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.
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.
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.