Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1898-03-16

Associated Press. AS it is believed
that Peral's interview was given out
to show the Spanish side of the case,
it is also believed that the interview
with the American officer is really
semi-otficial and intended to show the
American side. In fact it is altogelh-
er probable that the following is vir-
tually from the court of inquiry, given
out in the form in which it appears,
only with view to avoiding official
significance. The expert says:
II am a graduate of the torpedo
school, and have studied the effects of
torpedoes or mines from observations
and experiments.
A torpedo exploded at a depth of
six feet would throw column of water.
100 feet into the air !; at - feet deep,
10 feet in the air, and at 80 feet deep
would hardly raise small wave. A
detonator Of gun cotton in the open
air makes mark its own size in steel
or blows stone to fragments. In the
water torpedo itself would not be felt
at any great distance. 1t requires the
resistance of solid body and would
be dissipated in water or mud, This
disposes of the wave theory and the
affecting of the shore or boats in the
harbor."
AS to the hole in the Maine the ex-
pert in question makes the most i'm.
portant statement that the Maine drew
% to 80 feet at the time of the explo-
sion and had about 10 feet of water
below her bottom to the surface Of the
harbor mud. On the port side, where
the United States divers are now at
work, there is at present Al feet OF
water. May not this be the hole which
Captain Peral says could not be found :?
IF it is, the hole was more than Z feet
deep when the explosion took place,
and has been greatly filled with mud
since. AS to the finding of dead fish,
the United States court of inquiry has
not seen q solitary fish since work be-
gan on The wreck. The bodies recov'
cred from the Maine have not been
touched by the fishes. Some of the
fishermen in Havana testified that
there were no fish inside the harbor,
the waters heing too foul for them.
Sometimes they come part way in
during the day, but all 20 out al
night.
Further, as 10 the alleged discov-
cries of Spanish divers reported to
Captain Peral, five American divers
have been working on the port side OF
the wreck an average Of seven hours
each per day for nearly three weeks in
space of SO feet long and 20 feet
wide. The Spanish divers have never
been inside the wreck at all neither
have they ever been on the port side,
devoting the short hours which they
have spent under water 10 the star
board side forward and outside the
hull. Recently, to their own surprise,
they brought up two cans of ammunl-
tion for the six-inch guns, not ex'
ploded. They dropped them back
when the light of the surface showed
they were unexploded and what their
nature was. Further, the Spanish
divers often 20 down only long enough
TO wet their suits and hide behind a
blanket on the barge, where they sleep
and rest for couple Of hours and then
20 ashore and report that they cannot
see anything in the mud and water.
They could not have found the ram OF
the Maine, since they have not been
down in the locality of that part OF
the wreck. They have not located the
turret with the 10 inch guns, though
the spot has been pointed out by Cap.
tain Sharp, in charge Of the wreckers,
where there is only 16 feet and should
be 26 feet.
This spot is outside the hull on the
starboard side. 1t is probable that the
turret is there, partly buried in the
mud. All of these facts are known by
the United States court of inquiry,
having been elected in the examination
of those in a position to know.
The expert interviewed by the cor
respondent expresses the belief that
the Maine was blown up by what is
known as a Newport torpedo, station
torpedo or something Of the same ma
ture: This engine of destruction is the
joint product of the labors of Com
mander Converse, commander of the
Montgomery Lieutenant Commander
Mclean, now in command of the tor
pedo station at Newport, and Senior
Lieutenant Holman, ordnance officer OF
the Maine at the time of the explosion.
The Newport torpedo can be planted
from a small boat, and the expert be.
lieves that this one was exploded by
being struck on the port side of the
Maine forward of amidships as she
swung to her moorings. He thinks
this more likely than that wires were
laid from the shore, as the wires, If
laid for any length of time would sink
deep into the loose mud. 1t would be
singular if it should prove that the
Maine was blown up by a torpedo in
the invention of which one of her
principal officers, Lieutenant Holman,
bore a notable part.
All of the above statements of fact
and surmises come from authority
upon which the court depends for
much Of it's evidence, and is given to
the correspondent without reservation
except as to the name and rank Of the
giver. The expert further believes
that the destroying mine was made up
of four torpedoes of SO pounds each Of
wet and dry gun cotton, or 144 pounds
in all. This amount would have been
ample to blow the entire forward part
of the Maine clear over the starboard.