Commander William H. Emory to Rear Admiral William T. Sampson, Commander, North Atlantic Fleet
U.S.S. Yosemite,
Blockade Off San Juan, Puerto Rico
July 10, 1898.
Sir:
1. At 11:30 p.m. on Saturday July 9th boarded and warned the ocean steamer “Galicia” of Hamburg.
2. This steamer gave the Yosemite an exciting chase of three hours’ duration, --- exciting because she had every appearance of a Spanish troop ship.
3. When first sighted she was headed for Puerto Rico, but upon seeing the Yosemite, headed to the northward and westward. When the chase was overhauled she was going east at a speed of 15 knots an hour.
4. In connection with the overhauling of the Galicia it will be remembered that on Saturday June 25, just two weeks ago, the St. Paul overhauled and warned off the Hamburg steamer, a sister ship of the Galicia.1
I have the honor to be
Very respectfully,
Commander, U. S. N.,
Commanding.
Source Note: Cy, DLC-MSS, William Emory Papers. At top-right corner: “(Copy H.F.K.)” Addressed below close: “To the Commander-in-Chief/U. S. Naval Force N. A. Station.”
Footnote 1: Capt. Charles D. Sigsbee, the commander of St. Paul, reported that on 22 June, he encountered a “rigged Spanish cruiser” and that it reappeared three days later. See, Report of the Bureau of Navigation, 1898, 220-22.
