The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1898-03-29

him he had found hole out in plate
twenty-five feet from the angle of the v, and
exhibited sketch showing that the keel line
was found by him soping down 65 degrees
below the horizontal and 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
opened out so that he had nothing to support
him.
Mr.. Powelson said Olsen 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
Al0. about twenty-one feet from the sluce
valve, in an almost vertical position although
1t was originally horizontal.
Technical Testimony.
eff you consider the section of the ship
between frames IS and 49," continued Mr..
Powelson, land consider that the part of
the bottom floating between frame IS and
| frame Is is bent out at a right angle. and
then that the whole section is turned forward
through ninety degrees you will picture the
position in which the plates are now found.
rms plating could either have been showed
out from the after side or it could have been
pushed in from the forward side. The only
indication as to how this was done is the
wooden boarding. IL 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. II 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 ncw.'
he looked upon Olsen's testimony in view
of his knowledge OF the Maine and the draw
ings of the vessels. He replied that he
regarded it as extremely accurate. The judge
advocate asked Mr. Powelson what he de-
duced from all this testimony received from
the diver that forenoon, together with what
information as he had before.
Mr.. Powelson replied that he thought the
explosion occurred on the port side. some
ship yielded at IT. and also at 10. but it
was pretty hard to say exactly where the
| impact came. Frame Is was blown in.
How do you account for the immense dam
age done abreast of the reserve magazine
where there is nothing left, whereas between
frames is and IS you have found damaged
plates?" Mr. Powelson was asked.
My idea. he replied, lis that after the
ship was raised up at frame Is the maya
zines. one or all of them. after that
exploded, for some powder tanks that I have
seen I think were exploded. while others
1 have seen were not exploded. 1 saw
coffee can that was brought up this morning
which was about as badly battered some
powder cases that came up. 1t looked very
much in the same condition.
Important Point.
Ensign Powelson was recalled on Feb 25
and showed the plans of the Maine from
which he had identified the bottom plates
that were blown up through the upper deck.
The finding of these plates top of the
wreck. clear above water. was among the
first and most important points Of evidence
clearly disproving the possibility of an in
ternal explosion.
with their green coating of paint and the
other marks by which they identified,
Powelson stated that they must have been
blown up 50 80 feet to reach their pres
ent position.
Besides the bottom plates, Powelson found
some pieces from the bottom compartment
lodged in the angle of the bottom plates and
protruded above the wafer. The berth deck
over this bottom compartment was also on
top of the wreck and twenty feet forward of
the plates. while this section of the main
been working for Powelson on this investiga-
tcn informed him he had found ammunition
for the six-inch magazines pushed over to
the starboard side
Ensign Poweson was recalled on the
| eleventh day. and described the reports made
to him by the divers, which were aftorward
directly testified to before the board March
s. testified Powelson, Il sent Olsen down the
piece of keel. the vertical keel. to make fur
Their explorations of the ten-inch magazine.
He went down to where the keel became hori-
zontal at frame %, walked aft about twenty
five feet and climbed over lot of wreckage
consisting of plates and bulkheads standing
upright. The upper ends were ragged and
he crawled over them to what he thought
was a part of boiler. He could not give
definite details. but he thought it was
boiler.
"A Httic aIter this ne Wdlheu out 10 port,
clear of the ship in the mud. He at this
time forward Of the break of the ship at
| frame Al. Returning about ten feet in, he
found wreckage. He examined this plate and
found it curved if 1t were part CT the
ship 1t pointed toward the starbeard bow.
but it was so dark he could not distinguish
the color. All the edges Of the plating were
rough. The compartment seemed to be about
two and one-half or three feet wide Forward
from this point he found six-inch tank. 1t
was intact and sent up. 1t proved to be
| f,,h %a,,lv IIa lot ~ a n
split upon the seams.