The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1898-03-29

located, the planking was blown off on the
| only remaining plate of the main deck on
| the port side, while the wood was still at
| tached to that part of the starboard side
between the coming tower base and the
turrets. What witness tIse saw would indicate
on the port side, and the protective deck
the starbOard side held fast and bent that
deck downward.
NO INSTRUCTIONS ON PORT SIDE.
Witness here exhibited two sketches to
the court showing diagram of various parts
of the sunken ship, and explained them to
the court The witnesses evidence about
the strip on the starboard side of The out
| side plating of the Ship which was folded
| and rolled back was recalled to him, and
! Powelson said ne could see the plate under
meath it was bent outward, it was only
two feet under water where the shear oc-
Cured Witness had taken soundings and
| had found five fathoms of water on both
sides of the Maine down to the mud. TAX
! ing a fourteen-pound lead line and dragging
| with a wherry for distractions on the port
side, dragging close to where. he thought
| the waterways would be found, he found no
! distractions whatever. on the starpoaru
| side he found Instructions tor twenty rect
| where he had reason TO belleye the wafer
/ ways had originally been. In answer 70
| questions he said there was nothing left OF
| the port plating at all He dragged along
! the outside to see if anything had fallen
| out and found nothing. Witness thought
| the ship on the port side was entirely gone
| opposite q point indicated in dlagram
| handed the court. 1t was entirely blown out
| This concluded Ensign PoWelSonS testl-
| mony on the third day.
| Ensign PowelsOn was recalled on the sixth
| day, when he said that since his last testi-
! mOny he had received a book OF Spec1nca-
tons of the Maine Refreshing, his memory
| from these records, he said the plates or
| the protective deck were one lnch timex,
| weighing forty pounds per square foot. En-
| sign PoWelson wishing to give some testi-
| ar0inR the condition OF the wreck,
| Gunners Mate Olsen, the diver, was admit
| ted in order that he might correct any er,
| roneous statement, the two having worked
| together. Mr. Powelson said that on FEB.
| 26 Diver Olsen reported to him that on com
/ ing up from below he lad followed the for
ward and after wings of the " shape
| made by the bottom plating at Frame 4,
and said that on the forward wing OF the
| ''V' the plates ran down on very steep
| slant and then turned under and out I'M
| der the starbOard side: that just above
where the plates turned 10 go under the
| starboard side he found two dents as If
| the plating had been bulged in by a dow
on the frame from the outside Inc court
asked the size of these two dents. Mr.. Pow
elson replied they were about two ana one
half feet long and bulged in about SIX
Ensign Powelson further testified that Oh
sen again went down and came to the sur
| face at II o'clock, saying he thought ne
| had found the fiat keel Olsen mad reported
that the keel was sloping downward about
| forty-fiVe degrees and to port. with the
after part of the keel uppermost. he sag
and 'if had found a semi-circular hole about
| two feet in diameter. with rivet holes all
| around it, He said the sem-circular hole
| was about twenty feet from the top of the
! 'V' made by the bottom plating. lie SAID
the plate presented Jagged appearance; az
| if ii had been torn, ana that crack htu
! extended from the bottom edge OF the SEMI
| circular hole to a distance OF ABOUT eigLe
| inches and that the plates about this mole
| were bent away from the green side oil the
plating.
OPENING IN THE SHIPS SIDE
Mr. PoweIson continued to say that olson
told him he had found hole cut in a plate
| TWENTY-FIVE feet from the angle of the V,
| and exhibited a sketch showing that the
keel line was found by him sloping down
| sixty-five degrees below the horizontal ana
TO port The point where he had found the
! keel was about twenty feet under
| water He had not followed the keel at
that point as the platings between which ne
was wedged opened out so that he had
nothing to support him. Mr.. Powelson said
! Olson testified that about twenty feet from
the sluice 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 an
| almost vertical position, although 1t was
originally horizontal.
IF you consider the section of the ship
| betw cen Frames IS and Il" continued Mr.:
PoWelson land consider that the part OF
| the bottom nOatlnS between frame 10
| Frame 10 is bent out at right angle and that
| the whole section is turned forward through
I 80 degrees, you will picture the position in
| which the plates are now found. Inls
! plating could either have been showed out
| from the after side or it could have been
| pushed i'm from the forward side. The only
! indication as TO how this was done is the
| wooden boarding. If the after part of the
| plating had been pushed out from the in-
| side the boarding would have been broken
| at the angle which the plates make. If
| the forward 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.. Powelson
| how e looked on Olsen's testimony in view
| of his knowledge of the Maine and the
| drawings of the vessel. He replied that he
| regarded it as extremely accurate.
The Judge advocate asked Mr.. PowelSOn
what he deduced from all this testimony
| received from the diver that forenoon to-
! gether with what Information he had be-
! fore. Mr.. Powelson replied that he thought
| the explosion occurred on the port side
| somewhere about Frame Is. center of inn
| pact. The ship yielded at IL and at Boat Is
but il was pretty hard to say exactly where
| the impact came. The Frame - was blown
! in.
How do you account for the immense
| damage done abreast of the reserve maya
zine where there Is nothing left, whereas