The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1901-10-22


the battle. he had. he said. noticed that
all the ships were near the positions
assigned to them except the Texas.
That ship outside her assigned
place, and was at the time headed to
the eastward about as much as the
Brooklyn vas to the northward. The
official chart putting the Texas wen
inside the Brooklyn n 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 Gu
bar coast. The Oregon was not, he
said. so near the Viscaya as was the
Brooklyn. but might have been nearer
the Oquendo. were always near
er the Colon during the chase" he said.
nearer during the chase and at the
surrender"
COMMANDER MASON.
Lieutenant 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 vessls were
kept in column and about shutdown
steamed in slowly to within two or
three thousand yards of the entrance
and then sheered out. After hat the
blockade was between three and seven
miles.
Referring to the blockade of SANTA
go, n witness stated that the vessels
were in column, steaming slowly per-
pendicular to the north and south line
of the hartford 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, man.
ner and bearing on these occasions?
Mr. Rayner asked.
Excellent, in every particular. He
was calm, collected and brave"
ACCOUNT OF BATTLE OF JULY
THIRD.
Asked to give a brief account of the
battle of July 3rd, Commander Mason.
after giving the preliminaries said:
When l saw the leading ship of the
enemy coming out / rave the order
clear ship for action What was done
to the engines I do not know, although
my impression is they were started at
once. AS soon as I reported the battery
to Captain Cook in the coming tower.
L asked him if We should
firing. He replied: Fire as soon as you
are ready / Immediately gave the or
der to Lieutenant Simpson, the senior
officer Of the forward turret, to fire as
soon as he could, giving him a 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 1,S00 and 1000 yards.
1 asked Captain Cook as to which way
he was going round, it being necessary
for mo RI Gnnrr ON account 80 -
the battery below. shifting from one
side to the other. He answered that he
was going with port helm. I gave the
necessary orders on deck n went be-
low. As / arrived in the after cabin
the after 5-inch gun vas fired for the
last time on the port side and the star
board gun took up the fire Immediately.
The starbOard battery then was en-
gagged for the rest of the action. The
range at the time we turned, as far as
/ remember, was about 1,400 yards, al
though I have q recollection of LOO
yards being sent to me at once. After
swinging around the range went from
2,400 to $500 and 5000 yards"
QUESTIONED BY THE COURT.
Commander Mason told of the sur
render of the Colon and the movement
of the Brooklyn to intercept a supposed
Spanish warShip, which turned out to
be the Austrian cruiser Maria Teresa,
n then the court asked a numbe Of
questions.
In reply to these questions Comman>
der Mason said hat beyond sending
men aloft and having Captain McCalla
go ashore, no effort had been made bv
the flying squadron to determine
whether the Spaniards were in the har-
Dor at Cienfuegos: that he knew Of no
American ships between h Brooklyn
and the Spanish ships when the Brook
Ign was turning to starboard July 3rd:
| that when the Spanish fleet came out of
the harbor the Brooklyn was neal her
regular blockading position, which was
5000 yards from the morro; that on the
voyage from Cienfuegos to Santiago the
fleet had been delayed by the smaller
vssels. especially the Eagle and that
but for those vessels better speed could
have been made: that he a observed
the bo~mbardment of the Colon from the
foretop of the Brooklyn as h lay coal
ing several miles away and had noted
that some of the shots from the Amer
lean ships fell short while one at least
of the shots by the Spaniards fell out
side the American vessels; that he had
concluded from this engagement that
the guns in the Spanish shore batteries
were of calibre not to exceed 6 or s
inches
SIGNALS DURING THE BATTLE.
The first witness at the afternoon ses-