While Admiral Dewey had been winning fame at Manila, the Navy Department
had organized two other fleets which were to be used nearer home.
One of these was called the Flying Squadron because it was composed of
fast cruisers. It was stationed at Hampton Roads. From this point, it
could move quickly either north or south to protect the cities on the
Atlantic coast in case they should be attacked by a Spanish fleet.
The commander of the Flying Squadron was Commodore Winfield Scott
Schley, later a rear admiral. He was an experienced officer. He had
graduated from Annapolis in time to serve all through the Civil War.
In 1884, he commanded the relief expedition which rescued Lieutenant
Greely and his exploring party at Cape Sabine. To do this, he had to
sail through fourteen hundred miles of ice-covered ocean.
[Illustration: ADMIRAL SCHLEY.]
In 1891, he commanded the _Baltimore_, stationed at Valparaiso. One day,
a party of his sailors who had gone on shore for pleasure, were attacked
by a mob. Two of them were killed and the rest were made prisoners.
Captain Schley boldly went on shore and demanded the release of his men,
and a sum of money for those who had been killed. As he intimated that a
refusal would be followed by a bombardment from the guns of his vessel,
the demand was granted.
Such was the man that the government had selected to command the Flying
Squadron.
The other fleet was much larger, and was called the North Atlantic
Squadron. It was composed of great battleships, monitors, cruisers, and
torpedo-boats. This squadron was to blockade the ports of Cuba in order
to prevent any foreign vessel from bringing aid to the Spanish soldiers.
[Illustration: ADMIRAL SAMPSON.]
This fleet was under the command of Captain William T. Sampson, who was
also made a rear admiral a little later in the war. The government could
well trust this important duty to Admiral Sampson. Graduating from
Annapolis in 1861, he had served through the Civil War, and afterward,
step by step, had won promotion.
During these years he had seen service in both the Pacific and Atlantic
Oceans, and had occupied many responsible positions in the Navy
Department on shore. He had also been one of the committee that had
investigated the loss of the battleship _Maine_.
All this had prepared him for the great task of commanding the North
Atlantic Squadron. The prudence and judgment with which he performed
this duty proved that the government had made a wise selection.
The people of America were still rejoicing over the victory at Manila,
when the news came that the Spanish admiral, Cervera, with four of the
finest cruisers in the world, and three of the latest kind of torpedo
boat destroyers, had sailed from the Canary Islands for the United
States. This caused some alarm, and wild reports were spread as to what
these vessels might do. Admiral Sampson, with his fleet, was guarding
the West Indian waters, and Commodore Schley, with his Flying Squadron,
was waiting at Hampton Roads in case Admiral Cervera should sail north.
If the Spanish admiral could evade these fleets, he might bombard the
cities on the Atlantic coast.