The Washington times., 1901-10-26

miles vest of the Harbor OF SantlaSU, u
, and L saw that she was out of range; so
| | made the signal through Captain COOK,
| to cease firing. and told hin TO let his
men come out of the turrets into the
| cooler air and get some thins 10 seat anu
| to hurry up his men below
Il think ! went into the battle tower
myself 1t that time and sang out 70 the
| men Below that we had got all hands OF
! them except one, and that ] thought they
could be relied upon to eaten tlat other
vessel. | heard u good deal of merriment
| and rejoicing.
One Compartment Filled.
II then went back on the bridge and
| soon realized that they were doing their
best. There was a jingle to the rails and
! n vibration to the vessel. But | perceived
at that time that the motions of the yes
| sci were very sluGgish-that she was roll
| ing in a rather sluggish way. SO saS-
| gested to Captain Cook that possibly we
had some compartments filed, and that
! he had better look out for that. lie salu
he would send a carpenter down. and 1t
afterwa-d developed that one of the after
compartments had filled with water,
| which at that time, we thought was due
| to the fact that we had received some
| injury below the water line Inc car
penter and captain both thouShl II u!l-
| wise to attempt TO examine the compart-
mtnt until we should get into smoother
| wafer. where we could handle it more
| readily. That course was decided on
| The ship speed came Up with some
| rapidity: 4 think the NiZcaya had run
| ashore in the neighborhood of II O'Clock,
| and toward u o CLOCK II became very dp-
| parent that we were gaining IN the cnise.
| / eiIauired of Captain Cook several times
| during the action whether it would not be
| a good idea to edge in closer, as we couiu
| finish these fellows more quickly. he re-
| piled that we had them in most eXcelieht
|
| two ships seemed to be doing most ad-
| mirable work AT that time we were
| pointing for Tarquino Point, not cape
| Cruz. Tarquino Point extending to the
| southwark. My idea was that in steering
| that course. if the ship kept up her speed,
| she would be Obliged to come out, and at
| that time said to him | would get up a
| lot of extra ammunition. so that when
| we should cone in to close quarters, 1t
| would be question of very few minutes
| TO knock her out.
| .As We were going out there were va
riols signals between the Oregon and
| myself. some of pleasant character ana
| SOME official. | gave the order, whlch
| CAPTAIN Clark has testified he diu not re-
| ceive to open fire with his 13-inch guns;
| ard / hid always been under the impress
| sion. Uatil 1 heard him say otherwise, tnat
| that order had been transmitted.
However, we continued to advance; the
| Oregon and the Brooklyn. / do not think
| the oregon was ever farther astefh thtil
| SOC yards. and from the time she WORKED
1
| prolong6tion OF her course at any time
| would have passed $50 yards inside the
| brooklyn We were practically ana rela-
| lively at the same distance. 49,
| Perhaps the Brooklyn was a httle
| nearer at times and at other times the
| oregon was "a little nearer. But we CON
1 tinued in this position until aS9ut Z:oO
when we realized that We Were within
! range of the Colon, and we tried the
| thirteen-inch and eight-inch guns on her
| Several OF the shots fell short, Jut rec
| h.. n
| inch guns which passed entirely over
| the Colon. and one from the BROOK
| lyn eight-inch guns also passed over her
| | saw the jet of water beyond ana thousht
| it had gone through her but II appears >
| that it did not strike her
| I'VE tried s-inch and 13-lnch guns at
| her. One shot from the oregon passed
| over her. and one from the Brooklyn
| passed over her also. This am sure OF,
| for | saw it myself. The Colon was di-
| rectly under the fire of the two ships. 1
| felt that further sacrifclng was uIlheees a,sd
! sary, so / fired gun TO leeward, ana
| the Colon hauled down her flag and turn
| cd inshore. l signaled. The enemy mas
| surrendered and prepared to send Cap
| tain Cook aboard to receive her surreh-
| der we steamed into d position or ABOUT
| / OJO wards / remember Captain COOK
| asked me IL we should slow up, and l
II gave the order to get out beat
| We had some difficulty in getting out a
boat Captain Cook rl.'.,f,1 h' 9ss,e st.,id
do o. ne
| ma rla'' ke arrsved' in the vicinity of the
| Colon at 80 O'Clock, certainly as early
| as that. We Were not over four miles
| from her when she hauled down her col
| ors When the surrender took place. haV-
ing a natural interest in knowing What
| vessels were following, | looked with
| glasses and saw three astern. OF two OF
| them ] could see the masts; of the third
| | could make out only the smoke. We
| lowered boat and Captain Cook asked
| me what terms of surrender fe should de-
L
| were matters which only the commander
| in-chief can arrange. and we can receive
| only unconditional surrender Al about
| twenty minutes past o'clock the New
| York came uD.
signal to sampson.
we sigaaled 1t is a glorious day for
| our country and as soon as l could pay
| my respects ! went aboard. In the mean
| tine Captain Cook had started off and re-
| turned to report. and then ! went aboard
| the New York and reported subsequently
| what had occurred After stating that,
was standing there. there was group Of
| officers standing near. Chaplain Royce
came uu 10 me and said. Commodore
your work Is not over yet; the Resolufe
| has Just arrived and Captain Eaton re-
| ports SDanish battleship off the coast
| and the admiral wants to see you
| Il went over to where the admiral was.
| Captain Clark was there. / made some
| suggestion about hoisting a flag on the
Colon and told him that | was prepared
to send force to prevent any mOnzeying
| and injury to her. This was because |
had seen bTeschblocks being thrown
O, erb0ard. But as soon as he mentioned
that l take the Oregon and go to meet
| the strange ship sorted. s: felt some lit
tie delight. as l thought that after what
9
day there was not anything with Spanish
| cOICrs we would be afraid TO meet.
| Il saw the Vixen coming from the east,
| with Flag Lieutenant Stanton on board
| lie came alongside of me and hailed me,
and said that the smoke / saw on the
| eastern horizon was the Spanish cruiser
Pclayo. / ordered the Brooklyn TO be
4 cleared for aCi!Un ana placed in battle
array But the 50 turned out to be an
| austrian man-ot-,.sr which had intended
| to 20 in to Santiago
Fortunately, Admiral Schley went on,
| we had no night The Colon had sur
| !, ndcrcd. The battle ended. and
! III 10 were no further operations. re
| turned that night The commander rim
| hof gra "a - me that he would remain
! ANA transfer tu' crew from the Colon to
! oUr Vcssr.s- / went on to the eastward,
i''!tng that The proper position Of The sec
| Uud iu cummaH would be oil SlrtIago.
| ON eur way there. about 1890, ia, T." was
! an oNplosio tuI one Of tho Nizcaya mag
| aZinoa. ana w an said. as We heard il,
| = hat b. the final salute
As we approached the Indiana. her
| captain WAS anxious Ia know what had
| be come H"f the Colon. 1 announced her
| surrender and there Was great cheering.
! DaDtlins Evans nailed me, and said that
| Admiral CeFFtrst was GA board ana
! would ike very much 10 see me ! won't
| over To see him found him On the
| .ft,rpart Of the ship. Before approach
! Eg him I directed that IN, .c shI-it uo
| ao che ,ring as cid not think IT proper
to oNu't over Zoe who had fought so