The daily morning journal and courier., 1898-02-17
DESTRUCTION OF THE MAINE
ONE OF THE GREATEST DISASTERS IN NATAL HISTORY.

Secretary of the Navy Photographs Ad-
 miral sicard, Commanding the North
 Atlantic Squadron, to Appoint at Once
 Board of Naval Officers to Proceed Inn
 mediately to Havana, Employ Divers
 and Everything Necessary for a Thor
 ough Inquiry-Further Particulars.
 Washington, Feb. 16.-After day of intense excitement at the navy depart ment and elsewhere, growing out of the destruction of the battleship Maine in Havana harbor last night, the situation at sundown, after the exchange of number of cablegrams between Wash ington and Havana, can be summed in the words of Secretary Long, who, when asked as he was about to depart for the day whether he had reason to suspect that the disaster was the work of an enemy, replied: "I do not. In that I am influenced by the fact that Captain Sigsbee has not yet reported to the navy department on the cause. He is evidently waiting to write full report. So long as he does not express himself, I shall certainly not. I think the indications, however, are that there was an accident-tfat the magazine ex- ploded. For the present, at least, no other warship will be sent to Havana"
 The appalling nature of the disaster and the gravity of the situation which would arise if treachery was proven was uppermost in the minds of every body here to-day. Public men ex- pressed their opinions with reserve when approached for interviews, but there was a demand for an investiga- ton at once. Secretary Long undoubt- edly summarized the general opinion of the majority of the naval experts in finding it impossible just now to state the cause of the destruction of the Maine. There are a great number of theories, but most of them are of a character that makes it easy to prove or upset them by a simple investigation by a diver. Secretary Long has taken immediate steps to make this investi- ration. Late this afternoon, he tele- graphed to Admiral Sicard at Key west to appoint a board of naval off, scers to proceed at once to Havana. employ divers and generally make such inquiry as the regulations of the navy department demand.
 It is expected that this work will take some time and while there are officers who say that in their opinion it will not be possible owing to the probable condition of the hull to make out the cause of the explosion, the opinion is that the question will be easily settled by the simple observation of the condition of the ships hull plates in the neighborhood of the hole which sunk her, whether or not they are bulged out, which would be the case if the explosion came from the inside or whether they were driven in which would come from the explosion on the outside. The naval officers believe that the explosion resulted from spontan- eous combustion of a coal bunker, the overheating of the partitions between the boilers and the magazine or from the explosion of a boiler, though the last theory finds little support.
 The list of survivors that came to the navy department this afternoon in answer to telegrams was inaccurate and made out the loss of life eight more than the list given by Captain Sigsbee, so Secretary Long telegraphed for a corrected list. It was found necessary to do this owing to the appeals of rela- tives of those aboard.
 The naval constructors in the light of the dispatches thus far received say that it is by no means certain that the Maine cannot be raised and again car nv the flag. They say that while she is a big ship, others as large have been raised and at Havana the new floating dry dock would receive her if she could once be gotten above the water. Cap tain Sigsbee evidently is taking an in- terest in the future of the ship for he S6nC d. lSlc6I dll to SollluollucI T OI- sythe at Key West that was promptly transmitted to Secretary Long suggest ing that a lighthouse vessel and some other small craft be stationed in Ha- yana farbor and watch over the wreck It is said at the navy department that this disaster is the greatest of the kind in naval history since the sinking of the big British warship Victoria by collision with the Camperdown in the Mediterranean sea off Malta in June, 1893. By that accident the British ad- rniral commanding. twenty-two officers and 336 men lost their lives. The Span ish legation was early advised of the horror by Captain General Blanco who expressed his profound regrets and added that the occurrence was an acci- dent, the undoubted cause being the ex- plosion of the boiler of the dynamo. This is the only specific cause assigned from an official source during the day Senor DuBusc called at the state de- partment to express his profound re- gret and the entire Spanish staff left their cards at the navy department as a mark of personal condolence. At all of the foreign departments there was the deepest interest and solicitude over the affair and during the day Am bassador Gambler of France Sir Julian Pauncefote of the British embassy, and