The aegis & intelligencer. [volume] (Bel Air, Md.) 1864-1923, 1898-04-01
REPORT OF THE BOARD OF IN
OUIRY.

to investigate the Maine explosion.
AS so much interest has beeu taken in
the matter we reprint it verbatim.
United States Ship Iowa, First
Rate, Key West, Fla, Monday, March
81, 1898.
After full and mature consideration
of all the testimony before it, the
court finds as follows:
/. That the United States battleship
Maine arrived in the harbor of Ha-
vana, Cuba, on the twenty-fifth day of
January, 1898, and was taken to buoy
No. 4 in from five to six fathoms of
water, by the regular government pi-
lot.
The United States consul general, at
Havana, had notified the authorities
at that place, the previous evening of
tue intended arrival of the Maine.
.. The state of discipline on board
the Maine was excellent, and all orders
and regulations in regard to the care
and safety of the ship were strictly
carried out.
All ammunition was slowed in ac-
cordance with prescribed instructions,
and proper care was taken wherever
ammunition Was handled.
Nothing was slowed in any one of
the magazines or shell rooms which
was not permitted to be slowed there
The magazines and shell rooms were
always locked after having been open
ed; and after the destruction OF the
Maine the keys were found in their
proper place in the Captains cabinet,
everything having been reported as
secure that evening at s P. NJ. The
temperatures of the magazines and
shell rooms were taken daily and re-
ported. The only magazine which
had an undue amount of heat was the
after ten-inch ma gaZiue, and that did
not explode at the time the Maine was
destroyed. The torpedo war heads
were all stored in the after-part of the
ship, under the ward room and neither
caused nor participated in the de-
struction of the Maine. The dry gun
cotton primers and detonaters were
slowed in the cabin aft, and remote
from the scene of the explosion
Waste was carefully looked after on
board the Maine to obviate danger.
Special orders in regard to this had
been given by the commanding officer.
Varnishes, dryers, alcohol and other
coInbustibles OF this nature were stow
ed on or above the main deck, and
could not have had anything to do
with the destruction of the Maine.
The medical stores were slowed aft
under the ward room, and remote from
the scene OF the explosion.
No dangerous stores of any kind
were slowed below in any of the other
store rooms.
The coal bunkers were inspected
daily. OF those bunkers adjacent to |
the forward magazines and shell |
rooms, four were empty, namely, "B3, |
B4, B5, B6." Ais had been in use
that day, and "A1G'' was full of New |
River coal. This coal had been care
fully inspected before receiving on
board. The bunker in which it was
slowed was accessible On three sides |
at all times, and the fourth side at this |
time, on the account of bunkers "B4"
and BE- being empty. The bunker.
"A1G," had been inspected that day |
by the engineer officer on duty, The |
fire alarms in the bunkers were in |
working order, and there had never
been case of spontaneous combus-
ton of coal on board the Maine. The |
two after boilers of the ship were in
use at the time of the disaster, but for
auxiliary purposes only, with com
parativeiy low pressure of steam, and
being tended by d reliable watch.
These boilers could not have caused
the explosion of the ship. The four
forward boilers have since been found
by the divers and are in fair condi
ton.
On the night of the destruction of
the Maine everything had been re-
ported secure for the night at s PM.
by reliable persons, through the pro-
per authorities, to the commanding
officer. At the time the Maine was
destroyed the ship was quiet, and,
therefore, least liable to accident
caused by movements from those ON
board.
3. The destruction, of the Maine oc-
cured at $40 p. N. on the 18th dav OF
February, Eighteen Hundred and
Ninety-eight,i in the harbor of Havana.
Cuba, she being at the time moored
to the same buoy to which she had
been taken upon her arrival.
There were two explosions of a dis
tinctly different character, with q very
short but distinct interval between
them, and the forward part of the ship
was lifted to marked degree at the
time of the first explosion.
The first explosion was more in the
nature of report, like that of gun:
while the second explosion was more
open, prolonged, and of great volume
Th5 second explosion was in the opin-
Ion OF the court, caused by the partial
explosion of two or more of the for
ward magazines of the Maine.
The evidence bearing upon this, be-
ing principally obtained from divers.
did not enable the court to form a
definite conclusion as to the condition
of the wreck, although it was estab
lished that the after-part of the ship
was practically intact and sank in
that condition very few minutes
after the destruction of the forward
part.
The following facts in regard to the ,
forward part of the ship are, however,
established by the testimony
That portion of the port side of the v
protective deck, which extends from S
about frame 80 to about frame Al, was 4