The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1902-08-22
Anticipated Meeting Between
Fleets Failed 10 Develop
SPIES REPORTED ON SHORE
Commander of the White Squadron Is
Playing the Game for All 1t Is
Worth and Keeps Admiral
Hieelnson Guessing.

Rockport, Mass, August pat mid
night thirty-six hours had passed of the
possible 12O for the naval conflict between
the attacking squadron. in charge of Com
Snander Pillsbury. and the defending
squadron. commanded by Rear Admiral
Higginson. The coming of another day
was recorded. but the anticipated meet
ing between the hostile fleets, had not
come to pass. After a day which had been
on the whole devoid of sensations, the
night, thick and cloudy as it was. with
the moon quite obscured, developed so
many confusing situations and so many
extraordinary reports, that the Higgin-
son squadron had just cause for uneasi-
ness. Somehow, the feeling grew that it
would not be such a difficult attainment
after all for the three auxiliary cruisers
of the white squadron to slip In and an
chor at some harbor. protected as they
would be by the inviting darkness which
prevailed.
Perhaps the greatest danger which
came to Admiral Hisslnson was that of
yielding to the temptation to withdraw
the Kearsage and leave only the Alabama
and the Massachusetts to go in search
of the enemy, reported on apparently rel-
able authority, to have been sighted at
either this point or that point along the
coast. Such reports were. in fact, made.
Strange Vessel Seen.
In the early part OF the night the sta
tion on the Isles of Shoals notified the
nearest mainland point by the use OF
torches and the secret code of the navy
that a large, strange two-masted craft
had been sighted outside the shoals. Ad-
miral Higginsons wonderful system of
signals worked to perfection. Almost in
a moment, 1t seemed, the torpedo-boat
destroyer was rocketed from Portsmouth
TO pursue the mysterious conner. and in
another moment the Decatur. with the
smoke belching from her four great
stacks, was ploughing furiously through
the heavy seas.
The stranger turned and fled at full
speed, and this fact led to the decision
that she may have 4oeen one of the at
tacling fleet, passing onward on scout
duty. At a late hour the Decatur had
made no report.
At II o'clock came another report of a
strange ship sighted south of Eastern
Point light, Glouchester. Admiral Hig-
ginson at once ordered the torpedo boat
Bagley to investigate, but the Bagley
found to her surprise that 1t was the
cruiser Brooklyn. which had come down
from her northern station, pursuant to
the privilege extended by Admiral Hig-
ginson.
Does Not Leave Rockport.
The reason that the admiral steadfast-
ly refused to leave his anchorage In the
harbor here was that he dared not leave
Rockport exposed to the enemy, which,
taking advantage of needless passage Of
the defending battleships to another port
might easily creep in and drop anchor.
The complications which developed to-
day in the shape of undoubted news that
Commander Pillsbury had secretly landed
some of his officers ashore to spy upon
the movements of the blue squadron,
served only to increase the perplexity
of Admiral Higginson's position. and this
reported shore system of spying was one
of the things which led the admiral to
establish the, new signal station off
Straits Mouth Point, and also to remove
his ships early in the evening to a point
Just inside Thacher's Island.
Kept Up Close Watch.
Not for a moment during the afternoon
did the battleships give up their watch
fulness Soon after the noon hour
heavy storm came on. In the driving
rain the impression entertained by the
sailors was the possibility that Com
mander Pillsbury would strike his blow
on such night as this promised to be.
But the adverse weather made the sta
lions of the defending squadron along the
Atlantic coast line all the more active
and alert Messages came in from various
points, from Portland to Provinceto own,
with remarkable quickness-
In an hour the rain had passed but the
thick weather remained and as dusk
came on a mist crept over the surface
of the water 1t was a dark night. The
darkness was just coming on when Ad-
miral Higginson gave the order to his
battleships to weigh anchor. 1t was
thought the move this time was out to
sea. The admiral wished to keep his
ships in varying localities and to puzzle
the spies of the White squadron, whom
It was firmly believed, was strung along
the coast. Again, the admiral wished to
get in touch with the Straits Mouth
Point life saving station, where he es-
tabiished tonight an elaborate system of
rocket signalling.
As the night wore on the sky lost little
of it's blackness, and the fact that there
was a constant stream of messages from
the north to the south. showed clearly
enough that the defending squadron fear
ed the approach of Commander Pilsbury.