The Worcester spy. [volume] (Worcester, Mass.) 1898-1904, 1901-11-06

Regarding the state ON
| at that time Captain PaTks
THE court knows that Wtyoylz J.
| of no consequence except that'N PRO-
| duces a sea. 1t is the sea we have to
deal with. There may not be even
a gentle zephyr blowing across Mother
| Ocean as some poetical fellow has des-
cribed it, and yet there may be a sea
rolling that will make it dangerous for
vessels to come within a quarter of a
mile of each other"
| The speaker said that frequently a
| person would go in a small boat from
one ship to another in a sea when it
would be exceedingly dangerous for two
vessels to attempt to coal.
! Captain Parker claimed that in the
passage from Cienfuegos to Santiago
! the speed of the slOwest vessel of the
| squadron must be that of the speed of
! the squadron. 1t would not have been
| the common sense idea of the situation
| he said to have abandoned the Eagle
and the golfers and make all speed for
| Santiago.
! Captain Parker also commended Com
! modore Schley's conduct of the cruise
| to Santiago. He had said, the speak
err acted according to the dictates of
his best Judgments judgment which
the captain said was better than that
of the less experienced officers, an ex-
perience which had been gained in COM
mand, under circumstances of every
nature in the Arctic, around both
Capes, on every sea and under every
sun. He was" Captain Parker con-
tinued, ''at least as likely to be as cor
first time in their lives were given
command of small boat"
Taking the fleet to the southwark
from Santiago, May 26, Captain Parker
detailed the meeting with the scout
boats and said that the condemnation
| of the commodore for the communica-
ting with Captains Jewell and Wise
was puerile. "All that Wise had to
o." he said, was to signal that he
had important information and he
| would have been asked to come on
board. 1t is the business the clear duty
of any subordinate officer to make
known to a superior any information
he may have"
In the absence of information by the
| captains of the Yale and the Minneap-
oils, Captain Parker held that Admiral
Schley had a right to suppose that Cap
tain Sigsbee had given all the informal
ton to be had from the scouts. Speak
| ing of the information conveyed by
| Captain Sigsbee. Captain Parker said
that officer was curiously blind-not
| purpOsely blind-but curiously so. He
had not only not been able to find out
anything about the Colon but
he contended that the Ardois lights
| at Cienfuegos were the best evidence
| that the fleet was still there and that
when he left, nothing could have been
known until next morning.
! This closed the discussion of the
| Cienfuegos blockade and Capt. Parker
| contended that he had then acted
notwithstanding that the discretion al
! lowed him was well placed. AS for
himself he cared nothing for the gossip
| of the war department or the talk of
| the young officers. Their talk pales
into insignificance," he said, "beside
the achievements of Admiral Schley
whose name will continue to shine
brighter and brighter every day."
Going back to the cruise from Glen
fuegos, Capt. Parker referred to the
1 sending away of the Eagle. He said
that Commodore Schley had not sent
that vessel away from choice, but be-
cause of his great need for auxiliary
| cruisers.
Capt Parker referred to the dis
patch from the department received
by the Harvard at Mole st. Nicholas,
May 20: Proceed at once and inform
Schley and also senior officer present
| off Santiago de Cuba" he reading the
dispatch.
THAT dispatch does not contemplate
at all that Commodore Schley is at
Santiago" he continued.
1T is to inform Commodore Schley
and also the commanding officer off
Santiago. So that at that time the de-
partment evidently did not contem-
partment evidently did not conetaoin
plate that Commodore Schley had ar
rived at Santiago, and yet we have
heard it said he was due there on the
Path"
Quoting from the dispatch Capt.
Parker read: THE departments in
formation indicates that the Spanish
division is still at Santiago"
us there anything positive about
that?' he asked.
IF the department had chosen to
say that the Spanish squadron lis at
Santiago" that would have been an
other thing. But it did not say that
There were still some doubts appar-
| ept in the mind Of the department on
that subject.
Referring at this point to the testi-
mony Of Capt Sigsbee, Capt. Parker
said it was not necessary to impeach
| anybody's veracity, but slippery
memory after all these years is very
unsafe thing to go by" he continued,
land the memory Of four or five per-