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Naval History and Heritage Command

Naval History and Heritage Command

Rear Admiral William T. Sampson, Commander, North Atlantic Fleet, to Commander Bowman H. McCalla

OFF SANTIAGO DE CUBA, JULY 17th,1898.

              SEND FLAG TO THE GUNBOAT Sandoval AND INFORM HIM THAT ALL THE SPANISH FORCES IN CUBA EAST OF A LINE PASSING THROUGH ACERRADEROS COUTO ABAJO1 HAVE BEEN SURRENDERED AND IT IS EXPECTED THAT THE Sandoval WILL BE SURRENDERED IN GOOD CONDITION, THAT IF ANY INJURY BE DONE HER THE COMMANDING OFFICER AND HER CREW WILL BE REGARDED OUTSIDE THE PALE OF ORDINARY PRISONERS OF WAR.2

SAMPSON.

CC

Source Note: Cy, DNA, RG 313, Entry 48. Addressed below close: “McCALLA./GUANTANAMO.” Document reference at top of page: “No. 23”

Footnote 1: It is believed that Sampson was referring to the River Cauto, just north of the city of Manzanillo, and the village of Agua Claras, north of Holguin. This line would roughly run from the coastal city of Matanzas in the south to the city of Gibara on the North coast of Cuba.

Footnote 2: Lt. Pablo Scandella y Beretta of the Royal Spanish Navy commanded the Sandoval and scuttled it on 24 July. The next day he surrendered to Capt. French E. Chadwick on New York, where the two had “luncheon very amicably,” before it was discovered he had intentionally sunk the ship he had been ordered to surrender. Sandoval was quickly raised, eventually repaired, and served in the United States Navy. Chadwick, The Relations of the United States and Spain, 251, 311, 319. Although the act of scuttling was viewed as a “gross breach of the terms of surrender,” no evidence has been found that Scandella or his crew were punished. New York Observer, 4 August 1898, 148.

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