Audubon County journal. (Exira, Iowa) 1884-1993, 1901-10-17
COOK ON THE STAND
CAPTAIN OF BROOKLYN PRAISES
ADMIRAL SCHLEY.

Declares He Still Thinks 1t Was the
Best Maneuver Possible-Navy De.
partment Concludes and Schiey De.
Tense Begins.
Washington, Oct. 15.-Yesterday in
the Schley court of inquiry Judge Ad-
yocate Lemly concluded the presenta-
ton of testimony for the government
and the first of Admiral Schley's wit
nesses was introduced. Captain Fran
els A. Cook. who commanded Admiral
(then commodore) Schley's flagship,
the Brooklyn, during the Santiago cam
paign, and who acted, though unoff1-
cially, in the capacity of chief of staff
Tor the commodore, was on the witness
stand the greater part of the day. He
was followed by Lieutenant Com
mander William F. Fullam, who was
senior watch officer on the New Or
leans during the Spanish war, and
former Lieutenant Joseph Beale, who,
as an officer on the Harvard, t.ranslat-
ed the cipher dispatches between Com
modore Schley and the navy depart
ment carried by that vessel. Among
those dispatches was that sent by
Commodore Schley May %, express
ing regret at not having been able
to obey orders of the department and
explaining the reason why he could
not do so. There are some verbal dis
crepancies between the original draft
OF this dispatch and the official print
of it, and these Mr.. Beale explained.
Lieutenant Beale was the last of
the government witnesses, although
Captain Lemly explained that he would
reserve the right to call others if oc.
casion should demand that he do SO.
He had no sooner retired than the
first witness for Admiral Schley was
called. This proved to be the Cuban
pilot, Edward Nunez, who told Schley
on May 26, 1898, that he did not be-
lieve the Spanish fleet under Cervera
was in the harbor at Santiago.
Captain Cooks Testimony.
Captain Cooks testimony was re-
view of the entire campaign after
Cervera's fleet. beginning with the de-
parture of the flying squadron from
Key West on May 10 and concluding
with the battle off Santiago July 8.
He said that at first it had been be-
lieved by both Sampson and Schley
that the Spanish feet was in the har-
Dor at Cienfuegos and that no infor.
nation to the contrary had been con-
veyed to Commodore Schley until the
arrival of Captain McCalla on May "a;
that it was Commodore Schley's ex-
pectation to meet the Spaniards in the
open sea and his constant care was to
have coal enough for such emergency.
Captain Cook also testified that he
(Cook) gave the order for the Brook
lyn's loop at the battle of Santiago
and that he considered the movement
eminently successful. 81 never
thought of collision with the Texas.
never for a moment had one idea Of
such an occurrence. We passed, IL
Judge, about 400 yards. / had handless,
the ship under all circumstances, and
got so could judge pretty correctly,
and my impression was that we were
about the distance we sailed in squad
ron. But collision never thought
OF. 1t turned clear of the Texas came
around and then we had the Viscaya
on our starboard bow and about abeam
was the Oquendo and then the Colon.
At the time. thought it was the
Teresa, but I soon discovered this
vessel was dropping out and heading
for the beach. That was about the
hottest time for action. It was a crit
1cal time. There was not any time for
indiscretion and do not think there
was any. We got around and could
see nothing but smoke and could not
understand it, could not understand
exactly how we got there They were
all three firing on the Brooklyn, when
almost Immediately, faster than
could tell it, l saw a large white bone
in the water and through this smoke
| saw the bow of a vessel. | ex-
claimed at the time, What was that?'
The navigator, who was near me, said,
That is the Oregon l felt perfectly
assured from that moment. It came
up very rapidly. There never was
anything between us and the Spanish
ships. It. was on our starboard quar-.
ter"
In reply to the court, Captain Cook
said that the Brooklyn was not using
full power on July 8, until just before
the Colon went ashore, when the last
engine was coupled on. 1t would have
required stop of about rs minutes
to couple up all the engines, which
would, he said, have been done, If it
was apparent that the Colon was get
ting away The witness also said In.
reply to the court that the Spanish
ships had not turned to the west when
the Brooklyn began it's turn.
The court asked what ships would
have had their fire blanketed if the
Brooklyn had turned with starboard
helm. Captain Cook replied that
THE fire of the Texas might have been
blanketed and the movements of the
Oregon might have been interfered
with.
This" he added, sis, however, an
after thought. l never thought of any
thing at the time, but turning the yes