The Grit-advocate., 1901-10-18
CAPTAIN COOK OF THE BROOKLYN
TELLS STORY OF THE BATTLE

Cooks story of the engagement as fol
lows:
Il heard the executive officer call out
Clear ship for action" and as | had
given directions to have the ship ready
for inspection, l knew at once some
thing was happening.
When l first arrived on the fOrecas-
tie there were two in sight The third
one was just inside the entrance and
the fourth appeared Immediately after
ward
What did they do when they came
out: Which way did they hcad?'
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. When l first
got on deck the helm had been star
boarded, heading little to the north
ward. When l saw the feet they were
heading southwest and seemed to 1e
coming straight for the interval be-
tween the Texas and the Brooklyn.
l went into the coming tower and di-
rected the helmsman. l told him what
| wanted to do was to keep straight
Tor the fleet. They wavered little
Sometimes they turned one way and
then another. We shifted helm once
or twice. but very little indeed, and fl
nally, when we were getting up fairly
close, say between 1,5W and 1000
| yards, 1t seemed to me clear that they
wanted to pass between the Texas
and the Brooklyn. The Texas was well
on our starboard and she was headed
to the nOrthward and westward. All
ships were carrying out the instruc-
| tions of the cOmmander-in-chief and
that was to head in for the entrance.
we were we'll to the westward and
headed to the northeast.
when l saw that, l ported the helm
perhaps half way over She was
swinging starboard very rapidly. The
Spanish fleet was coming straight for
this interval stepped out of the
tower on the port side to get good
look at this fleet, to see just what they
were going to do as to our relative po.
sitions, and l saw they evidently put
helms hard a-port and were turning to
the westward. We were then turn.
| ing very rapidly to starboard with port
helm. and we had turned. l think, al
! most to the east. The Texas was well
on our starboard side. then gave the
order Hard aport' to the heImsman
ana ran through the opening between
| the shield and the coming tower on
purl osc to see our own feet and our
| relative positions. Quicker than
could tell it the commodore called to
me: Cook. hard npOrt' or Is your helm
aport" ! answered: The helm is hard
aport; turning as rapidly as possible
AS | watched the Texas the bow of
the Brooklyn seemed first to point to
| her port bow. l never saw the star
| board side of the Texas, and changing
her bearing very rapidly, the bow of
the Brooklyn passed along the port
side of the Texas until there was a
clear opening between us and the stern
of the Texas. We made a complete
turn. very quick turn, with helm
nard aport until we came around and
paralleled the fleet on the other side
AS we paralleled the Spanish fleet the
NiZcaya-"
Admiral Dewey: "May I interrupt? :?
How near did you pass to the Texas -
Il never thought of q collision. 1t
never entered my head. never for
moment had one idea of vicssitude
in that respect. We passed, | Judge.
about 400 yards. l had 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 from the
squadron.
But collision I never thought of.
She turned perfectly clear of the
Texas. turned around, and then we
had the Vizcaya on our starboard bow
and about abeam was the OUuendo
and then the Colon. At the time I