Perrysburg journal. (Perrysburg, Wood Co., O. [Ohio]) 186?-1965, 1901-10-18
ORDERED THE LOOP.
Capt. Cook Declares He Was Re-
sponsible for the Movement.
Witness, who Was In Command of
the brooklyn, Snys Schlcy's
Bearing WINS Tint OF
Brave Omccr.

Washington. Oct. 49, Just before
cess for lunch Monday Mr.. Hanna
asked Capt. Cook, who was on the
stand: "What was the conduct and
bearing of Commodore Schley under
fire on such occasion as you had the
opportunity of observing?"
81 always regarded him as an en-
Enthusiastically brave and patriotic of
ficer; never in any other way re-
piled the witness.
Capt. Cook on the stand.
The early proceedings of the court
of inquiry Monday were occupied by
the previous witnesses correcting
their testimony, after which Capt.
Cook was called. He was questioned
by Mr.. Hanna, and responded in clear
and distinct tones. He said he had
been at Key West on May 10. His
testimony in brief is as follows:
what information cid you have at that
time concerning the whereabouts OF Ger
vera's feet?" asked Mr.. Hanna.
my impres ssions now are simply from
rumor that they had left the Canary is
lands and a part of them had been sighted
at Martinique and from consular informa-
Ia
| Harvard, that they had gone to Curacao.
| That is all from impression"
Giving the reason for the departure of the
flying squadron for Cienfuegos, Capt. Cook
| said the squadron had been sent to that
| port ''to intercept and meet the Spanish
squadron, II having been determined, as
we believed at that time, by them to make
| Cienfuegos their objective point" He had
| understood that the Spanish fleet carried
munitions of war for Havana, and 1t was
haiiavad that thay would n n CipnfnpROs.
| because of its accessibility to Havana.
Capt. Cook detailed a conversation be-
| tween Commodore Schley and Capt. Ches-
| ter while the squadron was route to
| Cienfuegos. He said there had been talk
between them about coaling on the south
| ern coast of Cuba. In conversation some-
| thing was said about Cape Cruz, but 1t
did not seem favorable place for coaling
| ships from colliers.
| Capt. Cook recalled the meeting of the
| Marblehead with the flying squadron en-
| route to Cienfuegos, but could recall only
| very indistinctly the fact that the Scorpion
had delivered to the Brooklyn the infor-
| nation from the Eagle at that time. II
| did not receive any information" he said,
land did not consider the incident i'm
| portant"
The Battle of July >.
General interest was manifested through
| out the courtroom when Mr.. Hanna began
his inquiries about the battle of July 3.
| He asked
Were you on deck when the fleet came
out of Santiago harbor on July 3? When
| were they first sighted?'
The reply was in the negative. Capt.
| Cook said he had at that time been in the
| cabin. The next question was:
How did you first learn the fleet was
| coming out?"
The reply to this brought Capt. Cooks
story of that engagement, as follows:
| II heard the executive officer call out:
| Clear ship for actonr and as had given
| directions to have the ship ready for IN
| spectlon / knew at once something was
| happening. i went on deck Immediately"
| Had you had any intimation the night
before that the fleet were coming out?"
mo. 1 turned in the night before about
midnight, feeling rather the other way,
all hope OF their coming out having been
| given up"
when you came on deck. where were the
| Spanish vessels? What were they doing?'
when l first arrived on the forecastle
there were two in sight. The third one
was Just outside the entrance and the
fourth appeared Immediately afterward." ="
what did they do when they came out,
which way did they head?'
| I'VE were to the westward. The en-
trance to us was about northeast by north.
The fleet came out south and turned as they
| left the entrance to four points southwest,
so that they turned in our direction"
Here Capt. Cook described the famous
loop of the Brooklyn and declared that he
| NoHSIuSiSu IL SuNuSSSiui NJ
miral Dewey interrupted and asked how
near the Brooklyn passed to the Texas.
No Danger of Collision.
81 never thought of collision. 1t never
entered my head. / never for a moment
had one idea or vicissitude in that respect.
We passed, 1 judge, about 400 yards.
handled the ship under all circumstances
and got so l could judge pretty correctly.
and my impression was that we were about
the distance we sailed in squadron. But a
/ tttyEt ~ Gha nal
perfectly clear of the Texas, came around,
and then We had the Viscaya on our star
board bow and about abeam was the
| Oquendo and then the Colon. AT the time,
i thought 1t was the Teresa, but / soon
discovered this vessel was dropping out
and heading for the beach. That was about
the hottest time of the action. 1t was a
critical time. There was not any time for
indiscretion. and do not think there was
any. i have always felt in my mind, in
studying the positions, that the chances
would have been for a disaster had we
shifted helm at such time. However, we
got around and we had those three YES
sells"
Didn't "Dnmn the Texas
Continuing his statement after the moor
recess Capt. Cook said he thought that II
the engines of the Texas had been backed
he would have observed the movement
although" he said. "the Texas was quite
distance from US" He recalled n briei
conversation between Lieut.. Hodgson anG
himself concerning the Texas while the
Brooklyn was making its famous loop. He
said that on that occasion Hodgson haG
called his attention to the Texas and thai
he had replied, saying he saw the vessel
which Hodgson had afterward told him haC
entirely reassured him. He had never
himself used the expression: Damn the
Texas" to Hodgson. ION the contrary
he said, 81 had every reason to bless her.
He said he had not at the time known OF
the change in the Brooklyns log in which
the entry had at first been to the effec
that the helm was put to starboard anC
then changed to helm aport." He remem
bered the addenda to the log and had con
sented that it should be written. but N
; had given instructions that there shout,
be no change in the original log.
AT 2:35 p. m. Capt, Cook was excused
counsel for Admiral Schley announcing
that they had no questions to ask the wit
ness at this time.