The daily morning journal and courier., 1898-02-16
The Maine.

Washington, Feb. 15.-The Maine is battleship of the second class and is regarded as one of the best ships in the new navy. She was built at the Brooklyn navy yard and is SIS feet long, 57 feet broad, 21.6 feet mean draft and 6,6S2 tons displacement. She has two ten-inch vertical turrets and two military masts, and her motive power is furnished by twin-sc screw vertical tri- pie expansion engines, having maxi mum horse power of 9,293, capable of making a speed of 17.45 knots. She carries four ten-inch and six six-inch breech-loading guns in her main bat tery and seven six-pounders and eight one-pound rapid-fire guns and four Gatlings in her secondary battery and four Whitehead torpedoes.
 The officers of the Maine are: Cap tain, Charles D. Sigsbee, commanding;
 Lieutenant Commander Richard Wain- wright, Lieutenants G. F. w. Holman,
 John Hood and Carl w. Jungen, Lieu
 tenants (junior grade) George F. Blow,
 John J. Bland1n and Friend w. Jen-
 kins, Naval Cadets Jonas II. Holden,
 Watt T. Cluverius, Anon Bronson and
 David F. Boyd, jr., Surgeon Lucien
 G. Henberger, Paymaster Charles W.
 Littlefeld, Chief Engineer Charles P.
 Howell, Passed Assistant Engineer
 Frederic c. Powers, Assistant Engn-
 eers John R. Morris and Darwin R.
 Merritt; Naval Cadets (engineer divi- sion) Pope Washington and Arthur
 Crenshaw, Chaplain John P. Chidwick,
 First Lieutenant of Marines Albertus
 w. Catlin, Boatswain Francis E. Lar ken, Gunner Joseph c. Hill, Carpenter George Helms.
 The commander of the Maine, Cap tain Sigsbee, is a favorite in the navy department. For four years he was chief of the Photographic office and hy his energy brought the office ap to a
 high standard. He was lucky to get so important a ship as the Maine, consid-
 ering his actual rank, which is that of
 commander, but immediately he jus tified the departments judgment in the
 selection by running his ship straight into dock into New York harbor to
 avoid running down a packed excnr-
 sion boat This was a display of quick judgement, nerve and pluck that pleased the department so highly that the captain was sent a complimentary Secretary Long Calm.
 Secretary Long received Captain 1 Sigsbeees dispatch but few minutes before the Associated Press dispatch was handed him. He received the news with apparent calm and his first
 act was to comply with Captain Sigs- | bees note that assistance be sent from l Key West. He immediately ordered | Captain Forsythe at Key West to pro- ceed with the naval tender Fern to 1 Havana harbor. Secretary Long then
 sent for Captain Dickens and the two | discussed Captain Sigsbee's brief tele-
 gram. No other naval officers were | present and with the exception of the | secretary and Captain Dickens the na- val department officers here are ignor-
 ant of the dispatch.
 The secretary is inclined to believe | that most of the officers on the Maine were on shore at the time of the acci- 1 dent, as it was still early in the night l While neither the secretary or Captain | Dickens is inclined to discuss the par | ticular cause of the accident, several suggestions were ventured upon. They believe that it may have been caused by fire in the bunkers, heating of
 bulkhead near a magazine, or, that ar ! accident may have occurred while in. l specting high explosives for torpedoes | Of course this is mere speculation and
 the secretary is anxiously awaiting g | more detailed report from Captain | Sigsbee.
 | Later the secretary sent another tele | gram to Key West directing that the {, tender Mangrove also be sent to Ha. | yana.