The San Francisco call., 1898-02-17
OPINIONS OF LEADING NAVAL EXPERTS
 RFAR=ADMIRAL BELKNAP FEARFUL OF TREACHERY.

BOSTON, Feb. 1s-"The tearing ] away of the bow indicates torpedo } work. I had not seen that before" < remarked Rear Admiral Belknap. < looking up from the last extra con- taining the latest information of !, the terrible disaster in Havana ] harbor, to The Call man. The admiral was intensely interested. You see that the explosion of the magazine alone would open the } ship apart and sink her, but the :. tearing away of the bow looks more < like a torpedo. hardly think the
 < bay of Havana can be a sea of < sunken torpedoes though. for you ! see their own ships are constantly ! going in and out of the harbor, and ] they would menace their safety. j When I read the first accounts of ] this terrible affair was inclined to , think this was matter which would involve the Spaniards and : oblige us to send our fleet over, but ! after reading 1t through l do not think so.''
 There Is the possibility of acci- dent, but hardly the probability on a United States ship. Is there. ad- ] miral?' he was asked.
 ] "Oh, you never can tell" was his ] reply. T do not know the situation ] upon the Maine. I do not know ] just how her magazines were To- ] cated, but I do know that on the < New York we were obliged to make ! some changes in the magazines be- ! cause of the constant heat and < their getting too hot. It may have Y been so on the Maine. In 1873 the
 < British sloop of war Dotterel was < blown up at Sandy Point, in the < Straits of Magellan. The explosion < in that case took place in the bow < and was quite as mysterous as
 < this, until 1t was found, upon in
 < vestigation, that the affair appear < ed to have started from the paint < room The British navy was at ] that time using a peculiar kind of paint, which was found to give off } a gas that was highly inf1ammable. J A man had gone into that room ] with a light and instantly there was ] an explosion, followed by the blow ] ing up of the ship.
 ] Are not the magazines directly < under the turrets as a rule? They < are In the Massachusetts and In- ! diana"
 < "Yes," said the admiral. But < this was a different class of ship.
 S You are not inclined to assume < treachery on the part of the Span iards until you have exhausted the possibilities of accident, are you, < admiral?"
 why, mo-" he said. "The dispo- sition they manifested is against that. You note how promptly they lowered their boats and how in- tent they manifestly were upon res cue They came instantly to the ] relief of our men, indicating a gen. ] erosity and the best of feeling. I should be inclined to consider 1t accidental were it not for that ; statement as to the bow, which I ! had not seen before. But I am ! not ready to say now that it may < not be proved to have been of ac- x cidental origin. We must know < more about it. It will be neces < sary to have a diver before we de- Y ternine the probable cause. I pre- S sume they will make such an ex- 7, animation as a basis upon which to start their investigation. and the Spanish authorities will be quite as much interested to have that done as we are. The divers ] report will give the facts as they ] are found to exist. I know of no ] disaster to the American navy since } the war so awful as this in its de- ! struction of life. There have been
 < other ships lost with their entire < companies, and nobody ever knew how There was the sloop- ofwar