The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1898-03-03
STILL STICK TO MINE STORY.
NAVAL OFFICERS AT HAVANA BE-
LIEVE THAT THEORY CORRECT.

ence of Submarine Mines i'm the
Havana Harbor-ExpIOsiOn May
Have Resulted From the Careless
of the Destr0yer-American Sur
prised at the Participation of
Spanish Divers in the Investiga-
homework Carried ON Under Dill
cuIties.
Havana, via Key West, March with
out adding unnecessarily to the flood of
surmises, conjecture and prophecy con-
cerning the finding Of the court of inquiry,
it is fair to say that, as matter of fact,
most of the naval officers here and at
Key West incline to the opinion that the
court will find that the disaster to the
Maine was caused by the explosion of a
floating submarine mine under the forward
port side of the ship. Opinions differ as
TO whether this mine was made of high
explosives. such as wet and dry gun cot
ton, or ordinary powder. Opinions agree,
not only as to the existence Of mines in
the harbor, but also that this one was laid
purposely near the buoy where foreign
war vessels were directed to moor, and
was fired by a flash from an electric bat
tory on shore.
1t is believed barely possible that the ex-
plosion of the Maine was the result of
carelessness or ignorance of Spanish Off
GERS in charge of the mine station keys
when testing the circuit but the latter
supposition is not felt to be probable. 1t is
further regarded as settled by the evil
dence before the court that the port side
of the hull forward was completely blown
to pieces, and that the only explosion on
the Maine except Of Isolated cases of fix
ed ammunition was that of 1000 pounds of
saluting powder, stored forward and of
which no trace can be found. These views
are fathered from officers who talk with
great secrecy and only upon the assurance
| that their identity will never be revealed.
| The fact remains that only the members
| of the court of inquiry know all the tes-
timony elected and no one Is authorized
| to make public matter in advance of the
| final judgment.
A good deal of surprise was expressed
by Americans here at learning that Span
| ish divers were to be permitted to make an
| examination of the wreck of the Maine,
especially as 1t was also said that Ameri-
| can naval officers would give such divers
| all consistent facilities and would throw
| no obstacles in the way of thorough sub
marine inspection. 1t was not at first un-
| derstood, as it came to be later, that the
| Spanish search was to be entirely inde-
| pendent and that, while it was being made
| the American investigation would proceed
| under Capt. Sigsbee's supervision. AS un-
| derstood here, the Spanish request made
| Immediately after disaster for joint lnVes-
! tigation was promptly refused at Wash
| ington, and after a cabinet consultation
| it was agreed that the Spaniards had a
moral and international right to discover
! the cause of the wreck for themselves if
possible Therefore, permission for an in
dependent examination was granted on
| the ground as understood here, that it
| could not be refused to a friendly power
| in her own harbor That tie permission
was not accorded until after the court of
| inquiry had finished it's work here and
| gone to Key West Is regarded as signifi-
| cant. II opens a wide field for specula-
| ton.
Some assert that the court now has no
| objection to Spanish inquiry for one of
two reasons: Either the court has suffi-
| cient evidence already of accidental or
| malice-eyidence that cannot be contro-
verted by the Spaniards, or after dill
1 gent search, The mystery remains as deep
Nas ever, and the court does not think the
| Spanish will reach a conclusion where the
Americans have failed"
OF course all this refers principally to in
spection of parts of the ship other than
the hull. Until the guns, decks, engines
| and debris of all kinds have been removed
and the mud has been pumped from the
hull 1t cannot be examined thoroughly by
any one Some good authorities think il
will be necessary to build a cofferdam
around the wreck, piles being driven, etc.
That any important testimony before the
court has found its way TO the public is
very unlikely. Some of the witnesses have
| told certain correspondents of alleged testi-
mony but in every case investigation has
| showed their stories to be wildly improb-
able and controverted by known facts or
else absolutely irrelevant. Some of the
| correspondents have tried to extract in
| formation from members of the court or
! from naval witnesses by putting what were
deemed by the questioners clever hypo-
| thetieal interrogat tories. But the
questioners were not experts in naval arr
| chitecture and the questioned were. SO
the result was unsatisfactory. Probably
the court knew before 1t left Havana for
Key West whether the ten-inch maga-
zine on the starboard forward did or did
NOT explode, but the members nor divers
| gave no sign. Doubtless even the contrac-
| tors for the removal OF the inner debris
| and the raising of the hull do not fully APP
preciate the difficulties to be encountered
| Certainly the tug Right Arm has been OF
little value thus far, her captain not hav-
ing sufficient authority until Monday to
employ the necessary help or to hire the
needed lighters.
While criticising the naval divers for
their slowness, II must be remembered
that the case is grim. dangerous and diff
cult work. In muddy, foul water, through
a mass of riven steel, bent iron, shattered
grains and ladders, over upturned hatches
| heaped up coal, scattered ammunition,
| guns, chests, machinery and electric wires
| they must make or cut their way.
They must exercise great care lest their
air tubes be severed by sharp projections
| Already many have had bad falls in tho
uncertain light and difiicult passages.
| Nothing need be retract@4, however
| from the former statement that all tho
haste possible is greatly TO be desired. che
/ huge weight of the wreck caused il 10 sinh
| daily deeper into the soft mud of the hsr.
| Dor, making the task of raising the vessa
| more herculanean.
While no outsider Is allowed on the
| wreck, the patrol lines are not so rigid a,
| formerly, and the boats Of visitors arc
allowed to sail close to the uDheavad r,aes