The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1898-03-29

said that on February Is. Diver Olsen re-
! ported TO him that on coming up from
| below he had followed the forward and
| after wings of the V shape made by the
| bottom plating at frame II and said on
| the forward wing of the V, the plates ran
| down on very steep liant and then turn
ed under and out under the starboard side.
| that just above where the plates turned
| to go under the starboard side he found
| two dents as if the plating had been
bulged in between the frames from out
| side in.
The court asked the size of these two
dents. Mr.. Powelson replied that they
were about two and one-half feet long
and bulged in about six inches. He furth-
er testified that Olsen again went down
and again came to the surface at II
o'clock, saying he thought he had found
the fat keel. Olsen had reported that the
keel was sloping downward about 45 de-
grees and to port, with the after part
of the keel uppermost. He said he had
explored the after wing of the and
had found a semi-circular hole about two
feet in diameter with rivet holes all
around it.
about twenty feet from the top from the
V made by the bottom plating. He said
the plate presented a Jagged appearance
as if it had been torn, and that crack
had extended from the bottom edge of the
semi-circular hole to a distance of about
eight inches and that the plates about
this hole were bent away from the green
side of the plating.
Mr.. POwelson continued to say that
Olsen told him he had found hole cut in
a plate % feet from the angle of the V
and exhibited a sketch showing that the
keel line was found by him sloping down
65 degrees below the horizontal and TO
port.
The point where he found the keel was
about 20 feet under water. He had not
followed the keel at that point the
platings between which he was wedged
opened out so that he had nothing to
support him.
Mr.. Powelson said Olsen testified that
about % feet from the sluice valve he
found an opening in the ships side. He
had found boarding near the sea suction
in apartment A10 about q feet from the
sluice valve, in an almost vertical po-
sition although it was originally horizon
tai.
eff you consider that the section of the
ship between frames IS and Is, continued
Mr. Powelson, ''and consider that the part
of the bottom floating between frame Is
and frame 10 is bent out at right angle,
and then that the whole section is turn
ed forward through 80 degrees, you will
picture the position in which the plates
are now found. This plating could either
have been showed out from the afterside
or it could have been pushed in from the
forward side. The only indication as to
how this was done is the wooden board
ing. If the after part of the plating had
been pushed out from the inside, the
boarding would have been broken at the
angle which the plates make. If the for
ward part of the plating had been pushed
in the boards would have been pulled
away from the after plating as is the
case with the plates now
The Judge advocate asked Mr.. Powelson
how he looked upon Olsen's testimony in
view of his knowledge of the Maine and
the drawings of the vessel. He replied
that he regarded it as extremely accurate.
The Judge advocate asked Mr.. Powelson
what he deduced from all this testimony
received from the diver that forenoon, to-
gether with what information he had had
before.
Mr.. Powelson replied that the thought
the explosion occurred on the port side
somewhere about frame IS. center of i'm
pact The ship yielded at II and also at
Is, but it was pretty hard to say exactly
where the impact came. Frame Is was
blown in.
How do you account for the immense
damage done abreast of the reserve
magazine, where there is nothing left,
whereas between frame Is and Is you have
found damaged plates" Mr.. Powelson was
asked.
MY idea he replied, sis that after the
ship was raised up at frame IS the maya
zines, one or all of them, after that were
exploded for some powder tanks that I
have seen I think were exploded, while
others I have seen were not exploded. 1
saw a coffee can that was brought up
this morning which was about as badly
battered as most of the powder cases that
came up. 1t looked in very much the
same condition.
when you say that some of the pow
der tanks had, in your opinion, exploded
and some had not, do you refer to six
inch tanks only or TO two-inch tanks
also?"
Il refer to both. as I have seen a six
inch tank that was very little ripped open
and I saw one this morning that had been
first opened and fattened out, with evil
dences of burnt powder on II. I saw one
ten-inch tank that was scarcely battered
at all and only the head of it gone. I
also saw 10-inch tanks with the packing.
which looked like excelsior, unburnt. so
that, in my opinion, some but not all OF
the l0-inch and 6-inch charges were ex-
ploded"
Mr. Powelson said four or FIVE tanks had
been brought up that morning but he did
not see all of them. The only one he re-
membered seeing was exploded and burst
out so that the case formed almost a
plane surface. The 10-inch tank had its
head removed but it had preserved its
approximate shape.
When questioned further as to what he
regarded as the cause of the injuries, Mr.
Powelson said:
ION the bottom forward. where that
frame was thrown UP, il would seem TO /
me that force was communicated some
distance through the water. because il
was lifted up instead OF being battered
IN. II was a force that was cushioned IN
some way because the diver tells ne there !
was a bulge in plates between tbs two !
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