Evening star., 1901-10-15

Deen
dertaken He also said that on this voyage
the squadron had been delayed by the Eagle
and other small boats, and that the ships
had also been slowed upon one occasion
when merchant vessel was sighted; also
that the collier had to stop several times
to make repairs to her machinery.
With reference to the blockade at Sam
tfago the witness said that it had been
maintained at varying distances of from
three to six miles, to suit the commander
in-chief In thick weather and at night
the distance was less than in fair weather
and in the daytime
The witness also described the reconnois-
sance of May 81, when the Colon was fired
upon. and giving his conclusions with ref
erence to that event he said it had devel-
oped the strength of the land batteries,
had supposed they were. Commodore
Schley had, he said, told him that his pur-
pose was to ascertain what the batteries
were. He said he had been with Lieut..
Potts on the Massachusetts on that day.
and had not heard any conversation be-
tween that officer and Commodore Schley.
The Battle of July 3.
The witness described the engagement Of
July 3. After stating the preliminary Incl
dents he said: Il was in my room when
heard the cry of the executive officer,
Clear ship for action l knew what that
meant, and ran to the quarterback. l
looked aloft to see if the prescribed signal.
Enemy is escaping, was up, and saw that
it was. l met the commodore on the quar-
terdeck He directed the signal, Clear ship
for action followed by the signal to close
in, all of which We're made. From my po-
Sition / had a good view OF the entrance.
Our ship was heading at the time, should
saw to the westward of north, not on her
regular heading, which was about north
east by north. The engines had been
started by the time got on deck, and she
was gaining way and swinging toward the
enemy The first vessel, which proved to be
the flagship Maria Teresa, came out. She
was directly on our bearing from the en-
trance to the port. AS the ships swung to-
ward the Teresa she swung slowly around
To me the Teresa appeared to not hold an
exactly steady course, and the helm OF our
ship was eaSed one way or the other TO
keep our ram pointing toward the Teresa
The Teresa shortly turned Squarely toward
the westward and as she did so l got a
view of the next ship following in her
wake. 1t was my observation that the
Brooklyn was then held up to meet the
second ship approaching. OF course, we
ported helm.
1.-The second ship passed in the wake of
the first one, and / said to the commodore
that it looked as If the second one was
going to try to ram us. He, think, as
sented. At any rate. the Brooklyn was
held toward her. and she appeared to me
to be uncertain In her course. The Brook
Iyn was handled by the captain and quar-
termaster. She turned after she had passed
to the southwark of the Teresa's wake ana
followed her, and then it was generally re-
marked on the lower bridge they were all
going to try and escape to the westward.
The Loop.
"Just about the time the Viscaya turned
Yeoman Ellis, who was trained observer
with the stadimeter, came to me on the
platform and said that his stadimeter
showed 500 yards to the Viscaya. 1 imme-
diately took special look at the Viscaya
,i,,I ir,6c
firmed the stadimeter. l said to the COM
nodore, L think we are about our tactical
diameter from that ship now,' and he said,
L think so, too or we are Then the or
der was hard aport.' l am not positive
who gave that order. I think the commo-
dore said hard aport' and Captain Cook
said 1T is hard aport.' The helm was kept
hard aport and the ship swung rapidly in
her turning circle When the order was
given hard aport l looked at the next YES
sci in our fieet-the TeXas-and in my
judgment We were completely clear of her.
and we turned we passed well clear of
her After the turn was completed we
found ourselves abreast perhaps little
abaft the beam of the leading Spanish ship
with slowly converging course toward the
leading ship. The smoke at this time was
very dense, but there were two ships in
plain sight and occasionally we could get
glimpSeS of the third Shortly afterWard
the smoke lifted to the rear and I saw the
Oregon coming toward us and also got a
momentary glimpse of the remainder of our
fleet and the whole of the Spanish fleet. 1
saw the torpedo boats and sent one Of the
commodore's orderlies to the after guns to
notify them that they might look out. At
that time saw the Vixen on our port side
which gave a feeling of satisfaction
that she would also protect us from tor
pedo attack.
"The course of the battle was continued
these lines with varying distances. 1t
is my impression We held a very straight
course. The navigator was trying to MAIN
in tn To hIHa y
to the best range. After about ten to
twenty minutes we were very hotly en-
gagged with those three vessels. The Ore
gon was astern of and the Texas astern
of her. The Niscaya began to blaze up,
flames would rise and subside, and she
turned in toward shore. Shortly previous
to this she had made what appeared to us
a change in her helm so as to bring her out
toward the Brooklyn. 1t was taken by us
to mean an attempt to ram us. The Brook
lyns helm was handled to give the ship a
sheer toward her. This she did l think,
twice. The Viscaya then resumed her
course and We did also.
The Chase of the Colon.
THE commodore spoke of the advisability
Of signaling through the Oregon to the
Texas to stay by the Viscaya when she
turned in and insure her surrender, but
after moments thought he said: Philip
will know enough to look out for that and
tnen we pTOceeueu. w nile We were en-
gagged on the beam of the Viscaya the Colon
had passed inside of the Viscaya, firing, but
gradually drawing away. We were in
creasing our speed rapidly as the fires
could be forced, and after the Viscaya had
gone in we continued the chase after the
Colon. The forcing OF the fires told pres
entity, and we began to overhaul her or
else she began to slacken her speed. We
estimated the distance to the Colon to be
fully 1900 yards. 1t was beyond the eX-
treme range of the stadimtter.
After we began 10 gain upon the Colon
the commodore directed the Oregon to try
her guns at her. Then the Oregon and the
Brooklyn fired deliberately al the Colon.
After our fire she began TO waver In toward
the shore. Her course was unsettled and
the commodore said he thought she had
enough of 1t and was looking for soft
spot to lie upon, which proved to be the
case. She fired ccasionally at us, rather
rapidly at first, and then 1t became weaker
She was close into shore at that time and
at 1:15 hauled down her flag. Captain Cook
and Lieutenant Wells were sent on board
| the Colon to receive the surrender"
Commodore SchIey's Report.
| When Mr.. Sears had concluded his de-
| scription of the battle Mr.. Rayner asked
him II Commodore Schley had given him
dispatch to be sent to the Navy Depart
| ment making a report of the battle
witness lia1 i,,f