The Providence news. (Providence [R.I.]) 1891-1906, 1898-02-18
LIEUTENANTs EXPERIENCE.
Had Sort OF Premonition That Disas-
ter Was Impending.


Had Sort of Premonition That Disas-
ter Was Impending.
Key West Feb. 1s.-Lieutenant John
j. Blandin of Baltimore, one OF the
Names survivors, who is at the Key
West hotel. gave the correspondent of
the Associated Press a succinct account
OF the disaster, saying that not until now
has he been able to recollect the sequence
OF events in the awful 10 minutes follow
ing the explosion Tuesday evening. He
was on the Trenton at the time of the
disaster off Samoa in March, 1859. when
American and German vessels lost 244
men all told.
Lieutenant Blandin says: "I was on
watch, and when the men had been
piped below ] looked down the main
matches and over the side of the ship.
Everything was absolutely normal I
walked aft to the quarterback. behind
the rear turret, as is allowed after 8
O'Clock in the evening, and sat down
on the port side, where / remained for q
few minutes. Then. for some reason I
cannot explain to myself now. / moved
TO the starboard side and sat down there.
j was feeling bit glum and. in fact. was
so quiet that Lieutenant j. Hood came up
and asked laughingly IL / were asleep.
i said No. / am on watch
Scarcely had / spoken when there
Game dull, sullen roar. Would to God
that / could blot out the sound and the
scenes that followed. Then came n
sharp explosion: some say, numerous
detonations. l remember only one. 1t
Gn al 70, ,l.... n
the port side forward. Then came a
perfect rain of missiles of all descrip-
tions, from huge pieces of cement to
blocks OF wood, steel railings, fragments
or gratings and all the debris that would
be detachable in an explosion. l was
struck on the head by piece OF cement
and knocked down, but | was not hurt.
and got to my feet In a moment. Lieu
tenantHood had run to the poop; and I
supposed, as / followed, that he was
ca=ed by the shock and about TO jump
overheard. / hailed him, and he an
swered that he had run TO the poop to
help lower the boats. When / got there.
though scarce a minute could have
elapsed, | had TO wade in water to nv
Knees, and almost instantly the quarter
deck was awash. On the poop I found
Captain Sigsbee as cool as IL at n ball:
and soon all tho officers except Jenkins
and Merritt Joined us. The poop was
above woer after the Maine settled to
the bottom. Captain Sigsbee ordered
the launch and gig lowered: and the
officers and men, who by this time had
assembled, got the boats out and rescued
number In the water Captain Sigs-
bee ordered Lieutenant Commander
wainwright forward TO see the extent
OF the damage, and IL anything could be
done TO rescue those forward or to ex-
tinguish the flames, which followed close
upon the explosion and burned fercely
as long as there were any combustibles
above water 20 feed them. Lieutenant
Commander Wainwright on his return
reported the total ana awful character
OF the calamity; and Captain Sigsbee
gave tho last sad order. Abandon ship
20 men overwhelmed with grief indeed.
but calm and apparently unexcited.
In the meantime four boats from the
Spanish cruiser. Alfonso XII. arrived, to
be followed soon by two from the Ward
Zine steamer city Of Washington. The
two boats first lowered from the City OF
Washington were found TO be riddled
with flying debris from the Maine and
unfit fo- use. Captain Sigsbee was the
last man 10 leave his vessel and left in
his own gig.
II have no theories as . the cause OF
the explosion 1 cannot rorm any. An