Deseret evening news. [volume] (Great Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1867-1920, 1898-03-29

0
February 90, Diver WilscIl reported TO
him that on coming up from below. he
had followed the forward ana art
wings OF the v-shape, made by the
bottom plating at frame 10. and said
at the forward wing OF the Y, the plates
ran down on very steep slant and
then turned under and out under the
starboard side. that Just above where
the plates turned TO go under the
starhoard side, he found two dents as
" the plating had been bulged In be-
tween the frames from outside in.
The court asked the size Of these two
dents. Mr.. Powellson replied that
they were abou, two and one-half feet
long and bulged in about six inches.
He further testified that Olsen again
went down and again came TO the sur
face at II o'clock. saying he thought
he had found the fiat Keel. Olsen
| had reported that the keel was slop-
ing downward about IS degrees and to
| port with the after part OF the keel
! uppermost He said he had explored
the after wing OF the V, aud had found
q semi-clrcuar hole about two feet
below the rivet holes NIL around II.
He said that seml-crcular hole
was about 90 feet from the top from
the " made by the bottom plating.
He said the plate presented q Jagged
appearance. MS II II had been torn and
that n crack had extended from the
bottom odge OF the seml-clrcuier hole
to n distance Of about eight inches.
and that the plates about this hole
were bent away from the green side
OF the plating Mr.. Powellson contin-
ued. Olsen had told him he he'd found
hole cut In a plate 20 feet from the
angle OF the V, and exhibited n
sketch showing that the keel line was
found by him sloplng down IS
degrees below the horizontal, and to
port.
Tho point where he had found the keel
was about twenty feet under water. He
had not followed the keel at that point,
MS the plaitlngs between which he was
wedged opened out so that he had
nothing to support him.
Mr. PowelEon said Olsen testified that
about twenty feet from slulce valve he
| found an opening IN the ships side. He
had found boarding near the sea
| suction In apartment A 10, about
twenty-one feet from the sluice valve.
In apalmost vertical position. although
1t was originally horizontal.
III you consider the section of the
ship between frames is and 49," con-
| tinued Mr.. powellson, "and consider that
| the part of the bottom floating between
| between frame is and frame 10 is bent
out Mt n right angle. and then that the
whole section is turned forward through
| 30 degrees. you will picture the position
In which the plates nre found. This
plating could either have been showed
| out from the after side, or II could
have been pushed In from the forward
side. The only indication as to how
this was done is the wooden boarding.
II the after part of tn plating had
been pushed out from the inside. the
boarding would have been broken Mt
the angle the plates make. If the for
ward part OF the plating had been
pushed in, the boards would have been
pulled away from the after plating. as
is the case with the plates now"
The judge~advocate asked Mr. Powell
| son how he looked upon Olsen's testi-
mony in view of his knowledge OF the
Maine and the drawings of the vessel.
He replied that he regarded II as ex-
tremely accurate.
The Judge advocate asked Mr.. Powell
son what he deduced from all this tes-
| timony received from the diver that
forenoon, together with what informa-
tIon as he had had before.
| Mr.. Powelson replied that he thought
the explosion occurred on the port side
somewhere about frame IS. center OF
impact. The ship yielded At II and also
| at Is, but II was pretty hard to say
where the impact came. Frame 10 was
| blown In.
How do you account for the immense
| damage done abreast of the reserve
magazine where there is nothing left
whereas between frames 16 and Is yor
have found damnged?" Mr.. Powelsor
was asked.
"My idea" he replied, "is that aftei
the ship was raised Up at frame Is
the magazine. one or all OF them, aftel
that were exploded for some powder
tanks that have seen. ! think were
exploded. while others have seen wer,
not exploded. ! saw coffee can tina
wns brought UP this morning which wal
as badly battered ms most Of the powde
cases that came up. 1t looked in yer,
much the same condition"
when you say some OF the powde
tanks, in your opinion, exploded. an,
some had not. do you refer to sixlncl
tanks only, or two-inch tanks also?"
'I refer to both. as l have seen
slx-inch tank that was very littl
ripped open. and I saw one this morn
ing that had been first opened an
flattened out, with evidences of burn
powder In II. ] saw one ten-inch TAM
thats was scarcely battered at ALL an
only the head OF It gone. ! also sa,
ten-inch tanks with the packing whic
looked like powder. unburnt, so that 1
my opinion some, but not all. of the ten
inch and six-inch charges were ex
ploded."
Mr.. Powelson said four or f,ve tank
had been brought up that morning. bu
he did not see all of them. The onl
one he remembered seeing was ex
ploded and burned out so that the cas-
formed almost a plain surface. TIL
ten-inch tank had Its head removed
but 1t had preserved Its approximat
shape.
, When questioned further as to wha
he regarded as the cause of the In
, jurles. Mr.. Powelson said: ION tn
: bottom where tho frame was throw
up. It would seem to mo that force wa
, communicated some distance throug
/ the wator because It was lifted up In
stead OF being battered in. 1t was