The San Francisco call., 1901-10-26

q
it for a second. That is fiction; there was no
Before we turned the leading ship was
abeam,- or little aDalt the beam, anu wnen
We turned about she was ahead OF US, tnat is,
on the starboard bow and all four ships ana
the forts firing at the same time, ana
from that moment the following ten or Rtteen ser;
minutes were the most furious part OF Inls
combat. 1 remember very distinctly seelhe'
from time to time as my attention was at
tracted for a moment, the jets OF water aneau
and astern and over and short Inc hot roar can an
be heard only once in lifetime, ana . InTrt
never forgotten 1t appeared at .naT orN mem
that all four OF those ships were at WORK uPJl
the Brooklyn, and up to the moment OF turn
ing so far could perceive, there was
not the slightest evidence they had even Oeeh
The thought passed through my mind that
after all our precautions and waiting InosG
felt and thought remarked 70 captain SooA, I
mat oe tha fight upon ourselves because
did not know then that the battlesnlps G9u!u
possibly keep up their speed; But But Sa1o hs9 10
no idea that we would escape OF course a1d u
they could have shot as wen IL. as 81 our people aio
''When we had completely turned arouna on
a westerly course the ships appeared 10 nave nave
semblance of formation. and Just at that mo,
ment 1 saw the Oregon breaking. IN Inro4Sn @ "
starboard quarter of the flag. | hoisted the
signal of Close up and then Follow the nag,
feeling that new dis2osltion nG %ds saW IT re-
peated Captain Clark knew very well 1t was
not intended for him. because ne was IoiIoM- n
ing the flag so he repeated it TO the other snlPs.
In a very few moments after the Oregon broke
through this cloud OF smoke she was perhaps
400 or 500 yards distant.
Ships Belching Flame.
''These two ships the Oregon and the Brook
Ivn were firing in a manner 1 had never seen
before 1 never realized what rapid gun nre
meant Both ships at that time sheet
of flame Soon after that saw that the lead
ing ship evidently battered hard: one las- az
ged astern ont % saw b inches and the fact that
impressed itself upon me was tnat the coluInna
going straight up in the AR ,5w SaiI side 20
we have got one. Keep the boys below IN IN
formed of all the movements They Sann1[ }d see o
throughout the action. Every few moments
messages were sent below to the men. tnat were
answered oftentimes with cheers Wnlcn we
could hear through the ventilators. ,.o-,,a1 =,
.1It appeared to be very short 1nterVal eua oa
time after that that I saw second snip on nj mr.
which proved later to be the Oquenu99' s+sris 1He
evidently had suffered very severely ana start
ed iTedatey mn aoI The Tsesya took leading
position on the bow and l thought 1or HTIle 1t
while that she would perhaps outIooI US E4,aan nc
Colon worked inshore, and the time DetMeen wen
the dropping out of action of those Two shiPS
until the Viscaya turned inshore was perez Su
of perhaps thirty minutes during "hIen D sue
was abreast of the Brooklyn and the oregon
1 looked to the eastward and got occasional
glimpses of the Indiana and of the gloucester
Z coIId not see very we'll what they were do
ing owing to the clouds of smoke; tnougn l
knew that both were doing admirable work
FELT that the moment those vessels ran in to
-shfns which could not keep up the pace with
the tvo leaders would take of the pris-
oners and would save them from the lnsur-
gents, as we'll as from their own fre-
renember was the length of time from the
turning in or the wounding of these two first
vessels until the -Viscaya went ashore. she
was a little forward of the beam of the Brook
lyn and 1 do not think at any time over zSOo
target range and 1 remember that marine
stationed in the top reported that ne did NOT
see any of the, shots OF the two @ snlps, tne
So 1 imagined from that that they were strik-
ing the ship 1t was on the trip outward a1.er
the turn. 1 was very anxious about the ranges,
because 1 did not want the Viscaya and the
Colon to get out of good fighting range.
Sad Fate of Ellis.
ELLIS, who was expert with the stadi-
meter, constantly kept that instrument on
heights reported to me that they were main
tanning the same range, but thought my .s4 eye
they are evidently gaining He went from
me the second time. and that was the last
cent duty he lost his life. He was struck
about feet from where 1 was standing.
great many people, and some of 1t reached
me. He Immediately FELL of course, to the
deck. and it was a shocking sight to men VINO
Lieutenant McCauley and DR.. Devalin got
down, or rather they were standing between
me and the tower. They picked up the body
to them through this opening and called
out to them not to throw that body overheard;
that l thought that one who had fallen so
gallantly deserved to be buried as a Christian.
His body was laid under the lee of the for
ward turret and covered with blanket and
there kept until after the battle
''Just before the Viscaya turned to run ashore
she put her helm starboard, apparently start
ing out for the Brooklyn or the Oregon, don't
remember which, and evidently at that moment
Explosion under her bow. and in moment
afterward she put her helm hard aport.
of her matches. I thought she was
going to carsize, she had such
snM speWeno0a Shell Ns Strike her that appeared to
me to rake her fore and aft, and l thought to
myself she would sink in deep water, SO | told
the signal officer to signal to the Texas to look
out for her men and to save them, but the
Texas too far astern to receive the mes
ever. Philip is always sensible. He needs no
Instructions about such things.
During this part of the fight / noticed that
all of the signal haIyards of my ship were cut.
L think possibly with one exception One of the
very near striking me- 1t came down in front
of and went overheard.
After the Viscaya had turned in afre. her
peared to be following the contour of the
coast and 1 thought that at that time, look
to her consorts, she seeking the best
place she could find in order to end the matter
at once From AcerrederOS Wn1cn was Deh1nd
sixteen miles west of the harbor of San
tiago to Point Rio. Tarquino is perhaps
about thirty miles, so 1 said to Captain Cook
cease firing and to make the signal. 1 also
tolG Captain Cook to let his men come out of
the turrets into the open air and get some
thing to eat and hurry up his men below. I
think 1 went into the battle tower myself at
that time and sang out to the men below that
we had got all of them except one and |
thought they could be depended upon to catch
that other vessel. 1 heard a good deaf of
merriment and rejoicing went back to the
bridge and soon realized that they were doing
their best. There wSS jingle to the rails
and vibration to thS'essel. and perceived
that the motion of the ship was sluggish I
suggested to Captain Cook that we possibly
had some compartments filled. He sent the
carpenter down and it developed that one of
the after compartments had filled with water
which thought was due to the fact that
line
schley Urges More Speed.