The San Francisco call., 1901-10-26

recollection now. as near as l can state it.
is that the ships head was near north-north-
ing of the easterly courses. To the
left of her was the Iowa She was. of course.
to the eastward of the Texas. The Oregon was
to the eastward of the Iowa. The Indiana
was eastward of that position and the Glou-
in the neighborhood of Aguadores. The New
York was out of sight and out of signal dis
tanee with glasses l looked at that in order
was to be- If the New York had not been
out of sight 1 should have made
signal
The moment 1 saw that I went forward onto
a little platform 1 had constructed the
battle tower my position in the battle, in
order to be very close to Captain Cook. l had
only been there moment when Captain Cook
joined me- In the meantime Mr. Hodgson
who the upper bridge, sang out some
thing to the captain about being connected up
and all ready, and he at the same time said
The helm was put aport. The ship was started
do not remember. She took her way very
quickly and when we headed around 1 said to
Captain Cock: Go ahead full speed and
hoist signal to clear ship for action. We gen
orally made that signal because there
most of these ships a little temporary railing
composed of oars and rope, to keep people
from falling overheard. Generally awning
by: Close up for close action
The Brooklyn as well the other vessels OF
the squadron charged Immediately into the en-
trance in accordance with the signal plan of
seeking the enemy's ships in the entrance
for the head of the enemy's column. the idea
uppermost in my mind being that If we could
arrest them long enough for the battleships to
close In and knock them to pieces that would
be our best point of attack They continued
this course. porting and starboarding to meet
the movements of the leading Ship which
assumed to be the flagship from flag at her
masthead. l suppose from the time started
with port helm and then advancing direct to
the enemy. l saw the ships to the eastward
and westward closing in. 1 said to Captain
Cook:
First Gun Is Fired.
Close action close up has been hoisted
and it means to keep inside of a thousand
yards out of their effective torpedo range
Captain Cook was standing alongside me and
said: Yes. we will soon be within the cross
pe OF we hed %to rna ana that
first gun, l think, was fired by Lieutenant
Simpson. almost directly over the forecastle of
the ship. saw the leading ship, which ap-
parently had started with the intention of ram
ming, take turn ahead to the westward. leav-
ing gap between her and the ship following
which subsequently proved to be the Viscaya
We were advancing in the direction of the Wis.,
caya when she also seemed to have given up
ward following the direction of the leading
ship:
ing in Numerically opposite courses that
the original plan had failed. and that the
tance had succeeded in passing the battIeship
line. new feature of the fight became i'm
medately apparent. captain Cook gave the
order to port helm. 1 did not 1 should have
done it in a second. I the ships head
swinging very rapidly, and 1 asked him
replied that it was either aport or hard aport
| think he said hard aport. l never saw the
ship turn more rapidly than she did at this
time. Her continuous. There was
no easing of her helm. 1 never saw the star
board side of the Texas at all. We were never
across her bow. / never was at her port side
and she never approached any position that
was within six hundred yards of the Brook
lyn. She never entered into my head at all as
a menace danger. We passed completely
around the circle. The least range that was
given was 100 yards and the fact of the near
ness of that ship (the second Spanish ship) i'm
pressed itself upon my mind and will never be
forgotten because 1 could with the naked
eye running over her turrets to her su-
perstructure deck, and 1 observed the daylight
between their legs as they ran.
I'VE turned very rapidly, and had been for
long time under the impression that star
board engine backed from the fact that
L was standing upon the starbcard and in look
ing astern saw an unusual amount of churned
water. 1t looked to me very much as IL the en-
CINE had been backing. Though the matter was
not one of record, / found out subsequently,
had always been under the impression that that
engine had backed During the turn Mr.. Hodg-
son very properly made some allusion to look
out, perhaps for the Texas. l do not recall
what it Is, but there any collouuy
of any character between Mr. Hodgson and nv
self First, he too good officer have
transgressed one of the plainest duties of an
officer at such a time and. second if he had
undertaken it l would not have permitted