Gloucester County Democrat. (Woodbury, N.J.) 1878-1932, 1898-07-28
THE DEFEAT OFCERTERA'
As Told in the Reports Of the Vic
torious Commanders.
CoMMoDoRE sOHLEY,g MoDEgTY.

OIaCno Men On the DiHefent NeSSelS.
Washington, July 27-The reports of
Admiral Sampson. Commodore Schley
and the commanders of the vessels of
the North Atlantic squadron were
given to the press last night That
of Admiral Sampson is addressed to
the secretary of the navy, while the
others are addressed to Admiral Samp-
son, as commander of the fleet.
The Admiral's Report.
The report of Admiral Sampson tells
of the order in which the ships of his
squadron were ranged and of the dis
covery of the Spanish vessels steaming
from the harbor, explaining that at the
time he was on his flagship seven miles
from the harbor entrance, en- route for
a conference with General Shafter
Referring to the discovery of Cervera's
fleet, he proceeds:
THE men of our ships in front of the
port were at Sunday quarters for in
spection." The signal was made stimuli
taneously from several boats, "Enemy's
ships escaping" and general quarters
was sounded. The men cheered as
they sprang to their guns, and fire was
was opened probably within eight min
utes by the vessels whose guns COM
manded the entrance The New York
turned about and steamed for the es-
Gaping fleet, flying the signal Close in
towards harbor entrance and attack
vessels" and gradually increasing
speed until toward the end of the chase
she was making 1872 knots. and was
rapidly closing on the Cristobal Colon
xrrf%l la, Al
range Of the heavy Spanish ships, and
her only part in the firing was to re-
ceive the undivided fire from the forts
in passing the harbor entrance and to
fire few shots at one of the destroy
ers, thought at the moment to be at
tempting to escape from the Glouces-
ter"
He then proceeds at length to de-
scribe the work of the different yes
sells in his fleet, having this to say of
the Gloucester:
THE skillful handling and gallant
fighting of the Gloucester excited the
admiration of everyone who witnessed
it, and merits the commentator of
the navy department. She Is a fast and
entirely unprotected auxiliary vessel
the yacht Corsair-and has good bat
terry of light rapid fire guns. She was
lying about two miles from the harbor
entrance, to the southwark and east
ward, and Immediately steamed in,
opening fire upon the large ships. An
ticipating the appearance of the Plu-
ton and Furor, the Gloucester was
slowed, thereby gaining more rapidly
high pressure of steam, and when
,1It oh cfo cd
for them at full speed, and was able
to close at short range. where her fire
was accurate, deadly and of great vol
ume. During this fight the Gloucester
was under the fire of the Socapa bat
terry. Within 20 minutes from the time
they emerged from Santiago harbor the
careers of the Furor and the Pluton
were ended, and two-thirds of their
people killed"
After describing the destruction of
the Marir Teresa, the Almirante Oquen-
do and the Vizcaya he has this to say
of the rescue of the crews from the
sinking vessels:
HThe rescue of prisoners, including
the wounded from the burning Spanish
vessels, was the occasion of some of the
most daring and gallant conduct of the
day. The ships were burning fore and
aft, their guns and reserve ammunition
were exploding, and it was not known
at what moment the fire would reach
the main magazines. In addition to this,
heavy surf was running just inside of
the Spanish ships. But nothing deferred
our officers and men until their work
of humanity was complete"
The report details with rigid exact
ness the work of the different COM
manders, speaking of the admirable
judgment" of Captain Chadwick, of the
New York, in pushing the sinking Girls
tobal Colon toward shore to prevent
her sinking in deep water, and of the
surrender of the Cristobal Colon to the
Brooklyn. The only direct reference to
Commodore Schley is as follows:
Commodore Schley, whose chief of
staff had gone on board to receive the
surrender, had directed that all their
personal effects should be retained by
the officers. This order I did not mod
ify."
Commodore Schley's Report.
Commodore Schley, after reporting
the work of the different vessels APP
plauds the work of many officers on the
various ships. naming each one, and
proceeds:
st have never in my life served with a
drawer, better of worthier crew than
that of the Brooklyn. During the COM
bat, lasting from 9:S5 until lis p. M,
much of the time under fire, they never
tagged for moment, and were APP
parently undisturbed by the storm of
L. i
over the ship.
.'The casualties on board this ship
were: 6. III. Ellis, chief yeoman, killed;
]. Burns, fireman, first class, severely
wounded. The marks and scars show
that the ship was struck about Is
times, and she bears in all Al scars as
the result of her participation in the
great victory of your force on July 3,
1898. The speed cone halliards were shot
away, and nearly all the signal hal
lizards. The ensign, at the close of the
action, fell in pieces.
81 congratulate you most sincerity
upon this great victory to the squad
ron under your command, and 1 am
glad that 1 had an opportunity to con-
tribute in the least to a victory that
seems big enough for all of u.s.
Reports of the Captains.
Captain Evans of the Texas, has this
to say of the work of the men of his
ship in the battle:
1.-THE officers and men of this ship
behaved admirably. No lot of men
could have done more gallant service.
IT take pleasure in stating to you. sir,
that the GOODNESS and judgment of the
executive officer, Lieutenant Com
mander Raymond p. Rodgers, deserves,
and will, hope, receive proper re-
ward at the hands of the government.
The test of the executive officers work
is the conduct of ship and crew in bait
tle In this case it was simply superb.
The GOODNESS of the navigator, Lieu
tenant w. H. Schuetze, and of Lieuten-
ant r. X. Hill, in charge of the rapid
fire guns on the upper deck, are
worthy of the greatest commendation.
"Other officers of the ship did not
come under my personal observation,
but the result of the action shows how
well they did their duty.
IT cannot express my admiration for
my magnificent crew. So long as the
enemy showed his flag they fought
like Americans, but when the flag came
down they were as gentle and tender
as American women"
Captain Clark, of the Oregon, APP
ponds q list of all the officers of his YES
sci, hoping that it may be of service
to them should the claims of others for
advancement above them ever be con-