May 27, 1898
Honored Sir:
The equipment of the squadron under your excellency's worthy command having been completed, and the ships supplied with provisions and coal, you will arrange for its immediate departure for the harbor of Las Palmas, where without loss of time you will replenish the coal consumed and take whatever quantity of provisions you may deem necessary, according to the respective purposes for which the different units are intended. At Las Palmas you will form the squadron into three divisions. The first, composed of the battle-ship Carlos V, cruisers Rapido, Patriota, and Meteoro, and despatch-boat Giralda, will remain under your excellency's immediate command.The second division, composed of the battle-ships Pelayo and Vitoria and destroyers Osado, Audaz, and Proserpina, will be placed under the orders of the senior captain, the commander of the Pelayo, Captain Jose Ferrandiz y Nino. The third division, of which the auxiliary cruisers Buenos Aires, Antonio Lopez, and Alfonso XII will form part, will be commanded by Captain Jose Barrasa y Fernandez de Castro.
[Leaving with all the ships and taking care to conceal their final true direction;] the first division, under the command of your excellency, will shape its course for the Bermudas; and at a proper distance from those islands you will detach a fast vessel to acquire at Hamilton all possible information, besides such as the government will communicate to you through our consul, as to the location, number, and quality of the hostile forces distributed along the Atlantic coast [the rest of the division to remain out of sight of the Bermudas].
Taking into account the information you may acquire and eluding an encounter with superior forces, your excellency will choose such point on the United States coasts as you may deem best adapted—Charleston, if possible—to carry out from south to north a series of hostile acts, in the energy of which you will be guided by circumstances, against fortified positions as well as against such places as, owing to their industrial, military, or commercial importance, will justify the operation. . . . Key West being the enemy's principal base of operations, the forces detached to oppose your operations will follow you instead of going to meet you, as would otherwise be the case.
Your excellency will determine to what point the hostilities should be carried, remembering that the object of hostilities is not only to make reprisals for the enemy's unjustified acts on our own coasts, but principally to call his attention toward the north, dividing his forces, and thus facilitating the movements of the third division and at the same time those of Admiral Cervera's squadron. You might find it convenient (but this is not imposed on you as a duty) to go up north so far as to permit you to detach a cruiser to Halifax in order that Lieutenant Ramon Carranza, who is assigned to Canada, may give you such information as he may have acquired beforehand.
Having accomplished on the United States coasts the object indicated, and following the route which offers the greatest security, you will try, unless reasons of greater importance should prevent, to pass north of the island of Mariguana or Turk's Island, and collect at the latter the information which the government will take care to forward to you there.
From that favorable position you may proceed at your discretion to the southern coast of Cuba, around Cape Maysi; and enter Santiago harbor; or following said coast, enter Havana harbor; or passing north of the keys, enter the harbor of San Juan de Puerto Rico. Any prizes you may be able to capture on this expedition you will despatch to the Peninsula with a suitable prize crew on board, or incorporate in your division as the case may be. If the services such prizes can render do not compensate for the trouble they require, it will be better to get rid of them by sinking them or setting them on fire, after trans-shipping whatever you may deem serviceable, in any event the personnel and flags, the portable armament, and the ship's papers.
As to the second division; in order that its separation from the rest of the squadron may remain unknown as long as possible, and also in order that it may be in a position to reach speedily, if need be, any given point of the Peninsula or Canaries, where its defensive action may be required, it will cruise between parallels 30 and 36 north latitude, the ninth meridian west, and the coast of Africa, for ten or twelve days from the date when it begins to act independently, which is probably the time it will take your excellency to reach the United States coast, after which the second division will proceed to Cadiz to receive further orders.
The third division, upon leaving your excellency's flag-ship, will proceed to the latitude of Cape St. Roque, to cut off the route of the vessels plying between the eastern coast of the United States and South America, or the Pacific. . . .
In case of injury or other unfortunate circumstance making it necessary for ships of this division to seek a port, you will see, provided there is possibility of choice, that preference be given to the French colonies. . . .
If the vicissitudes of the voyage give your excellency an opportunity to join Admiral Cervera's squadron, you will do so at once, and the forces will remain united until the government decides that it is expedient to separate them again, or until both commanders, or in case of difference of opinion, the senior, should deem such separation necessary.