The San Francisco call., 1898-03-16
AN OUTSIDE
 EXPLOSION Opinion of a Torpedo Ex- pert on the Maine
 Disaster.
Lieutenant Wilcox Says Spain Has Tried to Secure Uncle
 Sam's Secrets.
Declares the Government Has Known From the Start That Mine
 Destroyed the Ship.
Special Dispatch to The Call.

BERKELEY, March 15.-"The battle ship Maine was undoubtedly blown up by external forces, and the Government must be aware that such Is the case, or they would not have made such preparations for war as they have made declared Lieutenant F. A. Will cox, U. s. A., honor graduate of the United States Torpedo School, in lec- ture to the senior students at the uni versity this afternoon on Late De- velopments in Torpedo Warfare"
 Lieutenant Wilcox devoted especial attention to the subject of submarine mines, and referred at length to the destruction of the Maine.
 Tt is quite possible" he said, that the Maine was blown up by a buoyant mine lowed secretly near the warship by a small boat. Such a mine could have easliy been lowed out and an- chored about hundred feet in front of the vessel. Then when she swung round with the tide the mine would be automatically exploded.
 An interior explosion would have produced a tearing, shattering and pull verizing effect. As a matter of fact, however, the ruin caused was of mas sive nature, just such as would have been caused by an external submarine explosion, where the great damage Is caused not so much by the direct effect of the explosive as by the terrific hy- draulic effect which submarine ex- plosion causes. The water being abso- lutely incompressible the explosion gen. crates an immense quantity Of gas, ana this is what causes the massive de- struction such as was wrought in the Maine"
 Lieutenant Wilcox related an incl dent which occurred recently at the torpedo school, which indicates that Tor some time past Spain has been inter ested in the study of torpedoes. Last fall" he said, "a couple of Spanish off1- cers visited the torpedo school and en- deayored to obtain certain information in regard to the secret processes em- ployed by the Government.
 'The modern system that we nave adopted in this country is far ahead Of that employed by any European na- ton, and it is known that Spain has re- gently been trying very hard to find out something about it. In view of recent occurrences it is an interesting con- lecture whether the Spanish officers did not have some reason in visiting the torpedo school
 Lieutenant Wilcox gave a historical account of the use of submarine mines in warfare, tracing their evolution from the fire ship of antiquity and re- counting the destruction that they eff fected during the civil war, especially upon the Union vessels, as the Confed- crates paid particular attention to this branch of warfare on account Of their naval weakness. He declared that the system that has been adopted by the United States is perfected to wonder full degree, and that it furnishes an ex- ample of the nice accuracy with which mathematical problems can be worked out.
 "The problem of an ideal buoYant mine is to get something that shall be absolutely safe to our own vessels ana absolutely destructive to the vessels of an enemy. In our system this problem has been solved. Usually about twen- ty-one torpedces are placed in group and an electric circuit of high resist ance connects them with station on the shore. This furnishes a complete | indication of the condition of each mine. This current can be so con 1 trolled that when the torpedo is struck by a ship, the high resistance is cut out and the firing battery is discharged Ii 1 friendly ships are in the neighborhood, | however, the firing current can De thrown off by the operator so that there l is absolutely no danger"