The San Francisco call., 1901-10-15
CAPTAIN COOK, WHO COM
MANDED SCHLEY'S FLAG
SHIP, THE BROOKLYN.
What did you say to him.?
think said. You decided wisely" F"


Il don't recollect. 1 may or may not 1
think IT was a subject of congratulation."
captain Cook related the particulars of the
of Captain Cotton and Captain sigsbee COM
ing on board. Speaking Of Captain Sigsbee's
visit he told of his bringing the pilot Nunez
aboard, but Captain Cook said that he had
noa mat at s beep hspsd with confidence d in
that he was reliable man.
Retrograde Movement. ,
The witness then in response to questions
detailed the retrograde movement of the fly
ing SQUADRON toward Key West, beginning
such movement was to be undertaken was
when he received orders to move. He had
he said. informed Commodore Schiey on the
become calm enough to coal and had found
that the commodore had also reached the
same conclusion.
Replying TO questions concerning the block
ade of Santiago, Captain Cook said that Com
modore Ilne Schiey,s constant idea was that the
and kept moving constantly, his theory
was that the Spanish fleet would come out of
tn. harbor.
Why the circular blockade not
adopted? Hanna asked.
have nothing but praise for the circular
blockade. replied the witness, but the idea
was to get the Spaniards to come out and to
have our ships moving and ready for action"
What were your orders of battle from
May 10 to June T'?
I'VE did not have any. The fleet was al
ways in condition for action"
DO you call that battle order?
1t is possible to have an order for battle
going to meet. The idea with US was to be
able to fight the Spanish fleet whenever we
should meet it. l think that was understood
by all. l so understood it.
If the fleet had out of the harbor
previous to June 1. what would you have
I'VE would have obeyed the orders of the
commanding officer"
Were the fighting ships always in order
for battle"2
-, Il always supposed they were: the Brook
General interest was manifested throughout
the courtroom when Hanna began his in
quiries about the battle of July 8: He asked:
first sighted?'
The reply was in the negative; he had at
that time been in the cabin.
How d, did you first learn the fleet was COM
IT heard the executive officer call out: Clear
the ship for action and 1 had given di-
rections to have the ship ready for inspection
| knew at once something was happening.
went on deck Immediately.
Had you had any intimation I'll the s.. night be-
fore that the fleet was coming out bafora about
midnight, feeling rather the other way, all
hope of their coming out having been given
when you came on deck where were the
Spanish ships?''
were two in sight The third one was just in
side the entrance and the fourth appeared
afterward."
When Spaniards Came Out.
What did they do when they came out,
which way did they head?'
I'VE were to the westward. The entrance to
us was about northeast by north. The fleet
came out south and turned as they left the en-
trance to four points southwest, so that they
turned in our direction. When l first got on
deck the helm had been starboarded, heading
AL little .sst to the northward When Ia saw the
to be coming straight for the interval between
coming tower and directed the hemsman. 1
told him what / wanted to do was to keep
straight for the fleet. They wavered a little.
other. We shifted helm once or twice but very
little indeed and finally when we were getting
up fairly close, say between 1900 and 2O0G
yards, 1t seemed to me clear that they wanted
to pass between the Texas and the Brooklyn.
The Texas was well on our starboard and she l
All ships were carrying out the instructions of
the commander in chief. and that was to head
ward and headed to the northeast. When I
saw that I ported the helm perhaps halfway
over She was swinging starboard very rap
idly. The Spanish feet was coming straight
for this interval I stepped out of the tower
on the port side to get a good look at the spot.
our relative positions. and saw they evi-
IDENTIFY put helms hard aport and were turning
to the westward. We were then turning very
rapidly to starboard with port helm and we
had turned. think. almost to the east. The
gave the In our aport to the hemsman
ran through the opening between the shield and
coming tower on purpose to see own fleet
and our relative positions. Quicker than
could tell it the commodore called to me:
Cook. hard aporti Or is your helm aport?'
answered: The helm is hard aport, turning
as rapidly as possible AS I watched the
Texas the bow of the Brooklyn seemed first to
point to her port bow. 1 never saw the star
board bow OF the Texas and changing our
bearing very rapidly the bow of the Brooklyn
passed along the port side of the Texas until
there was clear opening between US and the
stern of the Texas / made a complete turn,
very quick turn, with helm hard aport until