The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1898-02-18
COURT OF INQUIRY.
investigation of the Disaster to BE
Made by Naval Officers.

1
The Navy Department has also adopted
measures for the disposition of the wound
ed and the interment of the dead The Off
| Gals feel there is little else to do at this
moment, and that it remains for the inves-
| tigation to be completed before further ac-
ton can be taken. AlT.liral Sicards board
has ample authority 20 make the most
searching investigation into the causes of
the disaster The Fern and the Mangrove
reported arrival at Havana last evening
The former Is provided with diving appa-
| ratus and, as every war ships company
includes at least several expert divers, there
will be no lack of men to make the neces-
| sary search. These men can be depended
upon to report the exact facts They more
| over will be subject to orders of the court
of inquiry in every particular, and as they
are familiar with the bottom of a war ship
of the type of the Maine, they are not like
ly to be led into the mistake of supposing
the outlet hole or pipe from the interior
to be a torpedo hole. 1t is believed that
under the most favorable circumstances this
investigation cannot be made for several
| days Arrangements must be made for the
| proper working of the diving outfits and the
| board of inquiry must determine upon
line of action. Besides, Lieutenant Com
mander Mark, who will be member of the
court of inquiry, has just been released from
duty with the Billings court-martial in this
city. He left Washington at IL o'clock to-
day by train for Key West, and he is sup
posed to be assigned to duty as judge ad-
vocate of the court. Probably the board
! will be conveyed from Havana to Key West
| by the Olivette or one of the lighthouse
tenders, as it is again stated to-day that
the Navy Department has no intention of
sending another man-of-war to Havana i'm
| mediatey.
Yesterday Captain Sigsbee suggested to
the Navy Department, through the COM
| mander at Key West, that it would be well
to detail lighthouse tender or some such
small craft to watch over the wreck of the
Maine AS the upper works are above
water in places, and much valuable prop
erty is thus exposed, the department has
acted upon the sue estion, and has author
lied one of the vessels now at Havana, the
Mangrove probably, to be used for the pur-
pose
1t is said at the department tonight that
the naval court of inquiry which is to in
vestigate the disaster can scarcely assem-
bic for the work at Havana before next
Monday. Lieutenant Commander Mark
who left Washington at IL o'clock this
morning, can hardly reach Key West be-
fore the end OF the week, and as the board
must prepare itself for the work before
leaving Key West, day is little time
enough for that and the transportation to
| Havana 1t is not yet known where the
| board will hold it's sessions at Havana, as
this detail has been left for Admiral Sicard
to fix. 1t may be held at one of the hotels
or perhaps on board the Ward-line steamer
the tender Fern or the coast survey steam
er Bache.
The Navy Department received a dis
patch this morning from Admiral Sieard,
in command of the North Atlantic squadron
giving the details Of the court of inquiry
to investigate the Maine disaster as follows:
Captain Sampson. president of court; Capt.
Chadwick, Lieut.. Commander Schroeder
Lieut.. Commander Mark. Captain Sanp-
son, the president of the court, is comman-
der Of the battle ship Iowa, now at the Tor
tugas Captain Chadwick is commander Of
the New York at Key West. Lieut.. Com
mander Schroeder is executive officer of the
| battle ship Massachusetts. now at the Tor
tougas. Lieut.. Commander Mark is execu-
| tive officer of the Vermont. He was form
| erly with the Maine as executive officer be-
fore the detail of Lieut.. Commander VAIN
| wright who relieved him.
The Navy Department authorizes a denial
| of the statement attributed to Captain Sigs-
bee that he recommended to the department
before he sailed for Havana that no other
| ship than the Maine be sent to Havana be-
cause the harDor was too dangerous, owing
| to the number of torpedoes planted in the
| bottom. AS a matter of fact, Captain Sigs-
bee had not the slightest hint given him
that his ship was to be selected for the visit
twelve hours before his departure. He was
had gone to join the squadron at Tortugas
before the telegraph orders from the depart
ment for his ship reached Key West The
telegram was dispatched after him by
means of the torpedo boat Ericsson and
was delivered to him at Tortugas that night.
! Before daylight his ship was on the way to
J Havana, and there was no correspondence
with the department beyond the acknowl-
edgment of the orders. AS to the statement
! relative to the number of torpedoes planted
in Havana harbor, it is said at the Navy
Department that nobody aside from the
Spanish officers in Havana, knows what has
been done to protect the harbor in that
manner.
| 1t is customary to divide all great harbors
into sections and in plans of coast defense
to assign places for torpedoes on the bottom
| at certain intervals. The location. of these
| tOrpedOeS is kept proIound secret, only d
few officers of the army being entrusted
with the knowledge. IF their location were
| known it would be easy for an attacking
| enemy to remove or explode them without
causing harm to their own vessels.
1t is not usual to keep the torpedoes ac-
tually IN their berths in the water in times
| of peace; they are placed in the positions
assigned to them only as a war measure
| There are some exceptions to this rule, for
| instance, at Hong-Kong, where the torpe-
does are at all times kept in position and
it may be presumed that the same precau-
ton has been taken in Havana harbor to
guard against an unexpected raid by a
swift steamer that might fall into the
hands of the insurgents. These torpedoes
are not of the contact type are called
the torpedoes that are set to go off upon
the touch of the hull Of vessel passing
over them, but are arranged to be exploded
only by means of electric currents sent
from shore by buried wires. These fixed
torpedoes are really mines and carry much
larger charges than the small automobile
.torpedoes discharged from the torpedo
tubes Of war ships.
Dispatches from Havana say there has
been no examination of the hull of the
Maine as rumored to-day.
In view Of the near approach to New
York of the Spanish war ship which has