The Washington times., 1901-10-25

haul out of the action and l thought that
this signal was given a warning to
me; that perhaps The oregon might have
to commune on in the fight without her. l
also remember another signal which l did
not understand at first. 1T was to the
effect that the enemy appears to have
been bul.t in ltaly. To this 1 directed
the signal oitcer TO reply that perhaps
she might have been built in italy but
that sno would land on the coast ot
C-ba. / also remember the s,Snai: Con
ordinations upon the grdnu victory ;,
thanks for your spit tndid assistance.
TheT, were other sislaIs and have seen
the last of The IN. these are the ones
which impress themselves upon my mind.
/ cannot remember WhEs the others werC.
q, nat uisItHce VS. II "nvn y.
were olgaged in chasing the Coon aij,I
the Ni@c-ya ran ashore. how man.
miles?
Al cannot tell. have seen the char
and have seen that certain number
mics vas given as the speed of the ship
/ suppose fuA speed was on the OreG.
about so clock. when we turned to III
westward and slowed down little; an
J. suppose we ran during the chase nifty
five milos.
Q.-Can yod tel me how many shii
the Brooklyn WIS engaged with whea
the smoke Efted and allowed you to S e
her.
A-she was engaging four of the en-
emy's fleet
Q.-pid You see the turn of the Brooiz-
A.-No, sir. never saw the Brooklyn
at all until ] came out of the SMOKE.
Q.-How did the Brooklyns fire appear
to you at that time2
Al remember seeing her. She rade
a deep impression on me upon finding
her there as ] could deponI Upon htr
support, and felt that sh. needed a ba;-
tleship. occasionally looked at III.
Brooklyn.
Odd you see the commodore on the
day of the battle, July 8?
A.-Not during the battle.
Q.-On the day OF the battle?
A.-N's. sir.
Q.-when did you see him?
A.-on board the New York, when the
New York came uD after the surrender
of the Colon.
Q.-Was there any conversation with
the commodore or did You hear the COM
nodore make any remarks on that occa-
sion?
A.-Yes, sir. a Spanish battleship had
been reported as having arrived off San
tiago and the captain of the Resolute
said he had been pursued by her. The
admiral do not seem to be very much
impressed by this report of the Spanish
warship off Santiago. The admiral SEEM
ed incredulnus. and I remember remark
ing that it might be the Spanish fleet ar
irving to form a conjunction with Ger
vera's fleet and had arrived too late. The
then turned and said: We'll. Clark. YOU |
go after that shin Believing, as l did. |
that really a Spanish batheship was there. |
I said: Admiral. why not take the |
Brooklyn alnng?" He turned and said: |
Certainly. Schley. you go also" I said: |
Commodore. we have knocked out sew
eral vessels this morning, and we can |
knock out another one He said: Ger
tainly we can: come along" What ! was I
impressed with then was the cheerful |
manner of the commodore and his ap- |
proving ne for having suggested that he |
go along. He had no feeling against me
for suggesting it. and although my senior
showed approval by his manner; he was
cheerful.
The cro-s-exami-,afion Of CAPTAIN Clark
developed little additional beyond the fact /
that the witness did not see a signal from
the Brooklyn 70 fire her l3-inch guns. She l
fired them at the Colon after 2 cOnsuta-
ton of her officers.
schIey Takes the stand.
Rear Admiral Schlcy was then called.
He was asked the usual preliminary ques-
tions by Mr.. Rayner. after he had been
sworn. Beginning his testimony. he said:
Having been ordered by the Navy De-
partment TO take command of the Flying
squadron, proceeded to Hampton Roads.
Va, and hoisted my flag on the United
States cruiser Brooklyn at that time an
chored off the Newport News Ship Works.
for the purpose of having their elevating
gear and rear turret guns installed, the
older ones having been proven defective
There was anchored at the same time at
Newport News the Massachusetts, which
had been mentioned in my orders as one
of the vessels constituting the Flying |
Squadron. She was there for the pur-
pose OF making minor repairs, and also
TO take advantage of the calmer and
smoother harbor to partially clear her
lotion, which had become very dirty, the
ship not having been docRed. / think for
quite a year.
These duties completed, the Brooklyn
and the Massachusetts took up their posi-
tiOns at Hampton Roads. and there l
found the Texas anchored; and there |
We Were subsequently Joined by the Min
neapolls and the Columbia, and later |
these two vessels Were detached and sent
on to the coast OF Maine for the purpose |
of guarding the interests there which |
were believed to be in danger on account |
OF certain reports that were transmitted |
N IA various directions along the coast of
MAINE as 10 the appearance Of Spanish |
vessels at dinerent places. They were ,
replaced by the New Orleans and the
scorpion ana later We were Joined by the
collier Sterling
During the time we lay at Hampton
Roads the squadron was organized, its !
commanding officers were brought to- +
Gether. the general plan Of campaign was | =
thrashed out, the disposition TO be made | y
OF our water delivery torpedoes was {
thoroughly discussed, and l am inclined !
to say that l found no one of the COM 1
officers who seemed 10 agree
with the others TO what use should be
made of them. l therefore determined. as
happens on such occasions, TO take the Z
helm myself and We decided as they |
were nenaces to the squadron that we
would simply keep them charged with
the war heads below the protective decks | I
Il put the squadron on a war footing, ,
estab.I=htu "a picl.tt and patrols, and also
the masking Of lights, which were under
inspection on several occasions to ascer-
tain how effective and complete it was. '
New Plan OF Battle. :
During this time l had explained to all
the commanding officers first. that il was
impossible to contrive plan of battle
that would meet unforeseen contingencies.
that the general plan Of the squadron
could be given TO the crews in the line ',
OF battle. and its general principle would
be to attack the leading vessels. to con-
centrate fire upon them, first in order to
obtain the moral effect, and secondly to
throw them into confusion, making VIC
tory over them probably very much more !
successful and complete.
Il did that for the reason that the older
plans OF battle had all been TO effect cen !
tres and rear, resulting in their escape. /
felt that the attack Of the head of a | Z
squadron. which was to some extent new, {
would involve the destruction of the ,
whole"
After telling Of his arrival at Key West {
on May IS. Admiral Schley said:
The following morning / went ashore {
10 pay my respects 10 Commodore Remey.
The commodore showed me a teIegraDhic {
from the Secretary of the Navy 5
despatch to the blockade Of Havana. lie /
also showed me a number Of other de- {
spatches, the purpOrt OF which I remem-
ber- bat not their contents. While / was q