The Indianapolis journal., 1898-03-13
Terrible Engine of Destruction In
vented by One of the Officers of
the uI-Fated Batzle Ship.
CRUISER MONTGOMERY SAFE
CRUEL CANARDS CIRCULATED CON-
CERNING THE WAR VESSEL.
Indignant DeniaIs from Commander
COnverse-LittIe Work by Divers
Yesterday-The Fern at AIatanzas.

HAVANA, Via Key West, Fla, March 12.
1T Is impossible to send direct from Ha-
vana anything in refutation of Captain
PeraPs statement OF yesterday regarding
the views of the Spanish court of inquiry
regarding the Maine disaster. However, an
American officer, who is an expert, says in
effect, and his words are worthy of all
weight, as he knows absolutely of what he
is talking: "I am graduate of the torpedo
school. and have studied the effects of tor
pedoes and mines from observation and ex-
periments A torpedo exploded at a depth
of six feet would throw a column of water
one hundred feet into the air; at twelve
feet. ten feet in the air, and at thirty feet
deep, would hardly raise a small wave. A
detonation of gun cotton In the open air
makes a mark of its own size in steel or
blows stone to fragments. In the water a
torpedo itself would not be felt at any great
distance. 1t requires the resistance of q
solid body, and would be dissipated in water
or mud. This disposes of the wave theory
and the affecting or the shore or boats in
che harbor"
AS to the hole in the Maine, the expert in
question makes the most important state
ment that the Maine drew twenty-eight to
thirty feet at the time Of the explosion,
and had about ten feet of water below her
bottom to the surface of the harbor mud
On the port side, where the United States
divers are now at work, there is at present
forty-seven feet Of water. May not this be
the hole which Captain Peral says could not
be- found? If it is, the hoIe was more thaa
seven feet deep when the explosion
took place. and has been greatly
filled with mud since. AS to the finding of
Ruh 1a sfa4 Of In
quiry has not seen a solitary fish since
work began on the wreck. The bodies re-
covered from the Maine have not been
touched by fishes. Some of the fishermen
in Havana testified that there are no fish
inside the harbor, the waters being too foul
for them. Sometimes they come part way in
during the day, butall go out AZ night.
Further, as to the alleged discoveries OF
Spanish divers reported to Captain Peral,
five American divers have been working on
the port side of the wreck an average of
seven hours a day each for nearly three
weeks in space fifty feet long and twenty
feet wide. The Spanish divers have never
been inside the wreck at ALL neither have
they ever been on the port, devoting the
short hours which they have spent under
water to the starboard side forward and
outside the hull. Recently to their own sur
prise they brought up two cans of ammuni-
tion for the 6-inch guns not exploded. They
dropped them back when the light of the
surface showed they were unexploded and
what their nature was. Further, the Span
ish divers often go down only long enough
to wet their suits and then come up and
hide behind Blanket on the barge where
they sleep or rest for a couple of hours
and then go ashore and report that they
cannot see anything IN the mud and water.
They could not have found the ram of the
Maine. since they have not been down in
the locality OF that part OF the Wreck.
They have not located the turret with the
ten-inch guns, though the spot has peen
pointed out by Capt. Sharp In chargA Of
the wreckers. where there Is only sixtAen
feet and should BE- tWenty~aix feet Tl}is