The Chanute times. [volume] (Chanute, Kan.) 1897-1913, 1898-04-08
|HE MA|NE REPORT.
FINDINGS OF THE COURT
SENT TO CONGRESS.
Sigsbee aud His Mon Fully Exonerated,
But the Responsibility for the Disas-
ter Is Not Placed-As Had Been
Anticipated, the Wreck of tho
Maine Was Occasioned By
Floating Mine

Th,t ,ha 1rritod ct,,os h,ttio sb;,
| n,atre ,rri,,ad In tha b,rhor &c Havana
Cub ivan the ,,rent,, efth dar ot Iannarv
1908 .nd ,,as t,ren - h,on No A In from
Ave md a baIf 70 civ fothoms of water nv
the rearI,r rovernmant ,,,iot -
mn 5u. = Co. 10y, 20 =. TT.
,,n, h,d otieaS ~ 'tbnritia. ., tha
rIacs the nro,,io,'s ar,e,inn of ~ ,nterded
P-'.I ~ " ~ -, 49,, 'S-'As "a INV
q mr. 49, ns ai".i,, .o.a 81.
M.in. US avoa,,ant. nS III orSars ia
,.'.. 80 - ..s ". n, a.. y. -. g..
of fhe shin ,,,are st,,ctiu 1919 ont
Al ,m,nrnittos ,,,as $500 80 In
cord,nce with instrnctions and rroner
cara was t.ten yhenever. a m mmnit,on va O
b,nd,ed "Ae'- A u''''''A was
Nothing was slowed in anv one of the
magazines or shell rooms which was not
| permitted to he slowed there.
The maqazines and shel, rooms ware al
| WAYS locked a fter having haen onened. and
| after the destruction Of the Maine the
| KEYS were found in their nroner Mace in
the cantain's cabin everything having
| been renorted secure that evening at q
o'clock
The temperatures Of the magazines and
shell rooms were taken daily and renorted
The onlv MAGAZINE which had An undue
amount of heat was the after ten-inch
MAGAZINE and that did not exnlode at the
time the Maine was destroved
The torpedo war heads were all slowed
I'm the after p1rt of the shin. under the
ward room. and neither caused nor partici :
pated in the destruction of the Maine.
The dry gun cotton primers and deton-
ators were slowed in the cabin aft and re-
mote from the scene of the EXPLOSION
The waste was carefully looked after on
board the Elaine to obviate danger. Spe-
cial orders in regard to this had been given
by the commanding officer.
Varnishes. drivers alcohol and other COM
bustibles of this nature we're slowed on
board the main deck and could not have
had ANYTHING t. do with the destruction of
the Maine.
The medical stores were slowed aft.
under the ward room and remote from the
scene of the explosion.
No dangerous stores OF anv kind were
stored below in any of the other store
rooms
The fire alarms in the bunkers were in
working order and there had never been a
case of spontaneous combustion of coal on
board the Maine
The two a tter- boilers of the shin were In
use at the time of the disaster. hui for any
iliary purposes only. w. tn a comparatiyel
low pressure of steam aad being tended by
areiiable watch. Those boilers could not
have caused the explo ion of the shin The
four forward boilers have since been found
by the divers, and are in a fair condition.
On the night of the destruction of the
Maine everything had been renorted secure
for the night. at o'clock bv reliable ner-
sons thron oh the nroner authorities 70 the
commanding of,cer. At the time the Maine
was DESTROYED the shin was ouiet and
therefore. least liable to accident caused
by moyemsn ts from those on board.
g. The destruction of the Maine occurred
at 9:4Op m of the 18th dav of February
1898 in the Harbor of Havana Cuba being
at that time moored to the same buoy to
which she had been taken upon her arrival
There were two explosions of a distinctly
different character. with a very short INT
dfstinct interval between them. and the for
ward mart of the shin was lifted to n marked
degree at the time of the irst EXPLOSION
The FIRST explosIon was more in the ma
tvye ot a renor, like that of cun while
the second explosion was more on.n nro-
Ion ged and of greater volume This second
explosion was. in The oplnlon of the court
cansed NV the martial exnlosion of two or
more of the forward magazines of tho
Maine
Condition of the wreck.
4-The evidence bearing on this be,no
principally Obtained from divers aid not
enable the court ia form definite concIn-
sior 40 ~ the conditlnn of ne u,reci, al
mart Of m shin was nra -ticaIIv intact and
sanl In that condition very few minutes
after the destruction of the forward mart
The following facts in regard to the for
ward mart of the chin are boveyer est,h
lished by the testimony:
"That norton of the mort side of tn. nro.
tective deck which extends from about
frame AZ To abopt frame Al wac hloa,n nm
al and SLIGHTLY over To Standard folding
the forward mart of the niddle sunere
structure over and On tonof the after ,i.rt
mis- was IN the oninion of the cpurt
caused nv the Martial evn,os,on of two ~,
,nore Of tho fa,ward mpr..inas of ,bo
Maina 'O
A. f-ou,17 tho o,+ar sbo, 90 .ho.h,.
fror, = noInt clever ana orelhait toat f sp'
tbo r,idIia linz of the shin "a siw = t ~
aho,,o 49, i,aai I,bar ~ ,.s nPp,r,aI ,aS,.ioS
hoo hsen t1rced ~, ca &C ~ he ~, 80
fo,,r fent above t6e sUrfsce of tho $50, 80.
tSerefore abort ,bir,v|forr feet .hors
,rhero a. would he ma tbo sbIr srnb -
- ,.a-oa W go th nn 70 oens