The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1898-03-29

a piece of the side plating just aoaf
of the starboard turret was visible. Thi:
plate was bent outward and then the for
ward end bent up and folded backward
upon itself.
This plate was sheared from the res
of the plating below the water line. Thi:
plating below the water line had beer
pushed out TO starboard.
THE gratings of the engine room hatch
were blown off. A composition strainel
was picked up from the bottom of the
starboard quarter at a point about oppo-
site the poop capstan and about seventy
feet from the cabin. The chief engineer
| thought the strainer was from the fire
mems washroom. It was not a strainer
in the ships side.
| Near the piece of outside plating TO
which witness referred above he said
| there were pieces of red shellacked planks
On these planks was bolted a composition
| track two inches wide and an inch deep.
| Ensign Powelson then asked if the
court meant for him TO say anything
about what the divers reported or just
what he saw.
| The judge advocate replied that he
would like to have him state any i'm
portant discoveries which might lead the
court to draw some conclusion as to its
cause, and if a diver gave such informa-
ton to state the divers name. Before
doing so the judge advocate asked the
witness to state if the forward and after
part of the ship were in line
Ensign Poweson replied that so far as
he could judge, they were not The end
where the explosion occurred seemed to
be pushed from port to starboard from
five to ten degrees, he should judge, with
the apex to starboard. The divers re-
ported to witness that at a point where
the ten-inch shell room should be they
discovered 10-inch shells regularly ar
ranged but the ship had sunk down so
much that some of the shells were in
the mud.
Gunner Morgan reported that IN walk
ing on the bottom ne had fallen into a
hole on the port side and went down in
the mud. He also reported that so far
as he could judge everything seemed to
be bent upward in the vicinity of this
hole. He also reported that the plates
seemed to have been pushed over to the
starboard and then bent down.
Ensign PoweIson then said that a six
inch power tank that he saw appeared
to be an empty tank broken by the ex-
plosion. as it was not badly dented and
merely ripped the length OF the seam. A
1O-inch tank was badly battered out of
any conceivable shape.
Continuing. witness said the divers up
to the night before he was then on the
stand had not been on the outside of the
ship. The mud was too deep for them
to walk on the bottom.
what is the condition Of the starboard
turret?' witness was asked.
''To my knowledge. it has not been
found, sir" was the reply. He under
stood something had been found under
the place where the turret formerly was,
but its exact character had not been de-
termined.
"TVhat impression is produced upon
your mind by the reports, so far as you
have quoted them?" Ensign Powelson
was asked.
From reports alone, or from the ap
pearance of the wreck?"
EITHER from such reports or from the
conditions which you believe to exist"
'"The impression produced upon me-"
replied the witness, 'is that an explosion
took place well to port of the midship
line and at a point in the length about
opposite the coming tower"
Witness in reply to further questions
said his opinion was based upon the OBJ
servation of things above the water. He
gave no weight to Mr.. Morgan's state
ment about falling into a hole on the
port side, because Morgan may have
been mistaken about it. Referring to his
notes made of things on the Maine, En-
sign Powelson said that the arch of the
engine room telegraph and the shaft Of
the steering gear coming down through
the armored tube (turreD was bent from
port TO starboard. The port side Of the
protected deck was covered with a
greasy deposit, the starboard side being
comparatively free from it.
The forward smokepipe between the
main and superstructure decks did not
show any signs of the internal pressure
of gases. On the main deck forward of
the coming tower, where the fore and
aft angle bulb beam was located, the
planking was blown off the only remain
ing plate of the main deck on the port
side, while the wood was still attached
to that part on the starboard side be-
tween the coming tower and the turrets.
What witness saw would indicate that
the pressure lifted the protective deck
up on the port side, and the protective
deck on the forward side held fast and
bent that deck downward.
Witness here exhibited two sketches
to the court showing diagrams of various
parts of the sunken ship and explained
them to the court.
The witness evidence about the strip
on the starboard side Of the outside plat
ing of the ship which was folded and
rolled backwards was recalled to him and
Ensign Powelson said he could see the
plate underneath. 1t was bent outward
as he could see It, as II was only two
feet under water where the shear occur
red Witness had taken soundings and
had found five fathoms Of water on both
sides of the Maine down TO the mud.
Taking a 14-pound lead line and dragging
with a wherry for distractions on the
port side. dragging close to where he
thought the water ways would be found,
he found no distractions whatever. On
the starboard side he found obstructions
for twenty feet where he had reason to
believe the water ways had originally
been.
In answer to questions he said there
-F -1-