feet on the 22d, but he aid
not remember that IL had brought any dis
patches beyond an envelope containing some
letters, one Of which was from his (Schley' 81
THAT fact" he said Fixed that in nv
mind. A good many Of the things about which
I am tetsifying burned themselves into my
memory because I was the most interested
with the Iowa at all"
Coming to the blockade off Cienfuegos the
there saying that the steaming which had
been mentioned in the logs was for the pur-
pose OF overcoming tne erect OF current
VIII. ch set directly into the shore. He said the
ships were constantly settling into the beach
and were obliged almost every hour to steam
for mile or two. And that" he said. ''ac-
counts for good deal Of what is stated in the
logs about steaming
Irl this same connection the admiral said
THAI he had fixed the position of the squadron
eve-y morning and every afternoon by what
is known as the four point bearing
AT night" he continued, we had in
variable light breeze, and we kept in general
direction a general bearing. We were closer
night. and that" he said emphatically,
was the rule Of the squadron always. We
were closer at night at both Cienfuegos and
Santiago. The idea of keeping the squadron
in formation during the night or in line Of
battle ready for any emergency was never
abandoned. The arrangement during the day
was some little feigned disorder. in the hope
thar might invite those people out. We
knew there would be difficulty in getting
IN. because my flagship of greater draught
than most Of the others. the channels were
very tortuous. and only hope. at least our
only wish. that they must come out The
movements Of the squadron were rather an
invitation. usually. That was what felt dur
ing all the period OF this blockade"
At this point Admiral Schey digressed for a
moment TO refer to the conversation he had
with Admiral Sampson before leaving Key
West which he said had induced the belief
that the Spanish squadron's objective Cien-
fueeos
Was Not Disrespectful.
Tie admiral then related the nartfct,iars NJ