The Houston daily post. [volume] (Houston, Tex.) 1886-1903, 1898-03-29

| plosion occurred on the port side some
| where about frame IS center of the im-
| pact. The ship yielded al II and nj boat
| Is, but it was pretty hard TO say exactly
where the impace came. Frame IL was
blown in.
How do you account for the immense
damage done abreast OF the reserve maya
| zine, where there is nothing left whereas
between frames l6 and is you have found
damaged plates?"
MY idea," he rsalSed, lis that after
| the ship was raised up to frame is the
magazines, one or all of them, We're ex-
I ploded--for some powder tanks that | have
| seen, think, were exploded, while others
have seen were not exploded.
| When questioned as to what he regarded
| as the cause of the injuries Mr. Powelson
said ION the bottom forward, where the
| frame was thrown up, it would seem to me
| the force was communicated some distance
| through the water, because 1t was lifted up
instead Of being battered in 1t was a
| force that was cushioned in some way,
| because the diver tells me there was Il
bulge in the plates between the two frames
| and such force as that would be a cushion
| pressure. SO the plates In that part OF
the ship not having been broken. the ship
might have been lifted up thereby"
| 1T struck me-" continued Mr., POWELL
| son. speaking of the same part of the ves-
| sci. that the mine there could not have
been close TO those plates that were lifted
| up, because, as | say. the plates are not
so much damaged or bent In the form OF
a and raised up
1T seems to me that the mine was
somewhat removed and the pressure came
through the water which produced that
| cushion sort of pressure,
Ensign powellson was recalled on the
lith, and described the reports made TO
| him by divers which were aftcrward cor
| roborated.
| He had descended in all four times,
| making about eight or nine hours of ex-
animation. He told how on his first de-
scent he went over the forward part OF
the ship. To use his own expression, he
| said II found the wreck all blown M"
The second time he went down further
| forward he located a LOT OF ten inch ghells.
| Forward of these the plates We're bent in
| Gunner's Mate Smith, describing his
| first descent, which landed him In N" Ten
| inch shell room. said shells were there In
good order, most OF them nose up. but
(! some toppled over BY the shock of the eA-
| plosion which had wrecked the Woodwork
| Of the magazine and blown thu brlkhead
| over from port to stnrboard. Lying right
across the middle OF the ten-inch shell
| room he found an armor plate that bud
| been torn away from the ships side
The skin OF the ship is III good condi-
| lion till YOU come to the Jagged opening
leading to the six-inch shell room before
mentioned. Here the steel edges are blown
| inward
Crawling into the hole he felt the double
| bottom and the Jagged edges OF the cement
| turned NJ.
| He described In detail the ten-inch pow
| der tanks found here, none of them ap;iar-
| entiy exploded but with the soldored seams
split and the cases flattened. lie taid he
| had not been into the ten-inch magazine on
the starboard side. He did not find the
! forward turret; 1t was missing from the
I place where II belonged. The importance
| of this caused IL to be gone over aud addl-
! tional questions along the line already in
i dicated were put. which only served to
| point out more clearly that abreast OF the
! Six inch shell room the whole side OF the
! ship had disappeared from the harbor bed
to the water line and the edges were
turned up.
/ Gunner Charles Morgan. who was. In
charge OF the divers corroboratcd Smith III
almost every statement.
Lieutenant Holman, navigator and ord
nance officer In charge of the electric
plant. testified that all possible prccau-
tions we're taken to prevent accident.
Carl Rundquist one OF the divers, said
he went down in the after part OF the ten
inch machine magazine and found a lot OF
emuty inn-inrh ncwder tanks. dozens OF
them With pieces ..cr.n IN al directions,
They did not look as II they had been ex-
ploded By q power inside. They looked AZ
in pressure from the outside opened them.
The ragged edges OF the ship were bent in
starboard The bottom OF the ship was
all blown up There was 4 hole In the
bottom. II looked MS II II had been blown