The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1902-02-20

the Teresa ana teen the Oquendoy
turned and went ashore. the Vis-k
caya continuing for some iistanceA
farther before she also was beached.
throughout the running fight thet
Brooklyn and Oregon We're boths
holly engaged, being ahead Of anyi
or our other ships. and We thsnl
constituted the western and whatt
/ regard as the then fighting di-
vision of our feet / considered
Commodore Schley in responsible
command during this running night /
and chase. so far as J was con- 1
cerned, and acknowledged and re-
peated signal he had flying for
close action. or something of the |
kind As. however. the problem was
perfectly simple, namely 10 pursue !
the Spanish ships as had been do J
Ing before I saw the Brooklyn. he |
did not as a matter of fact. eXer-
else any control over any movement L
or action Of The oregon, nor did L
perform any action Of any Kind
Whatever in obedience TO any order
from the Brooklyn. neither as to
my course. nor as to my speed. nor
as to my gun fire, during the night
or chase.
The Oregon always had fires I'M /
der all boilers. In spite Of the
speed shown by the Oregon in this
fight, she had not been and is not
classeG as the fastest ship; but dur
Ing all her service. in order that no
scale should form In them, not one
o. her boilers was used for con-
densing, though the resulting dis
comfort for all hands was an addi-
tional hardship for her Commanding
officer"
Statement Of Admiral Evans.
Following is Admiral Evans state
ment:
The credit for the blockade. for
the arrangement of the ships at the
opening Of the light, and Of the
FIRST movements forward into he
night. must. of course, belong to Adj
miral Sampson, whose orders we
were putting into effect When the
fight began, Admiral Simpsons
zip. the New York. was in main
sight. 1 saw her turning to over
take us. Throughout the fight I
considered myself as under his
command, but / received no orders
IA him until the Viscaya was
aground Nor did I receive any
orders whatever from the Brook
lyn, nor should i have needed them
If ] had received them, inasmuch
as 1 considered Admiral Sampson
TO be present and In command
The heavy fighting was during
the time when he Spanish vessels
we're coming out of the harbor and
before they had stretched fairly TO
the westward. When they were
thus stretched to the westward we
all went after them without orders
of course, we could do nothing
else. Until the Teresa and Oquen-
do ran ashore. the Iowa was close
hsnnr 81.
the Texas. and all of us were firing
steadily at the Spanish ships. The
Texas then recovered her speed =
for she was dead in the water after
having backed TO avoid the Brook
lyn when the Brooklyn turned
and she went ahead of the Iowa.
Both Of us continued TO FIRE AT The
Niscaya until she went ashore.
Then 1 stopped. but the Texas fol-
lowed the Brooklyn and the Ore
gon after the Colon.
When the battle began the New
York was not much farther to the
eastward Of me than the Brooklyn
was to the westward. After the
Niscaya had grounded the New
York overlook me and signaled me
to return to the mouth of the har-
Dor 10 prevent any other Spanish
ship from coming out and attack
ing the transports. 1 received 40
signals Of any kind from the Brook
Ign. All we had to do was to close
I'm on the Spanish squadron as rs
came ext Of the harbor. in obedienc
- 20 the orders Of Admiral Sampson,
y, md .ttsn,rSShen the heaviest fight
ing was - - - ana The Spanish ships
were trying t6~eScape to the west,
10 follow ,hem-and. of course.
No efrr ~ To
tell us 70 follow a fleeing enemy.
The machinery of the Iowa was
not in CONDITION TO get the best
speed, though every effort had
been made to make ii SO. Her
'yliuder-heads had not been off for
more than six months, owing to
the service she was performing.
Her bottom was very foul, as she
hsd not been locked for a period
OF seventeen months. The Indiana
was unaFOioedly in ever worse
shape.
The New York had left the block
aiding line flying the signal "Disre-
gard the movements of the COM
mander-in-chief," signal fire.
quently made. and well understood
by the entire feet. 1t did not
transfer the command. No signal
was made for the second in COM
mand to assume command of the
fleet, which was usually done by
the commander-in-chief before
reaching the limit of signal dis
lance wheE he proposed for any
reason temporarily to relinquish
his command TO the next ranking
officer
Following is Admiral Taylors state
ment:
At the beginning of the fight the
New York was about as far to the
eastward Of me as the Brooklyn
was to the westward. The only
signal L received from the New
York WIS 2 the very close Of the
tight. when she signaled to me to
return and Guard the mouth of the
harbor. so that nothing could come
out C. attack our transports. 1 re-
ceived no signal whatever from the
Brooklyn. and should not have
needed any If one had been made.
as I considered Admiral Sampson
present and i'm command. From
her position the Indiana took fun
part in the actual fight as the
Spanish ships came out OF the har-
Dor
When they ran to the westward
the Indiana fell behind. but con-
tinued firing at them and at the
torpedo boats until all but the
Colon were sunk or beached. I saw
the Brooklyn turn and run out
seaward. seemingly over a mile
about the time the rear OF 2 of
the Spanish ships turned to the
west; if. instead Of making this
looG. the Brooklyn mad stood
straight in toward the Spaniards.
as the other American ships, it
.eems TO me that the fight would
have been settled then. without
need Of the long chase