The daily morning journal and courier., 1901-10-26
tUA COATS.

'AiS "SSIN eliN 4-sth HIS o sup DSlWGCi
 her and the ship following, which sub
 sequently proved to be the Viscaya We were advancing in the direction oi ! the Viscaya when she also seemed to
 have given up the intention to ram and turned to the westward following the direction of the leading ship It then
 became apparent as we were steering on dimetrically opposite courses, that | the original plan had failed and the l Spanish fleet in order and apparently i at distance had succeeded in passing l the battleship line A new feature of
 the fight became immediately apparent.
 Captain Cook immediately gave the or | der to port helm. I did not. should | have done it in a second. l saw the i ships head swinging very rapidly and
 I asked him whether his helm was
 aport or hard aport. I think he said
 hard aport. I never saw the ship turn
 more rapidly than she did at this time. 1 Her turn was absolutely continuous. 1 There was no easing of her helm. f never saw the starboard side of the | Texas at all We were never across l her bow. I never was at her port side | and she never approached any position l that was within six hundred yards of | the Brooklyn She never entered into ] my head at all as menace or danger We passed completely around the cir cle. The last range that was given was HOO yards, and the fact of the near
 ness of that ship (the second Spanish
 ship, impressed itself upon my mind
 and will never be forgotten because
 ,x,;tt
 ming over her turrets to her super
 structure deck and observed that day. light between their legs as they ran.
 We turned very rapidly and had been
 for long time under the impression
 that our starboard engine was backed, from the fact that I was standing upon
 the starboard and in looking astern I saw an unusual amount of churned
 water It looked to me very much as if that engine had been backing. Though the matter was not one of rec ord as I found out subsequently,, l had always been under the impression that that engine had backed. During the turn Mir Hodgson very properly made some allusion to the lookout, perhaps for the Texas. I do not recall what it
 
 of any character between MT. Hodgson and myself. First, he was too good an officer to have transgressed one of the plainest duties of an officer at such a time and second, if he had undertaken it I would not have permitted it for second. That is fiction; there was no colloquy
 Before we turned. the leading ship was abeam or a little ahaft the beam and when we turned about she was ahead of us; that is, on the starboard bow, and all four ships and the forts were firing at the same time and from that moment the following ten or if teen minutes were the most furious part of the entire combat. I remem- Der very distinctly seeking from time to time, as my attention was attracted for a moment, the jets of water ahead and astern and over and short. The roar of projectiles was one of the things that can be heard only once in a life time and then never forgotten, It ap- peared at that moment that all four of those ships were at work upon the Brooklyn and up 10 the moment of turning so far as we could perceive, there was not the slightest evidence they lad even been injured. The thought passed through my mind that after all our precautions and waiing those fellows would get away. At that moment I felt, and I thought remark ed to Captain Cook, that we were alone | and would perhaps have most of that | fight upon ourselves, because I did not 1 know then that the hattleships could possibly keep up their speed. But I | said to him. we must stay with this crowd I had no idea that we would 1 escape. Of course, if they could have | shot as well as our people did. they certainly would have got us. When we 1 had completely turned around on a | westerly course, the ships appeared to have been broken up little. although | still in some semblance of formation, md just at that moment saw the Ore 5on breaking in through this cloud en- velop. She broke through onto the starboard quarter of the flagship lad hoisted the signal "Close up" and .hen Follow the flag feeling that lew disposition was necessary. That signal was replied to and I saw it re- )eatsd. Captain Clarke knew very we'll it was not intended for him be- ,ause he was following the flag so he 'epeated it to the other ships. In a yery few moments after the Oregon )roke through the cloud of smoke she vas perhaps four or five hundred yards listant. These two ships, the Brooklyn md the Oregon. were firing in man Ter l had never saen before. ! never before realized what rapid gun fire meant Both ships were at that time
 sheet of flame. Soon after that I saw hat the leading ship was evidently 'attered hard She Jagged astern. aw smoke coming out of her ports and ut of her hatches, ana the fact that itself upon me was that the olumns were going straight up in the ir I said to Captain Cook, who was onstantly at my side and always in ny confidence, We have got one, keep Is he boys below informed of all the ! novements. Trey cannot see, and hey ought to know. and he did so the action. Every few mo- lents messages were sent below to the len that were answered oftentmes \ ,ith cheers which We could hear trough the ventilators. It appeared } be a very short interval of time after hat that I saw a second ship on fire, mich proved later to be the Oquendo \