The daily morning journal and courier., 1902-02-20

tu,
 repeated q signal he had flying, Tor COS action or something of the kind. As. now
 ever, the problem was perieetlS slHip'e
 Aalpely, to pursue the spanish sHips us
 had been doing before l saw the BloohlyH
 he did not as a matter of fact exercise an.
 control over any movement or actlun ol 'n | oregon, nor did perform any '.ction o any Kind whatever in obedience to any oL der rom the Brooklyn, neither as Lo III.
 course nor as to my speed nor aS to lnS
 gun hre, during the fight 0 chase | The Oregon always had hfes uhdet hi
 boilers. h spite of the speed shoWh py tn oregon in this fight she had not been ana ana Y not classed as the fastest ship but duflht all her service, in order that no scale slloull form lh them, not one of our ooileIs " @ a' used Tor condenslng, though the IeSultint 3, lL discomfort for all hands was an au9ltlona hardship for her commanding o&cer.
 The following is Admiral Evans state
 ment:
 "The credit for the blockade, for the ar
 engagement of tue ships at the opening oi
 the light. and for the first movements Tor | ward into the fight must Of course pelohe
 to Admiral Sampson, whose oiaefs we i meie l putting into effect. When the nSnt pesal Admiral Sampson ship, the New Aofk, was
 in plain sight l saw her turning to over take us. Throughout the fight l considered
 myself under his command, but fecelSeu
 no orders from him until the Niscaya was | aground. Nor did receive any orders what
 ever from the Brooklyn, nor should nave needed them if had received them, mas
 much as l considered Admiral Sampson to De present and in command. 4,u The heavy fighting was during the tlm6 when the Spanish vessels were coming ou! | of the harb0r and before they had stretched
 falrly to the westward. when they mus | stretched to the westward we all went a1, 1 ter them without ordersof course we could i do nothing else. Until the Teresa aud
 Oquendo ran ashore the Iowa was close be- 1 hind the Oregon and ahead or me IeNas,
 and all of us were firing steadily at thq ieI cIin
 her speed-for she was dead i'll the water | after having backed to avoid the Brooklyn | when the Brooklyn turned-and she went ahead of the Iowa. Both of us continued l to fire at the Viscaya until she went ashore. Then 1 stopped, but the Texas followed tho Brooklyn and the Oregon after the Colon. When the battle began the, New York was not much farther to the eastWafd or me than the Brooklyn was to the WestWard. After the Viscaya was grounded the New York overlook me and Sgnaled me to re turn to the mouth of the harbor to prevent any other Spanish ship from coming out and attacking the transports. l received no sig nals of any kind from the Brooklyn. All we had to do was to close in on the spanish squadron as it came out of the harbor, in obedience to the orders of Admiral Sanp wa sover and the Spanish ships were trying to escape to the west, to. follow them-and of course there was no signal necessary to tell us to follow fleeing enemy.
 
 condition to get the best speed, though eE cry effort had been made to make IL so. Her cylinder heads had not been off for more than six months, owing to the service she was performing. Her bottom was very foul as she had not been docked for Il period Of seventeen months. The Indiana was un- avoldably in even worse shape.
 ''The New York had left the blockadinG line flying the signal Disregard the move, move, frequently made, and well understood by the entire fleet. It did not transfer tho command. No signal was made for thd the fleet. which was usually done by th 7 commander-in- chief before reaching the limit of signal distance when he proposed for any reason temporarily to reinquish his command to the next ranking officer.
 The following is Admiral Taylor's state ment:
 At the beginning of the fight the New York was about as far to the eastward ot me as the Brooklyn was to the westward. The only signal I received from the New York was at the very close of the fight, when she signaled me to return and guard the mouth of the harhor so that nothing should come out to attack our transports. l received no signal whatever from the Brooklyn, and should not have needed any if one had been made, as l considered Ad miral Sampson present. and in command. From her position the Indiana took full part in the actual fight as the Spanish ships came out of the harbor. When they ran to the westward the Indiana fell behind, but continued firing at them and at the torpedo boats until all but the Colon were sunk or beached. l saw the Brooklyn turn and run out seaward, seeming over mile. about the time the rear one of the Spanish ships turn. ed to the west; if Instead of making this loop the Brooklyn had stood straight in to- wards the Spanlards, as the other American ships did, it seemed to be that the fight would have been settled then, without need of the long chase.
 The following is Commander Vain wrights statement:
 At the outset of the fight the New York was not much farther away from me in one direction than the Brooklyn was in the other and was in plain sight. signal from Admiral Taylor in connection with my nov ing forward to attack the torpedo boats was the only one l received. l made one to the New York just before the last torpedo boat sank The New York was at that time coming up under the fire of the batteries, and herself fired a couple of shots at the torpedo boat. Of course Admiral Sampson was present and in command. l received no signals from the Brooklyn, and would not have noticed her at all had 1t not been for the fact that when the other vessels closed in she made what has been since call. ed the loop so that my attention was at tracted by not seeing the Texas because she stopped and by not seeing the Brooklyn be cause she went to seaward, away from the Spanish vessels. In other words, the Jeff or westward part of our line was refused, and this attracted my attention, because 1t seemed to me from where was that this permitted the Spanish vessels to try to est cape to westward.
 The survey 01 the damages of the four Spanish war vessels shows that ill addition 10 several score hits by the 6-pounder and l l-pounder guns of the American meet, they were struck forty-three times by the larger guns of four inches calibre and over. The Colon, which came out inside the others and did comparatively little fighting, re- ceived but three of these hits. The other three ships which bore the brunt of the ac- ton received forty among them. Of these forty, eleven, according to the report of the board which examined into them, were by finch guns, ten by 5.inch guns, four by either or inch (the board could not de termine which), while one was either by , or inch, twelve were by oinch, and tw by 12-inch guns. All of our big ships ex- cept the Texas had S-inch guns. Only the Texas and Iowa had 12-inch guns. The Oregon and Indiana had 13-inch guns. The they and the Texas had 6-inch guns The inly 4-inch guns were on the Iowa. the onlN 5-inch guns on the Brooklyn. Therefore on the three Spanish ships which did the buli of the fighting out of the forty large cali bre shots that struck them eleven certainly came from the Iowa, ten certainly came from the Brooklyn, four from either the Iowa or the Brooklyn, and two from the either the Iowa and the Texas. Of the three which struck the Colon two were ,. inch and must have come from the Brook lyn; one was either 5-inch or G-inch. ls must he remembered that the and , inch guns were the only quick iirers above d pounders in our fleet, and that they were not only much more rapidly but much sure " handled than were the larger and slow firing guns. The damage and loss to the American vessels were trivial The only loss suffered was aboard the Brooklyn, where ono man was killed and one wounded. In damage the cost of tbe repairs that the iowa suffered most and the Oregon least.