Daily press. [volume] (Newport News, Va.) 1896-current, 1898-03-22
WAS NOT EXTERNAL.
Master OF the Tug Underwater Gives HIS
Opinion OF the NJ :aine Disaster.

Opinion OF the NJ aine Disaster,
There lis one man who does mot think
the b-ittieShip Maine was blown up II,
Havana harbor by am external eX-
p&5sion, and that man lis Captain Wiley,
master of the tug Doat Underwri ter
Several weeks since the Uunderwrit-
CIR came here to take ON bunker COAX
Sne was ei route TO Havana with THE
DERRICK Chief in tow. Late Saturday
might the tug arrived here from the
Cuban port. having come for the barge
Lone S,ur. which will be used for trans
porting pieces of the wreckage to THE
Norfolk navy yard. After taking ca,
a supply of coal yesterday THE 'Under-
writer cleared and sailed for Havana
When seen by a reporter Sunday an
teraoon Captain Wiley talked freely re-:
gal3ing the wreck. He said:
You ask me what l know about the
agency Which caused the destruction of
the Maine. ! reply that know nothing.
u bSolutely nothing. And when you come
right down to dots and Facts. don't be-
lieve anyone knows how the ship REALLY
met her fate.
I'VE left New York February q with
twenty-oire men and WITH the Chief in
tow. We put In heie March and sailed
again on the Sd. During the trip down
the Chief suffered c"nsider bly, in the
gale VII, oh swept the coast for sevena al
days. We put in at Charleston u.n the
9Th to nave the derr!ckS Zin.. shea thing
replaced. resum!ng OUT voyage on the
10th. We arrived at Havana on the,
18th.
Il WAS n the harbor less than a day..
but While there l examined the WI eek
carefully and not having formed anyE
hasty .Upin,ons ! satisfied myself;
as to- the >ause of the disaster l had /
some conversation With Captain
Sharp, MerrHtt's expert at the wreck.
but he refused to say anything about
the result of his personal investigation
He Stated, however. that he would nc,t
make d report to the board of inquiry
until he had satisfied himself by q most
thorough examination OF the wreck. In4
other words. he is going TO the bottom
and t WEI take him some time to- do IT.
TIE beard is depending great deal
upon Captain Sln2Ep's report and Ithinf
it hardly proba bic that it Will be made |
as early as some people. believe because
Captain Sharp is determined to say
npth.ng to anybody until he knows
what to say
While ashore at Havana, I heard
very little about the Maine incident. In
fact 1t seemed to me as if TT We're a
nine-days' wonder entirely blown. over.
The wreckens have u number OF
Lighters at the Maine ON which they are
loading The scraps brought up by the
divers. Heretofore they have been a BILE
t. make very little progress, as THE tugs
Merritt and Sharp have each a lifting
capacity II only ten tons. The Chief
Ei,S forty tons and Will be able TO GEM
der great ASSISTANCE. They need the
bal: sc Lone Star down there very much
and l shall leave as soon as I coal with
my TOW. i presume 1t Will take me about
sight days TO go down. Coming up
made the run in three and one-half
days.
distorted mass imaginable. In the cen
tire sh- = 81 s,y:sttss7 nl',ft 1,rci-c.. a.xi
the upper deck was turned completely
over by the force of the. explosion 1t
IS now upside down With the deck
frames on top. Now. here Is the way I
look at the whole thing. If the expto-
SIGN was caused by 3 submarine mine
and the force was SO great as to play
such havoc with the upper deck, where
must the bottom of the ship be? Can
she have any bIttom? Yet. they say
the divers have found the bottom. 1t
seems to ME that the condition of the
wreck makes 1T impossible that a mine
did the work
III that disaster had happened in the
harhor of Kingston. jamaica, or at any
other friendly port, not one man IN a
hundred would look at that wreck and
say that 1t Was cnused by dynamite or
powder under her hnttom. granting, of
that the wreck would be precisely
as she is today. heard that the Span
ISL divers found a large piece OF the
forward tunret 1t seems to ME- that
this turret would have been badly bent
and twisted and not broken had the ex-
tploSiun come from beneath
The work of removing the parts OF
me Maine will necessarily be very slow
They can never re- iSA her an my opinion
1t Is possible that the Lone Star will
bring back sUms. .2f the wreckage to the
Norfolk navy yard il. I do not receive
orders to take Il out beyond MORO
Castle and dump it INTO the wafer There
is nothing about the wreck which is
good for anything and it Will cost less
70 tsrow 1t away than to bring it back
to the United States.
Before we left Havana I G1eard it
stated that. there We're supposed TO be
ftCty bodies still I'm the wreck Eeft
nine % my men at Havana to assist the
wreckers."