Waterbury Democrat., 1902-02-20

linen occurred the lnclueul W dlSA caused me for 3 moment more alarm than anything Cervera did that day. ... Suddenly a whiff of breeze and lull in the firing lifted the pall and there bearing toward us and across our bows. with waves curling over her bows and great clouds of black smoke pouring from her tunnels, was the Brooklyn She looked as big as half dozen Great Easterns, and seemed so near that it took our breath away. "Back both engines hard" went down the tube to the astoniShed engineers, and in twinkling the old ship was racing against herself. The collision which seemed imminent, even if it was not, was ayerted, and as the big cruiser glided past, all of us on the bridge gave sigh of relief. Had the Brooklyn struck us then it would probably have been the end of the Texas and her half thousand men. At ten minutes to ten (the Spanish ships had appeared at 9:30) .. the Iowa, Oregon and Texas were pretty well punched, holding a paraI- Tel course westward with the Span iards. The Indiana was also com ing up, well inside of all the others of our squadron, but a little in the rear, owing to her far eastward posi- tion at starting. 5. About quarter past ten the Teresa, which had been in difficulties from the moment she left the shelter Of the Morro, turned to seek bleaching place. She was on fire, and we knew that she was no longer a quantity to reckon with. Five minutes later our special enemy, the Oquendo. also turned in shore..... The Viscaya kept blazing away yic- iously, but the pounding she got from our four ships, more particularly the Oregon, was too much for her, and in half an hour she too headed for the beach, I determined to push on with the Texas. It gives me pleas ure to be able to write that, old ship as she is and not built for speed. the Texas held her own and even gained on the Colon in that chase. :. Admiral Sampson was commander-in-chief be- fore, during, and after the action.
 Captain Clark's statement is as fol- lows:
 The credit for the blockade which led up to the fight is Of course Admiral Sampson'S. The position of the ships on the morning of the fight in a semi circle head-on to the harbor, in conse- quence of which we were able to close in at once. was his. Tn closing in, that is, in making the first movements, we were obeying his instructions, though as q matter of fact we would all have closed in any way, instructions or no instructions. When the Spanish ships came out of the harbor the navigator of my ship saw the New York to the eastward. but I received no signal of any kind from the New York during the action, nor was she near enough to signal directly to me until after the Colon surrendered.
 The engagement may be said to have been divided into three parts: First, the fight proper, while the Spanish squadron was coming out of the har- Dor and until it was clear of the Dia- mond Shoals and definitely headed westward; second, the running fight with the already damaged vessels as they fled westward, until the Teresa, Oquendo and Viscaya ran ashore; and third. the chase of the Colon during which there was practically no fight 1 ing. During the first stage I did not ! see the Brooklyn or receive any signals from her At the close Of this sta ge l the Oregon had passed the Iowa and Texas, and when we burst out of the 1 smoke 1 saw the four Spanish ships going westward, apparently uninjured, and followed hard after, at the same time observing the Brooklyn a little ahead and offshore. She was broad side to the Spanish vessels and was re- ceiving the weight of their fire and was returning it. The Brooklyn and 1 the Oregon thereafter occupied sub- stantially these positions as regards each other, being about equidiStant from the Spanish ships as we success sively overlook them, except when the Oregon attempted to close with the 1 Oquendo. The heaviest fighting was at the harbor mouth and while the enemy was breaking through or pass l ing our line. Not long after the run ming fight began the Teresa and then the Oquendo turned and went ashore, the yiscaya continuing for some dis tance farther before she was also beached. Throughout this running fight the Brooklyn and Oregon were both hotly engaged, being ahead of any other of our ships: and we then constituted the western and what re gard as the then fighting division of our fleet. I considered Commodore Schley in responsible command during l this fight and chase so far as I was concerned, and he acknowledged and repeated a signal he had flying, fol
 close action or something of the kind
 As, however, the problem was perfect
 ly simple, to pursue the Spanish ships
 as 1 had been doing before I saw the
 Brooklyn, he did not as a matter o1
 fact exercise any control over any
 movement or action of the Oregon, mol
 did perform any action of any kint
 whatever in obedience to any order
 from the Brooklyn, neither as to my
 gun fire nor as to my speed, nor ds tC
 my course, during the fight or tht
 chase.
 The Oregon always had fires under
 all boilers. In spite of the speed showI
 by the Oregon in this fight she had no
 been and is not classed as the tastes
 ship; but during all her service, in or
 der that no scale should form in them
 not one of our boilers was used fol
 condensing, though the resulting dis
 comfort for all hands was an addition
 al hardship for her commanding officer
 The following is Admiral Evans
 statement:
 "The credit for the blockade, fo
 the arrangement of the ships at tn
 opening of the fight, and for the frs
 movements forward into the fgh
 must of course belong to Admira
 Sampson, whose orders we were pui