Butler citizen. [volume] (Butler, Pa.) 1877-1922, 1898-02-24
The Wreck of the Maine.

ed after CLOCK III tue evening, anu
sat down on the port side, where | re-
mained for few minutes. Then, for
some reason, cannot explain to my
self now, / moved to the starboard slde
and sat down there. | was feeling a
bit glum, and in fact, was so quiet that
Lieut.. J. Hood came up and asked
laughingly if was asleep. said, NO
| am on watch.
Scarcely had l spoken when there
came a dull. sullen roar. Wouiu 10
God that could blot out the sound ana
the scenes that followed. Them came
a sharp explosion-some say numerous
detonations remember only one. 1t
seemed TO me that the sound came
from the Port side forward. Then
came a perfect rain OF missiles of all de
scription. from huge pieces of cement
TO blocks of wood, steel ratings, trag-
ments of gratings, and all the DEBRIS
that would be detachable in any explos-
ION. :ooo
.'I was struck on the head by piece
of cement and knocked down, but was
not hurt and got on my feet i'll mo-
ment Lieut.. Hood had run to the poop
and / supposed, as | followed, he was
dazed nv the shock and about to Jump
overheard. | hailed him and he an
swered that he he'd run to the poop TO
helm lower the boats. When got there
though scarce miuute could have
elansed I had to wade in water to my
knees and almost instantly the quarter
deck was awash.
ION the poop found Capt Sigsbee,
| as cool as il at ball. and soon all the
officers except Jenkins and Merritt,
ioined us. The poop was above water
after the Maine settled to the bottom;
| Can't. Sigsbee ordered the launch ana
| gig lowered, and the officers and men,
who by this time had assembled, got
/ the boats ont and rescued number IN
| the water. Capt Sigsbee ordered Lieut.
| Commander Wainwright forward 10 see
the extent of the damage, and II any
| thing could be done to rescue those for'
ward or to extinguish the flames, which
followed close upon the explosion and
| burned fiercely as long as there were
| any combustibles above water to feeo
them. -.
| Lieut. Commander Wainwright on
his return reported the total and aWfq
character of the calamity, and Capt
Sigsbee gave the last sad order, 'Aband
on ship, to men overwhelmed Will
| grief. indeed, but calm and apparently
| unexcited. -,
| Meantime, four boats from the
Spauish cruiser Alfonos XII. arrived, tG
he followed soon by two from the Ward
line steamer City Of Washington. The
two boats lowered from the City 81
Washington were found to be riddleG
with fiying.debris from the Maine and
unfit for use. Capt Sigsbee was the
/ - hn
in his own gig.
sJ have no theories as to the cause o1
the explosion. l cannot form any. All
examination by divers may tell some
| thing to court of inquiry. L, WIFI
others. had heard that the Hayaha har
| Dor was full of torpedoes, but Officers
whose duty it was to examine into thai
reported that they found no signs OF
any. Personally, do not bolieye the
| Spanish had anything to do with the
| disaster. Time may tell. hope so.
1--WE were in q delicate position on
| the Maine so far as taking any precau
| tions was concerned. We were friends
| in friendly, or alleged friendly port
and could not fire upon or challenge the
approach of any boat boarding us unless
convinced that her intention was nos
| tile.
II wish to heaven ] could forget it
l have been in two wrecks now, ano
have had my share. But the feverbera
tions of that sullen, yet resonant roar
| as if the bottom of the sea were groan
| ing in torture, will haunt me for many
day, and the reflection of that pillar
| of flame comes to me even when L close
my eyes"
TORPEDOES In THE HARBOR.
Chas. Doll, an employe of the Brush
| Electric Light Company, tells an inter
| esting story which sheds some new
light ON the story of the probable cause
of the Maine disaster. Young Dol
natl, and was a sailor in the United
| States navy for several years. He ha:
served on number of high-class cruis
ers and was mustered out of the service
| a little over year ago while he was on
the cruiser Raleigh at Rio Janero.
While the Raleigh was in Havana
harbor in 1894 or 1895, during the be
| ginning of the Cuban revolution" ht
said, Il saw several things to open my
eyes. At that time there was no en-
nifty expressed by Spaniards against
i
had leave. With one of my mates
one day succeeded in gathering admiss
ion to Moro castle There ] saw q
numberer electric key board, and was
| told without any visible effort at con
cealment that it was arranged so that
any submerged torpedo in any spot IN
Havana harbor could be exploded by
simply touching the button. There
| e L,,< +Ia l. hoo r1
and every officer of the Raleigh knew
that the whole harbor was plated with
| torpedOes.
CAPT. SIGSBEE's ACCOUNT.
ION the night of the explosion" said
Captain Sigsbee, II had not retired.
/ was writing letters find it impos-
sible to describe the sound or shock.
but the impression remains of some
thing we-inspiring, terrifying, of noise
ending vibrating. all-pervading. There
is nothing in the former experience of
any one on board to measure the explOs-
ion by.
After the first great shock-I can
not myself recall how many sharper de
donations l heard, not more than two or
three-I knew my ship was gone. In
such structure as the Maine theeffects
of such an explosion are not for a mo-
ment in doubt.
Il made my way through the long
passage in the dark, cropping from side
to side, to the hatchway and thence to
the poop, being among the earliest to
reach that spot. So soon as l recogpiZ
ed the officers l ordered the high ex
plosives to be flooded and then | direct
ed that the boats available be lowered
to rescue the wounded or drowning.
Discipline in a perfect measure pre-
vailed. There was no more confusion
than call together at quarters would
produce, not as much.
Il soon saw, by the light of the flames,
that all my officers and crew left
alive and on board surrounded me. /
cannot form any idea of the time /
reached the poop until | left, the last
man it was possible to reach having
been saved. 1t must have been three
quarters of an hour or more however,
from the amount of work done.
Il remember the officers and men
worked together lowering the boats,
and that the gig took some time to low
er, did not notice the rain of debris
described by Lieutenant Blandin or
others who were ON deck at the time of
the first explosion, but did observe the
explosion of the fixed ammunition, and
wonder that more men were not hurt
thereby.
Without going beyond the limits of
what was proper in the harbor of a
friendly power, always maintain pre-
cautions against attack, and the quar-
ter watch was ordered to have ammuni-
ton for the smaller guns ready to hand