The times., 1899-02-15

| 10 the hatchway and thence to the poop.
| being among the earliest to reach tina;
| spot. AS soon as / recognized the officers
| ordered the high explosives to be flooded
and then directed that the boats available
be lowered TO the rescue OF the wounded
/ or drowning. Discipline in perfect meas
| ure prevailed. There was no more confu-
| sion than a call to general quarters would
produce-not as much.
Il soon saw. by the light of the flames,
that all my officers and crew left alive and
on board surrounded me. | cannot form
any idea of the time. but it seemed five
! minutes from the moment l reached the
poop until | left, the last man it was pos
sible TO reach having been saved. 1t must
] have been three quarters of an hour or
more. however, from the amount of work
done | remember that officers and men
worked together lowering the boats. and
that the gig took some time to lower"
Even more graphic is the narrative of
| Lieutenant Blandin, who was on the watch
| when the explosion occurred. Lieutenant
Blandin's account is also included in Mr.
| Watterson's history. He says:
Il was on the watch and when the men
| had been piped below / looked down the
| main hatchways and over the sides of the
ship. Everything was absolutely normal
| walked aft to the quarter deck. behind
| the rear turret, as is allowed after o'clock
| SIDE where remained for few minutes.
! Then, for some reason l cannot explain.
| moved to the starboard side and sat down
| there. l was feeling a bit glum and in
| fact was so quiet that Lieutenant Hood
came up and asked laughingly if l were
, asleep. / said No. / am on watch. Scarce
| ly had | spoken when there came a dull.
sullen roar. Then succeeded a sharp eX-
! plOsion-some say numerous explosions. |
remember only one.
1T seemed to me that the sound issued
from the port side forward. Then followed
a perfect rain of missiles of all kinds. from
huge pieces of cement to blocks of wood,
steel ratings, fragments Of grating, and
all the debris that would be detachable in
an explosion. | was struck on the head by
piece of cement and knocked down, but
not hurt, and got to my feet in a moment.
| Lieutenant Hood had run to the poop and
! | supposed as | followed, that he was
dazed by the shock and was going to jump
overheard. l hailed him and he answered
! that he had run to help lower the boats.
When | got there. though scarce a minute
had elapsed. l had to wade in water to my
knees, and the quarterback was awash.
Captain SiEsbec's Nerve.
'on the poop I found Captain Sigsbee
as cool as if at a ball, and all the officers
| except Jenkins and Merritt Joined us. The
| poop was above water after the Maine
settled to the bottom. Captain Sigsbee
ordered the launch and barge lowered and
| the officers and men who, by this time
had assembled, got the boats out and res
cued number in the water Captain
Sigsbee ordered Lieutenant Commander
| Wainwright forward TO see the extent of
| the damage and if anything could be done
i to rescue those forward or to eXtinguish
| the flames which followed close upon the
i Ay-rNtn nr,d hNrr, aIr- l1,~
| there was anything combustible above
water to feed them. Lieutenant Com
mander Wainwright, on his return, re-
| ported the total and awful character of
the calamity and Captain Sigsbee gave
the last sad order. Abandon ship,' TO men
overwhelmed with grief indeed, but calm
and apparently unexcited.
| Meantime four boats from the Spanish
cruiser Alfonso XII arrived. to be followed
soon by boats from the Ward Line steamer
| City OF Washington. The two boats low
cred from the City of Washington were
/ found to be riddled with flying debris and
unfit for use. Captain Sigsbee was the
last man to leave the vessel and left in
| his own gig.
Excitement in Havana.
| There was no sleep in Havana that
| night. The explosion had aroused the
| city and the widest excitement ensued.
| The steamer City of Washington was con-
verted into hospital ship and all the
! wounded were cared for there. Captain
/ Sigsbee went aboard and wrote his memo
| rable dispatch TO Secretary Long. Half
| hour after the explosion Captain General
| Blanco and Consul General Lee went
aboard, the latter remaining there all
night. The Spanish at first made stu
| dious pretence of sympathy, but this soon
gave way to official Indifference.
But the excitement in Havana did not
| begin to equal that in Washington, and.
in fact, all over the country. The public
| seemed for a time dazed by the shock OF
the awful catastrophe. but the civil and
naval authorities acted with prudence and
caution and the appeal of the Names COM
mander for suspension of judgment was
borne in mind.
The universal opinion that the explosion
! was the result of treachery was quickly
formed, and the demand that the wholesale
and wanton murder of American sailors
be speedily avenged was strong, but the
more thoughtful elected to wait until the
whole matter had been thoroughly 'inves
tigated. They were justified in their course
by the report OF the naval court of en-
quiry. which was quickly appointed. and
thoroughly investigated the disaster. with
the result known TO the world.
The public mind was keenly alive to the
and when the report Of the court made 1t
apparent that Spain could not be held re-
sponsible for the destruction of the Maine
public sentiment turned to the starving
reconcentrados in the island. The people
besieged Congress and Congress urged the
President on to declare war.
An Inevitable War.
With the relations between the two coun-
tries growing more strained every day and
the excited condition of the people of the
United States. war was inevitable, and
President Mckinley finally yielded to the
pressure. Matters came to a climax on
the night of April 10, when the joint reso-
luton declaring that the people OF the
| Island of Cuba are, and of right ought to
be. free and independent, and demanding
that Spain relinquish its authority and
government in the Island of Cuba and
withdraw its forces. was adopted by both
houses OF Congress. Diplomatic relations
| were broken off and on April % Congress