Rear Admiral William T. Sampson, Commander, North Atlantic Fleet, to Lieutenant Alexander Sharp, Jr.
U.S.Flagship New York, 1st Rate,
Off Santiago de Cuba,
June 6th,1898.
Sir:-
1. You will, at dark this evening, take position two miles to the westward of the Morro,1 and one mile from land, and will keep a vigilant lookout for torpedo boats. The Dolphin will occupy a similar position to the eastward of the port, the Suwanee to the southward, and there will be three picket launches lying inside your line; i.e. distributed on a circle drawn with a radius of one mile from the Morro as a centre.
2. The alarm for the approach of the enemy’s vessels is two red Very signals,2 fired in quick succession. If a torpedo boat or boats, the two red should be at once followed by a green Very. This signal may be repeated if there is any doubt about its having been seen.
Very respectfully,
W.T.Sampson
Rear Admiral,Comdr.-in-Chief,
U.S.Naval Force on North Atlantic Station.
Source Note: TDS, DNA, RG313, Entry 48, Box 7. Addressed below close: “The Commanding Officer,/U.S.S.Vixen.” Document reference: “No. 1.”
Footnote 1: The “Morro” or Castillo de San Pedro de la Roca was a castle/fort, which along with the Socapa battery, guarded the entrance to Santiago de Cuba harbor.
Footnote 2: A common type of flare gun. It was named for Edward Wilson Very, an American naval officer who developed and popularized this single-shot breech-loading snub-nosed pistol that fired flares.
