The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1898-02-18
LIEUT.. BLANDlNG's STORY.
An Officer of the Maine Gives His versioi
of the Disaster.

of the Disaster.
Key West, Fla., February 17.-Lieut
John Blandin of Baltimore one of the
Maine's survivors, who is at the Key
West hotel, gave the correspondent OF the
Associated Press this evening a succinct
account Of the disaster saying
thats not until now has ha been
able to recollect the sequence Of events in
the awful ten minutes following the ex-
plosion Tuesday evening. Lieut.. Blandin
was on the Trenton at the time Of the
terrific disaster off Samoa in March, 1889,
when American and German vessels lost
"a men all told. Lieut.. Blandin says;
''I was on watch, and when the men
had been piped below 1 looked down the
main matches and over the side of the
ship. erything was absolutely normal.
I walked att to the quarter deck, behind
the rear turret, as is allowed after eight
O'Clock in the evening and sat down on
the port side, where remained for few
minutes. Then for some reason l cannot
explain, / moved to the starboard side
and sat down there. l was feeling a bit
glum and, in fact was SO quiet that Lieut..
Hood came up and asked laughingly If
were asleep. I said, No / am on watch.
Scarcely had l spoken when thero
came duh, suilen roar. Would to God
that could blot out the sound and the
exploson; some say numerous detona-
tions. | remem Der only one. 1t seemed
to me that the sound come from the port
side forward Then came perfect rain
of missiles of all descriptions, from huge
pieces OF cement to blocks Of wood, steel
ratings, fragments of gratings and all
the debris that would be detachable in an
explosion.
81 was struck on the head by piece Of
cemont and knocked down, but / was not
hurt, and got to my feet in a moment.
Lieut.. Hood had run to the poop; and l
supposed as followed he was daZed by
the shock and about to jump overheard.
hailed bin and he answered that he had
run to the poop to help lower the boats.
When / got there though scarce minute
could have elapsed, had to wade in
water to my knees and almost instantly
the quarter deck was awaSh. On the poop
1 found Captain Sigsbee as cool as if at a
ball; and soon all the officers except Jen-
kins and Merritt joined US. The poop was
above water and after the Maine settled
to the bottom. Captain Sigsbee ordered
the launch and gig lowered and the
officers and men, who by this time had
assem- bled got the boats out and rescued
n number in the water. Captain Siesbee
ordered Lieut. Commander Wainwright
forward to see the extent of the damage
and see if anything could be done to
rescue those forward or to extinguish the
flames, which followed close upon the ex-
plosion and burned fercely as long as
there were any combustibles above water
to feed them.
.sLieut. Commander Wainwright on his
return reporter the total and awful
character of the calamity; and Captain
Sigsbee gave the last sad order abandon
Ship to men overwhelmed with grief in
deed, but calmand apparently unexcited.
'sIn the meantime four boats from the
Spanish cruiser Alfonso XIII. arrived, to
be followed soon by two from the Ward
line steamer City of Washington. The
two boats first lowered from the City Of
Washington were found to be riddled with
flying debris from the Maine and unfit
for use Captain Sigsbee was the last
man to leave his vessel and left in his
own gig.
I ~ have no theories as to the cause of
the explosion. / cannot form any. An
examination by divers may tell something
to court of inquiry. I, with other, had
heard that The Havana harbor was full of
torpedoes but the officers whose duty IL
was to examine into that reported that
he found no signs of any. Personally
do not believe the Spanish had anything
to do with the disaster. Time may tell.
I hope so.
sWe were in delicate position on the
Maine so far as taking any precautions
was concerned. We were friends in a
friendly, or alleged friendly port and
could not fire upon or challenge the ap-
proach of any boat boarding us unless
convinced that her intention was hostile.
Il wish to heaven could forget it,
have been in two wrecks now and have
had my share. But the vibrations of that
sullen, yet resonant roar, as if the bottom
of the sea wero groaning in torture, will
haunt me for many q day, and the refiec-
ton of that pillar of flame comes to mo
even when close my eyes,"