The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1898-03-29
PoWELsoN,s TESTIMONY.

biutIeu tilsiE CobuuCI duiiiidpiS'
PowELsoN's TESTIMONY.
Ensign w. v. N. Powelson, who was
on the Maine every day and during
much of the diving. said the forward
part Of the ship forward of the after
smoke stack had been to all appear
ances completely destroyed. He told
in detail the condition of the wreck
and said the protective deck under the
coming tower supports was bent in
two directions, the plates and star
board side being bent up and on the
Btarboard side bent down. The beam
supporting the protective deck to port
of the midship line was bent up to
starboard of the midship line. A
grating was found on the poop avn
ing just forward of the after search
light.
A piece of side plate was bent out
ward, and the forward end bent up
ward and folded backward upon itself.
Near hits he said were pieces of red
shellacked planks on which was bolted
composition track two inches wide
and an inch thick.
Continuing, he said the end of the
ship where the explosion seemed to
have occurred was pushed from port to
starboard from five to ten degrees.
Divers reported to him that ten inch
shells were found in the she'll room
regularly arranged. Gunner Morgan
while working on the bottom, fell into
q hole on the port side and went down
in the mud. He also told witness that
as far as he could Judge, everything
seemed to be bent upward in the vicin-
ity or this hole. He also reported that
the plates seemed to have been pushed
over the starboard and bent down.
Ensign Powelson then told of a bad
Iy dented six-inch powder tank which
was found, also a ten-inch tank bat
tered out OF shape. The starboard tur-
ret, he said, had not been found. From
reports received to that time he said
the impression produced upon me is
that an explosion took place well to
port OF the midship line and at a point
In the length about opposite the con-
ming tower"
He then cited a number Of instances
where parts of the ship had taken a
direction from port to starboard. The
port side of the protective deck was
covered with a greasy deposit and the
starboard side was comparatively free
of 1t, and what witness saw would in
upon the port side, and the starboard
side held fast and bent that deck down.
vNd. He thought the ship on the port
size was entirely gone opposite a point
he indicated on a drawing.
FINDING OF PLATES.
Ensign Powelson also gave the court
valuable information relating to his
finding the bottom plates of the Maine
on the upper deck The finding of these
plates on top of the wreck, clear above
water, was among the first and most
important points Of evidence clearly
disproving the possibility of an internal
explosion, Mr.. Powelson minutely de-
scribed the plates and said they must
have been blown up thirty-eight or
thirty-nine feet to reach the position
they were in. Beside the bottom plates,
Powelson found some pipes from the
bottom compartment lodged in the
angle Of the bottom plates that pro-
truded above the water. The berth
deck over this bottom compartment
was also on top of the wreck and twen-
ty feet forward of the plates, while the
section of the main deck had disap-
peared. The diver who had been work.
ing for Powelson on this investigation
informed him he had found the am
munition for the six-inch magazine
pushed over to the starboard side.
On the sixth day of the inquiry, Mr..
Powelson detailed the results of an ex-
animation made by Diver Olsen, of the
ships keel and other points below. He
thought the explosion occurred on the
port side somewhere about frame IS,
center of impact. The ship yielded at
II and also at Is, but 1t was pretty
hard, to say exactly where the impact
came Frame Is was blown in.
How do you account for the i'm
mediate damage done abreast of the
reserve magazine where there is moth
ing left, whereas between frames 16
and Is you have found damaged
plates" Mr.. Powelson was asked.
my idea," he said, sis that after
the ship was raised up at frame IS
the magazines, one or all of them, af-
ter that were exploded, for some pow
der tanks that I have seen I think
were exploded while others have seen
were not exploded. I have seen a six
inch tank that was very little ripped
open, and I saw one this morning that
had been burst open and fiattened out,
with evidences of burnt powder on it.
i saw one ten-inch tank that was
scarcely battered at all, and only
threads of it gone. I also saw ten
inch tanks with the packing which
looked like excelsior, unburnt, so that
In my opinion some, but not all of
the ten-inch and six-inch charges, were
exploded"
Further testimony was elected from
Mr.. Powelson regarding examinations
made of the port side by Divers Rund-
quist and Schluter all of which indi-
Gates that the plates were all bent
inward as If the force was from the
outside.
BRAVE MARINES STORY.
Private William Anthony, marine
corps, whose calmness at the time of
the explosion in reporting to Captain
Sigsbee has become the theme of ad-
miration throughout the world, in re-
sponse to questions, told his story. He
was standing on the main deck out
side the door on the starboard side.
He first noticed a trembling of the
oecks and then wave. He saw an
immense sheet of flame and said
1T must have been forward of the
superstructure. / could see the debris
going up with 1t. / do not know what
II was, but / saw fire brands going
ur.
WAS it on the port or starboard
side?"
1T looked more to port than it did
to starboard. 1t looked like it covered
the whole ship. 1t was an immense
glare that illuminated the whole heay-
ems for the moment, as much as l