The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1898-03-29

planted about the ship and the forward
magazine flooded if practicable. He called
Tor perfect silence The surviving ofhcerS
were with him at the time on the poop. He
was informed that both the forward and
after magazines were under water. Ihen
| came faint cries, and he saw dimly white
| fioating bodies in the water. Boats were
| at once ordered lowered, but only two were
found available-the gig and the Whaleboat.
They were lowered and manned by officers
| and men, and by the captains directions
| they left the ship and assisted in saving the
wounded. jointly with other boats mat had
| arrived on the scene. The fire amidships
| by this time was burning fiercely. and the
| spare ammunition in the pilot house was
exploding.
At this time Lieut.. Commander Vain
| wright told the captain that he thought the
| ten-inch magazine forward had been
/ thrown up into the burning mass and may
1 explode any time. Everybody was then d.
rected to get into the boats over the stern
| the gig and then proceeded to the City of
| Washington, where he found the wounded
| in the dining saloon being carefully attend
! ed by the officers and crew of the vessel
| He then went on deck and observed the
| wreck for a few minutes and gave direc-
tons to have muster taken on board the
| City OF Washington and other vessels, and
| sat down in the captains cabin and dicta-
| Ted telegram to the Navy Department.
expressed sympathy and sorrow for the ac,
| cident. The representatives of General
Blanco and of the admiral Of the station
were among the Spanish officials who ten
dered their respects.
About eighty-four or eighty-fve men were
t;nn that night who survived; BY the the
deck 1t was his impression that an over
whelming explosion had occurred. When
he came from the cabin he was practically
blinded for a few seconds. His only thought
was for the vessel, and he took no note OF
the phenomena of the explosion.
In reply to direct question of whether
any Of the magazines or shell rooms were
blown up the Captain said it was extremely
difficult to come to any conclusion. The
little forward of the coming tower on the
port side In the region of the center or
axis of the explosion was the SiX-inch re-
serve magazine, which contained very little
powder, about three hundred pounds The
! ten-inch magazine was in the same general
region, but on the starboard side. Over the
ten-inch magazine in the loading room of
the turret and in the adjoining passage,
number of ten-inch shells We're permanent
ly placed. According to Captain Sigsbee,
it would be difficult to conceive the expio-
sion involved the ten-inch magazine because
of the location of the explosion and that no
reports show that any ten-inch shells were
hurled into the air because of the explo-
sion.
The Captain went into details as to the
location of the small arms ammunition. He
said that he did not believe that the for
ward six-inch magazine blew up. The loca-
ton of the gun cotton was aft, under the
cabin. The gun cotton primers and deto-
majors were always kept in the cabin. lie
stated that he had examined the wreck
himself conversed with other officers and
men, but as the Spanish authorities were
very much averse to an investigation, ex-
cept officially on the grounds as stated by
the Spanish Admiral that the honor of
Spain was involved he forbore 10 examine
the submarine portion of the wreck for the
cause of the explosion until the day the
court convened. He said the discipline OF
the ship was excellent. The marine guard
was in excellent condition. The reports OF
the medical department show that ABOUT
one man and quarter per day were on the
sick list during the past year. In the en-
gineer's department the vessel was always
ready and always responsive. ne pala
tribute to the crew and said that quleter,
better natured lot OF men ne mao never
known on board of any vessel in which ne
had served He s had o n4 or 10 mem na at the
time of the disaster and considered their
conduct admirable.
On his examination by the court captain
Sigsbee said that the highest temperature
he could remember was 112, but that was ~
the after magazine, the temperature IN the
forward magazine being considerably lower.
There was no loose powder kept in the mag
azine All the coal bunkers were ventilated
through air tubes examined weekly by Tue
chief engineer, and were connected elec-
trically to the annunciator near ms capln
door, The forward coal bunker on the port
side was full. The forward eoai bunker a o ~
was being used at the time or the explosion;
Captain Sigsbee. being recalled, stated
that he had detailed t Hon,an and Chief
Engineer Howell, all of the Name, 10 Oh
tain informatio in regard to any OUTSIDERS
who may have seen the explosion. Capt.:
Sipshee also gave as his opinion that II
coal bunker A 16 had been so hot that II
dangerous to the six-inch reserve maya
zine that this condition would have been
shown on three sides where the bunker was
exposed and that men constantly passing
to and fro it would have necessarily no
recalled and examined as to the ammuni--
ton on board the Maine. He stated that
there were no high explosives, gun cotton,
defonators or other material in magazines
or shell room which the regulations prohib-
tied He testified that no war heads had
been placed on torpedoes since ne mad COM
rooud of the shin