The San Francisco call., 1898-02-22
EXPLOSION ON BOARD
 ALMOST IMPOSSIBLE.
The Ship Was Lying Quietly at Anchor and the Magazine Should
 Have Been Locked


 That an explosion could take place in the magazine of a war vessel at night when it's dramatically sealed door is locked and the key hidden away in the commanders cabin, or when the ship is lying peacefully at anchor in harbor seems well within the limits of impossibility. To those who have wit messed the care which is taken of the powder storeroom on board ship there Is no such thing as such an occurrence. Every hour, day and night, the sleep less vigilance goes on, for officer and man know the power of the deadly mine just under the deck they walk.
 Before magazine door is opened all fires, all open lights, must be extin- guished. The captains cigar and the sailors pipe is put out. Should the gunner or any of his mates enter the sacred place they must change their clothing, donning garments on which there are no buttons or any hard sub- stance that might rub against a stray grain of powder. Shoes with metal nails in their soles are replaced by rub Der slippers. Even rings are removed from fingers and every precautiOn known to human ingenuity is taken to
 
 send shattered hulk below the waves.
 Relative to the awful disaster that has stricken the noble battle-ship Maine, many causes have been mooted for the deadly explosion. Spontaneous combustion in the coal bunkers or among the high explosives in the mag aZine itself has been advanced as a probable causn. Gun cotton has been mentioned as an agent of destruction to the vessel. On the subject of this Illuminating compound a representative of The Call interviewed H. J. Tresselt, a retired gunner of the United States navy, now residing in this city. He was serving on board the Trenton when she was wrecked in Apia harbor and his retirement from active service was caused by injuries received in that disaster
 The officer stated that gun cotton Is used on board ship for torpedo work and carries 30 per cent of water and is usually slowed below decks in it's spe- cial magazine. When charged with this amount of moisture it Is consider ed perfectly harmless. However, it is officially inspected at intervals for signs of the dangerous deterioration which may be taking place. Special pains is also taken to keep the contents of the torpedo cases up in weight, which may fall below through evapo-
  rain or distilled water is added. As rule wet gun cotton of 30 per cent moisture cannot be detonated except with the assistance of a certain amount of dry gun cotton called "a primer" About three pounds of dry are required to detonate thirty-five pounds of wet. The dry is exploded by a detonator composed of certain number of grains of illuminate of mer- cury. All the dry cotton and the de- tonators are carried either in the cap- tain's cabin or above decks. They are separated into small quantities and distributed about the vessel that the explosion of one package will not be communicated to others.
 Fire could not cause an explosion in guncotton as it would simply burn slowly. and it is practically impossible for the wet guncotton to lose enough moisture to render it explosive and dangerous. It is likewise impossible that the powder could have been heated from the fireroom or coalbunkers. The magazines are generally we'll away from these places. and protected from them by heavy steel bulkheads. All powder charges are sealed in copper cylinders and slowed so that they do not come in contact with the bulk heads. The magazines are guarded and inspected constantly. They are lighted by electricity, each lamp so ar ranged that it may shed it's glow with in the storeroom and yet not be a pos sible source of danger to its inf1amma- ble contents. The illumination is thrown into the magazine through heavy glass headlights. which are pro- tected on the magazine side with a heavy wire screen. As no part of the lamp or it's wires enters the magazine proper, there is no possibility that the Maines explosion came from this source. Even the powder itself is frequently tested to determine if there Is any de- terioration from standard power So it will be seen that the magazine and its death dealing contents are never left alone, day nor night, and under this everlasting vigilance it is nearly impossible that explosions could take place therein.