The daily morning journal and courier., 1898-07-12
THE SANTIAGO NAVAL FIGHT
AS SEEN STANDING ALMOST AT COM.
 MODORE SCHLEY,S ELBoW.

The Commodore's Orders on Betns
 Appraised of the Enemy's Appearance
 The Oregon the First American Shin
 to Open Fire--Clever Maneuvre by
 schley Saved HIS ship From Beina
 Rammed-The Tragic Death of Youna
 EIlts-His Head Shot Off at the Feet Q,
 the Commodore.
 Copyright, 1898, The Associated Press.
 Juragua, Cuba, July 1.-The follow.
 ing description of the battle betweer
 the American and Spanish warships ir
 these waters was written by the only
 non-combatant who witnessed the en-
 tire fight. That non-combatant wal
 the correspondent of the Associated
 Press who saw the engagement from
 position almost at the elbow of Com.
 modore Schley on the United States ar. mored cruiser Brooklyn Sunday, July
 3, the fifth Sunday for the American
 squadrons before Santiago and thu
 ninth weekly anniversary of the day
 of the Dewey victory at Cavite, and ths
 fifth of the discovery by Commodore
 Schley of the whereabouts of Admira
 Cervera's squadron, brought no partic
 ularly different situation from what
 had marked the preceding Sundays
 The monotony, the lack of picturesque
 ness at daybreak, the heat of the trop. tcal sun-all were there.
 Over the tops of the supposedly de. stroyed earthworks appeared the mug. zles of the same old guns quite ready despite the Saturday bombardment, te
 speak their piece if called upon. Or the slightly rolling sea the great gray
 battleships of the American fleet swung lazily at a distance of from four to fvs | miles from the harbor entrance. Int line (which at all times was supposed to be a half circle) inclosing the harboi
 entrance as a central point was more
 than ordinarily broken up this noi
 morning. The big battleships had drift. ed to the east considerably, and the Massachusetts, the New York, the New Orleans and the Newark were not ir sight, the New York having taken Ad. miral Sampson down to Altares, eight
 miles east from the blockade, to make a visit to the camp of the American army, while the other missing vessels were at Guantanamo, forty miles to the east.
 The vessels on the blockade were the Iowa, Indiana and Oregon, battleships, the flagship of Commodore Schley, the
 Brooklyn, and the small yachts Glou- cester and Vixen. The Iowa was swinging mile further out than tho
 rest of the squadron, trying to fix her forward twelve-inch turret, which was
 out of repair, while the Indiana was do- ing the same thing to her forward thir- teen-inch turret. The absolutely avail
 able ships in the squadron, therefore,
 were only the Oregon, Texas and the
 Brooklyn, although later both Captain
 Evans and Captain Taylor fought their l ships. It is custom on ships. regulat- ed by the rules, that there shall be a
 general muster at least once each three
 months, and thAt articles of war shall be read First call had been sounded
 at 9:15 a. m.. and the men were as sembling on the decks. The lookout in the masthead of the Brooklyn had soma
 time before reported smoke in the har-
 Dor, but as the same thing had been
 noticed several times no special atten-8 | ton was paid to it. The Brooklyn and | the Vixen were the only ships to the west of the entrance, the other ships
 having drifted well to the east. On the bridge Navigator Hodgson of the Brooklyn said sharply to the lookout, | Isn't that smoke moving?" and the 1 lookout after a minutes inspection with | the long glass dropped 1t excitedly and 1 fairly yelled, There's big ship com- l ing out of the harbor sir'' Hodgson l looked himself and then grasping the megaphone shouted, After bridge l there Tell the commodore the enemy's I fleet is coming out"
 | Commodore Schley was sitting under the awning on the quarter deck. Co., 1 ing to the bridge he said: Raise the | signal to the feet" and turning to ! Captain Cook, who stood near him: | Clear the ship for action," then he | went forward and took his place on a | little platform of wood running on the outside of the coming tower. which | had been built for him. He was dress ed in blue trousers, a black alpaca | jacket and the regulation cap, without the broad band of gold braid. The | men with a yell went to their guns
 and the rapidly preliminary orders were given. Schley, glass in hand, watched
 the first ship turn out and saw her start for the west. Still he gave no l signal to move. The Oregon opened
 with her 13-inch shells, and the Indiana 1 followed suit. But the range was a 1 long one. Still the Brooklyn waited. l But down below the coal was being. | forced into the furnace, every boiler
 was being worked and every gun made
 ready to fire. Schley wanted to know
 which way they were all going. In the
 meantime the Oregon began to turn to l the west and the Texas had moved in
 closer and was gauging the leading
 ship, the Infanta Maria Teresa. "They
 are all coming vest" shouted Lieuten-
 ant Sears. And just then the western
 batteries opened up Full speed ahead, open fire" shouted the commo-
 dore. Fire deliberately and don't waste shot," he added, and the order | lies carried the word to the turrets. In an instant the Brooklyn's terrific eight and five-inch batteries on her port side ] opened Then Commodore Schley saw l that the first ship was coming out from