The San Francisco call., 1901-10-17

der'' ~
Lieutenant Commander Sears was then ex-
cused and Commander Mason was called as
the hrst new witness of the day. He detailed
the siege of Cienfuegos and also referred to
the blockade of Santiago Raynor then asked
the witness how many times he had seen Com
modore Schley under fire, to which he replied:
During all the engagements.''
What was his general conduct manner and
bearing on these occasions?"
Excellent in every particular. He was
calm, collected and brave'
Asked to give brief account of the battle
of July 3, Commander Mason, after giving the
prelminaries said:
LAS soon as I reported the battery to CAPTAIN
Cook in the coming tower, 1 asked him if We
should commence firing He replied Fire as
the order to Lieutenant Simpson to fire as soon
as he could giving him a range of $500 yards
L think the first gun was fired within five min
first alarm. The rest Of the battery took up
the fire at once and continued to fire on the
port bow until tie ranges commenced to get
down to 1900 and 1900 yards. I asked CAPTAIN
Cook to which way he going round it
being necessary for me to know account of
changing the battery below shifting from one
side to the other. He answered that he was 60
ing with port helm. gave the necessary Or
ders deck and went below.
Position of the Enemy.
LAS I arrived in the after cabin the after
1ve-inch gun fired for the last time on
the port side and the starboard gun took I'D
the fire Immediately. The starboard battery
then engaged for the rest of the action
The range at the time We turned as far as
remember was about 1400 yards although 1
have a recollection Of HOO yards being sent to
me once. As to the position of the enemy,
Dor when We made the turn with the port helm
At the end of the turn they were on our star
board beam and quarter with one Of them a
little ahead"
Raynor-What time was that when the Colon
ashore?
II took no time. I only saw by the report
that it was about 1:15 D. M"
After the surrender was accomplished where
did Then the Br9Gkiyn anfGin go2 go?,, .+,,rnaa ,
were sent to the eastward at once by the COM
modore to intercept a Spanish man-of-war that
was reported first by the Resolute and then
by the Vixen
Did you Intercept any Spanish man-of-
About dusk we met the Austrian cruiser
Maria Teresa"
WAS that the vessel you were ordered to in
tercept?'
Il imagine that it the vessel, because
we had some difficulty in distinguishing the
difference between the Austrian and Spanish
much that the commanding officer of the
Austrian hoisted an International signal. We
On cross-examination Commander Mason said
ne had not made the coal supply his especial
concern. He had not discussed the question
with the commodore. had he had conversa-
tions on any other official matters. He was
quite sure that the Brooklyn was not partic-
ularly short Of coal. After the turn of the
Brooklyn the lowest range was 220O or 24OO
yards.
Hanna asked about the Oregon in the chase.
The witness said that her course was about 500
yards from that of the Brooklyn and on the
Brooklyn's starboard quarter. The court asked
q number of questions before dischargine the
witness In reply TO these Commander Mason
said that beyond sending aloft and having
Captain McCalla go ashore no effort had been
made by the flying squadron to determine
whether the Spaniards in the harbor at
Cienfuegos: that he knew of no American ships
being between the Brooklyn and the Spanish
ships when the Brooklyn was turning to star
board July 8; that when the Spanish fleet came
out of the harbor the Brooklyn was not in her
regular blockading position, which was 5000
yards from the MORO; that OH the voyage from
Cfenfuegos to Santiago the fleet had been de-
layed by the smaller vessels, especially the
Eagle, and but for these vessels better speed
could have been made; that he had observed
the bombardment of the Colon, and from this
engagement had reached the conclusion that
the guns in the Spanish shore batteries were
of caliber not to exceed six or eight inches.
The first witness at the afternoon session
was Lieutenant Edward McCauley Jr. who as
an ensign on the Brooklyn during the Cuban
campaign, served as Commodore SchIey's sig
nal officer. He had diary in which he had
made notes Of the progress of events during
his memory. He said that May 90 the Brit
ish steamer Adula had reported that the Snan-
iards had left Santiago. He also spoke of the
weather on the cruise from Cienfuegos to San
tiago, saying that 1t was bad He gave a num-
Der of signals made from and to the Brooklyn
condition of the collier Merriuac which was
somewhat disabled on May 26 also to the slow
speed OF the smaller vessels. It was at 6 D. m
on that date that the engines and valves of the
Merr1mac became incapacitated.
1he signal book of the Brooklyn, when the