Evening journal., 1898-07-11
THE OFFICERS STORY.
An Account of the Great Naval Battle
by Men Who Wore In IL.

by Men Who We're In IT,.
PORTSMOUTH n. H., July 1.-THE
few officers who came in on the ST. Lou
Is and who had participated in the fight
with the Spanish cruisers off Santiago
were obliged TO tell the whole story of
the memorable contest. While In the
main their accounts did not differ ma
terlally from the press dispatches. yet
they seem to give more credit to the
work of the Oregon.
From an account as given by one off,
Ger Il appears that on the morning of
the fight. as Is already known. four
American warships lay off the entrance
10 the harbor. The Oregon was slightly
to the east. Then to the westward
came the converted yacht Gloucester,
lying between the Oregon and Iowa. TIC
the westward Of the Iowa was the Tex
as. while farther along. In fact eight OF
ten miles 10 the west OF the harbor was
the Brooklyn. with Commodore Schley
on board.
The position Of the fleet was in keep.
ing with the plan mapped out by Ad.
miral Sampson, and his command had
definite orders In case the Spanish fleet
made a dash out of the harbor. While
all the ships had steam mp none OF
them. with the exception of the Brook
lyn, was under way. The latter had a
few minutes previous to the sighting of
the Spanards turned away to the west
ward and when the first shot was
heard from the Iowa she was going
away from the fleet at about an eight
knot gait Just why the Brooklyn was
steaming off to the west at this time is
not known, but although she had not
gone far and was still probably quite
near the station designated by Admiral
Sampson, her commander nevertheless
had TO swing round. and in doing so he
| put his helm TO starboard and made a
/ Ions sweep to port, going a mile OF
more off shore in the maneuver The
| first Spaniard that came rushing out of
/ the harbor's mouth was the Cristobal
| Colon, with Admiral Cervera on board
The Nizcaya was second the Almlrante
Oquendo third and the Maria Teresa
fourth, while two torpedo boat destroy
ers brought up the rear.
While the Iowa got i'm the first lick al
the fleet as they came dashing by the
Oregon was the first American outside
the Brooklyn In motion She gathered
headway so fast that she cut In be.
tween the Iowa and the fleet and
Colon before she had gone by. The ore.
gon was therefore in most excellen,
position to meet the Vizcaya when sh,
came along. and with the help OF tn,
Texas the two tackled the Spaniard s,
fercey that she was on fire in few
minutes and had headed for the beach
While the Oregon's whole forward star
board battery was banging at the viz
caya the after guns had swung aroun,
p and were pumping shells into tn
b Oquendo, which also had been tackle,
] by the Iowa. which in the meantim,
r had disposed of the Teresa.
The wreck of the three Spaniards wa
q accomplished in about Is or 20 minutes
and by this time the Oregon had attain
ed her maximum speed With her force,
draft on and every pound Of steam
up the big Pacific coast battleshl
plowed through the water as she neve
did before, except perhaps on her spec
trial. three years ago.
Leaving the Texas and Iowa to com
plete the destruction of the rest OF tn
Spaniards and the rescue OF the unfor
tunate sailors, Captain Clark heade
the Oregon after the Colon.
/, The Brooklyn by this time had take
her wide sweep off shore and was head
ed in for the Colon. opening up on tina
vessel with her port broadside. As tn
Colon ran by the Brooklyn she gave tn
latter the beneht OF her big guns. an
no less than 80 shots took effect on tn
Brooklyn's port side and a number q
! them passing clear through the Yanke
cruiser. AS the Colon went by tn