Evening star., 1901-10-18


/ ent in the court room at the time this
statement was made
The witness said that while he had had
! a conversation with Lieut. Ward. he had
| not told him that he could make the state
| ment that had been credited to him.
Il can tell the circumstance, said the
| witness. when Mr. Ward asked me wnat
l could testify to, if anything, about this
conversation that was said to have taken
place between Commodore schley and
/ Lieut.. Hodgson, I told him II was quite
| possible that such conversation had
| taken place. and had an indistinct recol-
! lection that there had been some CONVEX
| sation between Lieut.. Hodgson and Com,
| modore Schley at that time. but said
| l would be unable to testify as to that con-
versation to attempt to repeat it..
Q. (By the Judge advocate)-Did You
| hear anything at that time about the
| Texas? A. No sir. l do not recoliect any
| thing being said about the Texas.
Chief Engineer Hannum's Testimony.
| Chief Engineer John L. Hannum was the
| next witness. During the Spanish war he
| was chief engineer of the Brooklyn and of
| the flying squadron He testified in re-
gard to repairs that had been made on
| the Brooklyn of parts of the machinery Of
| the collier Merrimae He said that on the
morning of the 9th of May Commodore
| Schley sent for him and said that some-
| thing was the matter with the Merrlmac
| that the valve gear of one of the engines
was entirely disabled. The guide was
| broken and. the stufing box was broken
| He saw that while this might be repaired
| IN a certain way on board the Merrimac he
thought it could be better done On the
Brooklyn, and he brought the injured parts
on board that ship, and had them repaired.
This occurred on the forenoon of the 2Ith,
and the parts of the engine, after being re-
paired, were taken back to the collier Mer-
rimac on the evening of the 18Th He SAID
that with this engine disabled the Merfi-
mac had lost about one-third of her speed
| He thought her speed in that condition
would be from four to five knots, but later
| in his cross-examination he said she might
make five or six knots In that condition.
| The witness was then questioned in e.
gard to the most economical speed or the
Brooklyn and the coal that would be con-
sumed at that speed. He had not made an
accurate investigation to determine those
facts, but he thought that the most econom-
icai speed would have been ten knots, and
that at that speed from seventy to seventy
five tons of coal per day would be burned.
He was asked by the court II fires were
kept ready for lighting under all the boilers
of the Brooklyn on the morning of the bat
tie, and he replied that so far as he knew
he thought so-he was pretty sure they
We're. ----.-
Engineer Carter Called.
Passed Assistant Engineer Thomas =.
Carter, also of the Brooklyn, testified con-
corning what was done in the engine room
of the Brooklyn during the battle of July
j. He said that he was not in the engine
room when the first alarm was given, but
he at once went there. Every effort was
| made to get up steam and secure great
| speed as possible. From the beginning of
the action until the end the vessel gradually
increased her speed. This increase, he said,
was gradual from the beginning to the
end of the battle. %.
He had no recollection of the engines
being stopped or reversed or slowed down
ttTna
He was asked by Mr. Rayner whether he
had prepared any table showing the speed
of the Brooklyn during the action of July
3, and replied that he had at the request
of Lieutenant HodgSon made a memoran-
dunn which was only estimate and not
regarded as absolutely accurate. He had
that data with him and produced it. This
memorandum was based on the revolutions
of the engines and showed that at the be-
ginning of the action the speed of the
Brooklyn was ten and one-half knots Dur
ing the action steam was gotten up in ad
dit1onal boilers and the speed was in
creased. He had made his record of rev.
olutions not longer than five minutes apart
He was asked by Mr. Rayner if he re-
garded his memorandum as giving a cor
rect estimate of the speed of the Brooklyn
on the day of the battle and he replied that
he regarded it as an estimate as correct
as could be made under such circumstances
but he did not consider that it could be
said to be absolutely accurate He was
asked whether he had received any mes
sages while in the engine room and said
that he had received orders frequently to
get up steam fast as possible and to do
the best they could.
Being cross-examined by the judge advo-
cate he said that on the Brooklyn there are
five main and two auxiliary boilers, the
auxiliary boilers being of the same diam
eter. but half the length of the main boil
ers. Based on his memorandum he cal
culated that from the beginning to the end
of the battle of July 3, or from 9:35 until
III on ft,aa
Brooklyn was 14.2 knots per hour. On this
basis the entire distance made was over
fifty-one miles.
Being asked by Mr.. Rayner whether any
encouraging messages had. been received
during the progress of the battle he said
he had received a number Of such messages
and that they had come from Commodore
Schley, Capt. Cook and from Assistant En-
gineer Ryan. These messages told them OF
the progress of the battle, told them when
ships went ashore, when the Spanish ships
were burning, &c.
In reply to questions by the court the
witness said that on the morning of the
battle the two after boilers had no water
in them and that as soon as the alarm was
sounded steam was gotten up in the boilers
supplied with water and last in those that
were empty when the battle began.
Ensign Cronan's Account.
Ensign W. P. Cronan, signal officer OF
the Brooklyn. testified to the reception OF
to the Brooklyn just before the arrival OF
the latter at Cfenfuegos. This was the
message that had been transmitted from
the Eagle to the Scorpion.
THE Scorpion came back" he said, land
delivered a megaphone message to the
Brooklyn. The subject of this, as well as
/. remember, was that the Nashville was
returning to Key West broken down, the
Cincinnati and Vesuvius were patroliing
Yutacan channel. and Captain McCalla re-
ported that he had seen nothing of the
Spanish at Cienfuegos"
He could not recolect who had received
that message, but he thought that Commo-
dore Schley and a lieutenant were there
to receive it. He was questioned in regard
to events at Cienfuegos upon the arrival
of the squadron there, and said that the
squadron had gone in close to the harbor
to look up the channel, but because of the
contour of the coast at the entrance they
could not see anything inside the harbor.
He testified to the weather on the 18th
and 26th. and said that the Brooklyn on
the 18th was pitching more than he had
ever seen 1t pitch before He saw that the
Vixen and the Eagle were making bad
weather of it. He remembered that the
hawser by which the Merrimac was being
I