Show SCHLEYS STORY TOLD t How the Flying Squadron Found the Enemy i i II I SEARCHED FOR TEN DAYS I T AND T STATED BACK TO KY VEST + Left Santiago On the et Trip Without Ascertaining Whether Cere Was TeeDfcult I Coaling Was the CaueFnaly Discovered the Eemys Squadron 4 I Washington Dec ISTe navy de partet today made public a report from Admiral SchleJ coverIng that part of the operations and movements o the flying squadron from its sailing from Key West for Cienfueos up to but not Including the first bombard met The report is a follows Flying Squadron United States Flagship Flag-ship Brooklyn off Santiago de Cuba lay 30 iSiS SIrI have the honor to report that the squadron sailed from Key West on the morning of the 19th inst for Cienfuegs Cuba in obedience to orders from Rear Admiral Sampson In company wIth the flagship were th Massachusetts Tea and Scorpion En route passed the lablehead Nashville and Wasp communicating with the lat named vessel Off Cape Antonio communicated with the CIa cInnat and VesuvIus scouting On the morning of the 2nd Inst the squadron stood in for the entrance of Cienfuego harbor to reconnoiter and later in the day passed the entrance twice close in As I had head the fir lag of guns on the previous afternoon in the direction of the port and f there wits considerable smoke observed in the harbor I was led to believe that tie Spanish squadron might have arrived ar-rived there That day the Dupont joined me with dispatches from Admi ra Sampson directing tat the blockade I block-ade of Cienfuegos be preserved and the ScorpIon be sent to co municte with the Minneapolis and Harvard off Santiago Also on this day the Iowa joined the squadron A line of blockade was established about four miles off shore and at night a inshore line was maintainer consisting variously of the Scorpion Dupont and Catne the last named vessel arriving on the 23rd convoyIng the Ierrima Also on the 23rd inst the Hawk a rived with dispatches from Admiral Sampson directing me to move eastward I east-ward with the squadron to Santiago if satisfied tat the eneys vessels were not in Cie1fuec Not being I satisfied at this time that they were not there I held my position being further strengthened in my opinion by the fact that I was Informed by the captain of the British steamer Adula I that when he left Kingston a cablegram cable-gram had been received oi the Thursday day preceding my arrival off Cienfue ga statng that the Spanish squadron had sled from Santiago The Iowa Castne and Dupont took coal from the collier on that day the Iowa particularly needing coal as she had sale from Key Wet to join his squadron before completing loading nd consequently was considerably sort ENEMY NOT THEREOn THERE-On the 24h inst the Iarblehead Vixen and Eagle joined the squadron and the 1arblel1ed and Eagle were inediht l set to communicate wit I th ins rgns to the yetwaid of den fu go ndtb furnish them with ammunition am-munition clothing and dynamite Upon Commander IcCalas return in the course of the afternoon he reported tome to-me tat he had obtained information that the Spanish squadron wa not In Cienfuegos Dispatches were at once sent by the Dupnt to AdrnigarSampsou and t Commodore Reny of the de I t i di ca + that tale s uast partent indicatng tlat tlS squa ron would move toward Santiago de Cuba Great difficulty had ben experienced in coaHngth Texas on account of l1er projecting sppnsoi2s In any seaway Whatever and only under the most a favorable conditions can she go alongside along-side a collier In anything more Unfavorable un-favorable than absolutely smooth water wa-ter there is great danger of injury either to the Texas herself or the col liar In this connection the advantage I of a tumblehome to the side is very marked Insuring great freedom from accident due to projections on the 1 shin side Alter darlt on the evening of the 24th the suadron stoodto sea to the eastward I east-ward with the Brooklyn Massachusetts Massachu-setts Iowa and Texas in column natural nat-ural order the Marblehead Vixen and Eagle on the outer flank and the eel i her inshore t the battleship The CaU e was let at Ciefuegos to no I her return should tfy the Scorpion on she not be sighted by us to proceed to I Key West in company The run to Santiago was naled by 1 rain and rough weather to such an ex tent that the Eagle was unable to keep ea liR i up a speed ffil to 85 knots and fell behind s much a to seriously delay the squadron which was forced to slow ito i-to a sneed of from four to five knots see for her to regaIn and hold her position i regn As this rough head sea continued with i no a nant prosDect of abating and as the Eagles coal SUDDlv was becoming II becom-ing dangerously low she was sent to Port Antonio for cal with directions Ito I-to make the best of her wag back to i Kev Test I Oil hrrivfng off Santiago the collier I Ierrimac was disabled by the breaking of her intermediate pressure vave stem and the cracking of the stuffing box This served a a further emhar rment to thesuadron and a source of considerable anxiety as with the weather conditions that had Dreyaled since leaving Cienfuegos it appeared absolutely necessary to abanQon the position off Santiago and seek a plado where the yesses could be coaled and the celhicils macldnery repaired i STArED BACK Of Santao the St Paul Yale and Minneapols wereslghte and communicated commu-nicated tyith The Minneapolis reported report-ed that he oillv had sufficient coal to reach Key rtst and that her machinery machin-ery was in bad condition The cal supply sup-ply of the other to scouts wa also much reducQd Arrangements were at once made tvhereby the YaI was to tow the bler and a the prospect dId not seem fdvorabhe for replenishng the meager coal supply of the othpr vessels the squadron stood to the wcst ward towing the couer The operation of taking the coIIer In tow provcd to be quite dUicul owing to the size and weight of the two sips and the repeated repeat-ed parting 0 the towlnes Finally however after twentyfour hours uu remitting exertIons the colliers chain cable was gotten to the Yale and the squadron proceeded The St Paul was ordered to remain off Santiago until her coal supply would no longer permit ot further delay After stndin = to the westward for about three hour or about twentyfve miles the conditions became less unfavorable un-favorable and the squadron stoed The Texas and Iarblehead were sent alongsIde the collier whose Injury had been temporarily repaired and coaled during the night Inasmuch a i was known that Incase In-case the Spanish squadron had reached Santiago Admiral Sampson was able to block any movement of the enemy through the Bahama channel my Intention in-tention in standing to the westward wa should i become necessary to bar any effort of the enemy to reach Havana Hav-ana by a dash through the Yucatan passage On the 28thinstat cOntinued cal ing t exa and larplehed and later the Vixen In the afternoon haying hay-ing managed to get sufficient coal into these vessels to enable them to remain with the squadron bhaed course for Santiago off which port we arrved about dusk Established an Inner picket line consisting of the Vixen and Mar blehead the rmainder of the squadron lying off the entrance of the port about Jaur or five miles out ENEMY DISCOVERED The next morning 29th inst steamed in to amine the entrance t the harbor har-bor and sighted the Cristobal Colon apparently moored head and stern across the western channel around Cay Smith also one of the vessels of the Vizc a or lnanta Mara Teresa class moored in the eastern channel and two small torpedo boats Later in the dy made out the military tops of a third vessel farther up the harbor A close blockade of the harbor has been maintained and no vessels have entered or left since our arrival Yesterday Yes-terday morning H 1 S Indefatigable came up to the line of blockade and made signal request permission to communicate with the commodore which was of course granted A boarding board-ing officer came on board the flagship wit a letter fro the commandIng of fleer Captain L A Primrose request lag permission for his vessel to pass the line of blockade in order to communicate communi-cate with her majestys consul at this port My reply was that there would not be the slightest objection to his doIng so Instead however of availing himsef of the permission the Indefatigable Indefa-tigable steamed off in the direction she came signaling no harm done courtesy cour-tesy I may have been that his learn lag tat the Spanish fet was in port was of more importance than her ma jestys consul and he may have desired first to communicate with his govern meat from Jamaica On the 30t inst the New Orlenas arrived ar-rived convoying the collier Sterling Concerning the coaling of a large feet of vessels I would particularly cal the departments attention to the necessity ne-cessity for heavy bags holding about 80 pounds In addition to buckets which have not proved of much use They should also be provIded wit at least six cotton bales or heavy wooden camels six to eight fet brad to be use a fenders to take the thrust of the ships and to permit coaling ln rougher weather than is DOW possible with the means at our disposal At present we are coaling on all favorable occasions in plain sight of the enemys feet Very respectfully z W S SCEY Commodore u S N Commander Flying Squadron |