The sun., 1898-02-20
MAINE SELF-DESTROYED? I?
THEORIES OF EMINENT ENG INEERS
As TO THE DISASTER.

THEORIES OF EMINENT ENGINEERS
As TO THE DISASTER.
One who HAD to DO with the SHIPS Construc-
tion Believes That Heat from the Keller
Room Fired tho MnEazine-Another At
tributes the Explosion to Coal Gas.
An engineer who. in q responsible post, was
engaged for several years upon the construction
Of the Maine at the Brooklyn Navy Yard, told
THE Sun yesterday what, on its face, is a very
plausible theory Of the cause of the battleships
destruction. He advanced this theory AZ his
firm belief. in the absence Of an authentic de-
termination. of Just what did happen on the
Maine:
1.-THE forward magazine for the Maine's To-
inch guns" he said. is forward Of tho boiler
room. or hreroom and the coal bunkers are on
either side Of it Short bunkers leading in from
the main ones partially separate the boiler room
from the magazine. Positively tho only open
ing in the magazine aside from the hatch,
which Ii always kept carefully guarded.
and the keys of which are delivered to
tho Captain at night, is tho opening
through which o six.inch ventilating ppe
passes, traversing one of the coal bunkers. In
the magazine there were stored $50 half-charges
of prismatio brown powder, or 80 rounds for
each of the two forward 1Oinch guns. These
half-charges of 200 pounds Of powder each are
ihoio.oe III ehA '~ks' "i'eA 'n " ~ -
t,o"i uiS "aoeS INC. ~ w., -
walls. When the bags of powder are put in the
brass cases the caps of the cases are firmly hxed
on. In action tho case, with the powder in
1t. is carried to the turret. This powder
is o sem-smokeless powder. The powder
w Nv. o~p r... - s~,,n.o,ton
i''ino VI ,eu Hon' , 80 NV 49,.
s'oiou ~ '.ie W. "''." .ns
"Ao Al ..e a.'a- -, 49,. a,,..
'.eto :. Nv. 80 - -. ,,aso
VI sunoo1n ~ w., oap.u u p,,.n,,,,,
.s'o 20 o'e..a -. q, ,.au,a - nnis ,,t,I.
a. rs.t :, 80 Dc, Aia.r n..n. whon
flame. That Is what Prof. Alger means wneh
he says that no torpedo could explode ships
mapazine. It Itcouldn't do so: it has never been
,...' -. l., A. ..r - .ooniro. enno 70
known TO DO SO. AS say IL requires name 10
ignite the powder-fiame or red heat.
10 return: ihe puikheao petweeh tno nre,
room OF the Maine ana the FORWARD magazine
was steel plate scant quarter OF an inch In
49,, -, ~ 49, a...s.,,' ~ ~.
room' or INC coai ouhhcrs IN tuo tlorooh'' VI tn'
fron, IN. ma.azine Tho hoiIsrs set transverse
itoin 'ne .nak s..t - ~ , aI, oo,, hmnL..S
running alongside the magazine.
"When the Maine was romnleted m that her
fires were lighted under tho boilers was with
others in the magazine. and tho oulkhsId S sepa,
",ns tno ,Isa',TsI,, .. Sa,a nv haSs,, Ivnao
80 hot that couldn hold my hand on IL. when
this was discovered it WAS proposed to put in
..cond bulkb.ad leavinp an mir snaca between
eo'onu t'a ''Ns on -, 49,
tho FIRST and second to separate the boiler room
from the magazine. But it was decided that
th.r. ,xos nor room, enougb for thia m n sheatb
.neio was no. .ooni ~. sn9H.n
substituted.
"My belicf ia that tho Maine was destrored
=. .,a o n,no "a'
by the explosion OF nerIOrWarO magazine, caused
by fire or heat communicated to the magazine
from tho boiler room or coal bpnkers Ih.lIavo
that there was fire in her bunkers. how caused
it is Of course impossible to say. For myself, 1
do not believe in spontaneous combustion aa
Of %es from @ on mer nsat
thst the DuhHers sr, are are mot 1ammed up against
bunHcrs Of our ships. That is matter. IA @ how. 1S.
ombc has no benn tn o1 as ths
aithomnh The Nav a." Rsnartmcnt nipsa pnn,sa or
hrn tn"t there nn was % nrs n inc 1umkers which
or White hot. seemed to- me- The probabe nondi. mHt
ton Of affairs as soon n as as read % Of tho e cSaas
hes Py 2spted rem The bosr, PSs by
rod bo and bnt the brs,s Inc
~ tbsm hecss ra5 hot Sr Gr ono
G59w OF nothing fhIt s9nduetS heat
rs5 hn, 'nan q % U,asS. tS prees 5n case became
powder within t. WPiCb etpioaioD ouId poSIhds a OF
the whole m%Eazihs I1rS Inc There would be the two
..tTha ends nf ,hs brsss nnwdey y mepe mos heard
placed against n ths g guarterinch @ & bukhead that
9ppnn tSe =, ao ato 'et t hu coai ounkers
the pndsr 1 aos ,no od h % became RED not
il there was such a fre in the bunlers It must
have been burning for some time.
IN h yemnyed sro tb boai ON ought
the magazine there is ho%eVer prSnmty %1ann S TO