The Savannah morning news., 1901-10-17
SAVANNAH, GA. THURSDAY. OCTOBER II. 1901

ritated by Capt. Higginson's request to
delay the reconnaissance until after
the mems dinner. / remember that
very WELL"
Turned with the Viscaya.
The court questioned Commander
Sears on various points covered by his
testimony of yesterday. He said in
reply to these questions that on the
morning of July 3, the Brooklyn had
begun turning to starboard immedl-
ateIy after the engines were started;
that the helm of the Brooklyn had been
put aport when the helm of the Wis
saya had been put aport.
1T was" he said, "a practically SIM
ultaneous movement"
Asked how mch time had been con-
sumed in the Brooklyn's turn, Com
mander Sears said he had never been
able to reach a satisfactory conclusion
on that point The time had seemed
very short to him; it might have been
fifteen or twenty minutes. On the
morning of July 3, but previous to the
battle, he had, he said, noticed that
all the ships were near the positions
assigned to them except the Texas.
That ship was outside her assigned
place, and was at the time headed to
the eastward about as much as the
Brooklyn was to the northward. The
official chart putting the Texas we'll
inside the Brooklyn and the Iowa, he
said, was contrary to his observation.
The last of the courts questions was
concerning the relative positions of
the Brooklyn and the Oregon during
the chase of the Spanish ships up the
Cuban coast. The Oregon was not, he
said, so near the Viscaya as was the
Brooklyn. but might have been nearer
the Oquendo. I'VE were always nearer
the Colon during the chase" he said,
nearer during the chase and at the
surrender"
Lieut. Commander Sears was then
excused and Commander Mason was
called as the first new witness of the
day.
Commander Mason, detailing the
siege of Cienfuegos, said that on the
first day of their arrival the vessels
were kept in column, and about
sundown steamed in slowly to within
two or three thousand yards of the
entrance and then sheered out After
that the blockade was between three
and seven miles.
Referring to the blockade of San
tiago, the witness stated that the YES
sells were in column, steaming slowly
| perpendicular to the north and south
| line of the harbor at a distance of from
four to six miles.
Mr.. Rayner asked the witness how
many times he had seen Commodore
| Schley under fire, to which he replied
During all the engagements"
What was his general conduct,
manner and bearing on these &C.
| casions?"
Excellent, in every particular. He
was calm, collected and brave"
When the Hot Work Begun.
Asked to give a brief account of the
battle of July 9, Commander Mason,
| after giving the preliminaries, said:
When 1 saw the leading ship of the
enemy coming out 1 gave the order,
| Clear ship for action What was
| done to the engines 1 do not know.
| although my impression Is they were
| started at once. AS soon as l reported
the battery to Capt. Cook in the con-
ming tower, asked him II we should
commence firing. He replied: Fire as
soon as you are ready 1 immediate
| ly gave the order to Lieut.. Simpson,
| the senior officer of the forward tur-
| ret, to fire as soon as he could, giving
him range of $500 yards. l think the
| first gun was fired within five minutes
| or very close to five minutes after the
| first alarm. The rest of the battery
| took up the fire at once and continued
| to fire on the port bow until the
ranges commenced to get down to 1900
| and 1000 yards. 1 asked Capt. Cook
| as to which way he was going round,
| it being necessary for me to know on
account of changing the battery be-
| low, shifting from one side to the 9TH
| er. He answered that he was going
| with port helm. / gave the necessary
orders on deck and went below.
| LAS 1 arrived in the after cabin the
| after 5-inch gun was fired for the last
| time on the port side, and the star
board gun took up the fire immediate
ly. The starboard battery then was
engaged for the rest of the action. The
range at the time we turned, as far
as / remember, was about 1,400 yards,
| although I have a recollection of 1,100
yards being sent to me once.
After swinging around, the range
went from 2,400 to 2,SO0 and 5000
yards"
| Commander Mason told of the sur
render of the Colon and the movement
of the Brooklyn to intercept a sup
posed Spanish warship. which turned
out to be the Austrian cruiser Maria
Teresa, and then the court asked a
number of questions.
Replies to the Court.
| In reply to these Commander Mason
said that beyond sending men aloft
and having Capt. McCalla go ashore no
| effort had been made by the Flying
| Squadron to determine whether the
| Spaniards were in the harbor at Glen
| fuegos; that he knew of no American
| ships being between the Brooklyn and
the Spanish ships when the Brooklyn
| was turning to starboard July 8; that
when the Spanish feet came out of the
| harbor the Brooklyn was near her reg
ular blockading position, which was
| 5000 yards from the Moro; that on the
| voyage from Cienfuegos to Santiago
| the feet had been delayed by
the smaller vessels, especially the
| the Eagle, and that but for those vessels
better speed could have been made; he
had observed the bombardment of the
| Colon from the foretop of the Brook
| lyn as she lay coaling several miles
| away, and had noted that some of the
| shots from the American ships fell
! short, while one at least of the shots
| by the Spaniards fell outside of the
American vessels; that he had conclud-
| ed from this engagement that the
| guns in the Spanish shore batteries
were of caliber not to- exceed six or
| eight inches.
The Signals of July 3.
The first witness at the afternoon
session was Lieut.. Edward McCauley,
Jr.. who, as an ensign on the Brooklyn
during the Cuban campaign, served as
Commodore Schley's signal officer.
The witness read list of the signals
to and from the Brooklyn on July 3,
the list being as follows:
July g. 1898. a. m. Flagship to
| Fleet: Disregard motions of the
l..