The Savannah morning news., 1901-09-24


but Immediately stepped back and
then | said, My Lord, Captain, we are
| out of the fight!' He said Look at
| the Brooklyn!' l turned around and
rlsht ahead of us this big gray ship
loomed out of the smoke. For a sec
ond | thought my heart was in my
mouth. We were steaming with a
heavy helm and she steered by u.s.
When l saw her she was practically
ahead of us. That is the first | saw.
she sheered off and went to sea. I
should say about 1000 yards, and then
| on to westward. AS soon as the
Brooklyn cleared us we rang to go
ahead and started up forced draft
| again. After that we simply followed
on as fast as we could on a line that
was just inside the line where the
OregoS was engaging the ships. Just
before this turn of the Brooklyn the
Iowa and Oregon were both close to
us on the starboard helm. We con-
| unued the chase until the Colon hauled
uown her flag, when the captain gave
the order to stop forced draft
capt. Lemly: How near was the
Brooklyn to the Texas at the time you
say you saw her loom up out of the
smoke?'
Il did not make any estimate at the
time, but l came to the conclusion later
that she was between 100 and $50 yards
from US, which was a much longer dis
tance that Capt Philip thought it was"
The Texas Was Endangered.
"At what time during the battle of
Santiago do you consider that the
Iexas was in the greatest danger?"
| asked Capt. Lemly.
Mr. Rayner objected, saying that
such opinions were shut out by a pre-
VlouS ruling of the court
Looking back responded the wit
ness Il know that the time of the
greatest danger of the Texas was when
the Brooklyn loomed up out of the
smoke, right ahead of u.s.
he said in response to questions that
he had never sailed with man who
had quicker sight or who had handled
his ship to better advantage than Capt.
Philip. He added that the captain had
on this occasion given successive or
ders and that the Texas had backed
until it was dead in the water" He
said that on account of this incident
two or three minutes had been lost
and that fully three miles were lost to
| the ship A part of this delay had.
however, he said been caused on dc-
count of the fault of the ships blow
ers, rendering the vessel slow in get
| ting up steam.
Referring to Commodore Schley's
blockade of Santiago harbor, the wit
ness said that during the day the dis
tance was five or six miles, but that
in steaming across the mouth of the
harbor at night the distance was grad
ually increased. On the day when the
enemy's ships were discovered the fleet
had been closer in.
The Exchange of Signals.
Commander Heilner was then ques-
toned at considerable length concern
ing signals. He had, he said, in re-
sponse to Mr. Rayners questions, seen
the Brooklyn make signals to the Tex
as on the day of the battle.
Mr.. Rayner-"What were they?"
II do not know what they were.
First, 1 reported a one-hag hoist which
I supposed was Clear ship for action
That was Immediately after going on
deck"
How many of those signals do you
recollect being made to the Texas?"
Il saw that one. Then shortly after,
1 saw a second signal which was a
three flag hoist and that is the time
1 reported to Capt. Philip. He said.
as l stated before, that 1 was not to
look after the Brooklyn, but the Texas.
How many signals did the New
York make to the Texas on the day of
battle?" asked Mr.. Rayner.
"I do not know" was the response.
Did she make any signals to the
Texas?"
Il saw signals from the New York,
1 think. but not at o'clock or $50
o'clock"
How late?"
THAT 1 don't know. Twelve o'clock
or around there. 1t may have been
1890 l saw the signals in the chase
of the Colon"
Objection was made to this line of
questioning and the question was
withdrawn temporarily. The court
then took a recess until o'clock.
OmciaI Chart Inaccurate.
When the court reconvened at 2
! o'clock Mr.. Raynor continued his cross
examination of Commander Heilner.
He asked .him especially concerning
| the official chart of the battle off San
| tiago, exhibiting the chart The wit
| ness said he had been one of the board
| of navigators who had prepared the
chart. He had testified that the
| BROOKLYN was only $50 yards distant
when she crossed the course of the
| Texas, but he stated that according to
| the chart the distance was about 1900
feet when the Brooklyn was making
| her famous loop.
But" he said, 1--WE are going
| through a lot of matter here which is
worthless"
"Oh, it is worthless is it?" questioned
Mr.. Raynor. According to the map
| the two vessels were never nearer than
| within 2.400 feet of each other
The witness replied that he consid-
cred the map inadequate.
Mr.. Hanna interposed to say that If
| the point intended to be made was that
the chart is inaccurate the government
would concede at once that this was
| true.
The witness was asked by Mr.. Ray
ner concerning the stoppage of the
Texas when the Brooklyn appeared in
front of her.
"The signals" witnessed answered,
"were to SLOW stop and back one
right on top of the other, before 1
could say a word in between.
Capt. Philips Words.
Does anything appear in your log
about that?" asked Mr.. Rayner.
Nothing" answered the witness 1T
was not on the log. / can tell you why
II was not, because Capt. Philip said
he would not put it in his official re-
port"
DO you recollect, as you brought up
this statement of Capt. Philip, the
statement he made about the danger
of collision|
mo He spoke to me hundreds of
times about it"
Mr. Rayner: Here are his own
words"