The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1901-10-25

aries and necessary supplies never shouiC
De abandoned except under the Ver5
StrlcteSt military necessities.
Admiral Schley spoke of the weather
as being rough for the smaller ships Il
remember, he said that the Marble
head carried away one of her booms that
Vixen took green seas over her bows anc
badly injured a man. The Eagle hlleG
one of her forward compartments. Both
of these ships constantly dropped asteTn
The squadron, of course, slowed for
them. On several occasions the Merri-
mac signaled the disarrangement of he1
steering gear and of her engines, neces-
stating stops
would have been absolutely impossible
Coming to the 18th, Admiral Schley
said that the weather was still rough,
and he related the incident of sending
Commander Switzerland away with the
Eagle. He did not" the admiral said,
insist upon coaling his ship, because it
would have been absurd; it was impossi-
BILE. His ship at the time was laborine
a great deal, slashing and rolling about.
He regretted having to leave the squad
ron for coal as well as myself.
I'VE continued an easterly course.
as my orders contemplated approaching
cautiously, and as they also convey ed
to me the information that probably
when 1 left Cienfuegos the enemy would
leave Santiago, L laid such a course, as l
thought would give me a wide horizon. .
point southwark of Santiago about 4
Or 5 o'clock in the afternoon on May 26,
he had encountered the scout boats,
St. Paul, Minneapolis and Yale, but be-
fore relating the details of coming up
with them. he depressed sufficiently to
refer to a dispatch which had mentioned
his intention of delaying until the 18th
his departure from Cienfuegos, which he
explained was for the purpose of takir s
up the Scorpion, which vessel had been
expected back on the oath or 25th.
Explains His Course.
AT this point the admiral entered upon
another defense of his course by say
ing:
course, invested, 1 thought, with entire
responsibility. l was not in commune
cation by telegraph. I did not know
that we had secret agents in Havana. l
of communicating with the insurgents II
that had been known, l should have
known it also, because | was acting in
an entirely independent capacity, may
almost say. l could not be reached by
kilograms, and a good deal L did had to
be left to guessing. Sometimes 1 guess
ed right and sometimes 1 guessed wrong,
and, [ suppose, in the light of recent
events, we are all liable to do that"
The admiral then referred to his pick
ing up the scout boats.
He then related the incident of Capt
Sigsbee's coming aboard the Brooklyn
had impressed itself wildly upon his
mind.
The admiral then proceeded to give the
information which Capt. Sigsbee lad
brought, prefacing what he had to say
with the statement that he did not be-
lieve Capt. sigsbee would misstate any
thing for his commission.
81 said to him, captain, have you got
the dons here? He said: No, they are
not in here. 1 have been in very close -
h inf wit
uardo NuneZ, Admiral Schley said that
Nunez had expressed the opinion that it
would be almost impossible for ships OF
the size of those of the Spanish fleet to
enter the Santiago harbor.
Relating to the particulars of the break
ing down of the collier Merrimac on the
evening of the 18th, Admiral Schley sa d
that his first determination had been to
have her towed back to Key West by
the Yale, as he did not consider it de-
sirable to have an unmanageable collier
with him.
In this connection Admiral Schley ex-
planned his
Retrograde Movement,
so-called, to the westward, saying that
he had not considered the economical as
pect of this step, as the economical fea-
lures could never be taken into considera~
ton in military movements. He had, he
said, made careful inquiry as to the coal
supply of the various ships and had
turned over in his mind the question
of their endurance in battle. Il was"
he said, thinking over in my mind that
a squadron, in it's coaling endurance or
at least in it's speeding endurance, was
equal only to it's weakest member, just
as the speed of fleet depends upon its
slowest vessel; that it was necessary to
equalize as nearly as we could their
standards of steam in order to be of ef-
fective use as unit, and that determined
the westward movement.
Nov the telegram I sent to the honor
able secretary of the navy did not refer