The San Francisco call., 1905-08-04
Officer From the Flagship
Chicago Throws Light on
the Cause Of the Disaster
in the HarbOr at San Diego
DECLARES CROWN
SHEET COLLAPSED
He States That Neither the
Water Nor Steam Gauge
Nor the Safety Valve Was
in the Proper Condition

SAN DIEGO. Aug. S.-The Tribune this
evening prints the. following interview
with an engineering officer of the flag
ship Chicago on the Bennington disaster:
After the Chicago reached port last
thursday morning, was one Of the party
which boarded the Bennington and made
thorough examination OF the Benning-
tons boilers. What / saw in the Ben
nington's engine-room that day will bear
out the truth of my statement The
vaole accident is due TO the negligence
OF some one, know but am not going TO
say who is co blame. Had he accident
not happened when it did there is no
doubt il would have come later and would
have been caused from any one of several
reasons.
My examination Of the boiler demon
strated 20 me cOnclusively that at the
time Of the accident there was not enough
circulating water over the crownsheet.
The boiler is what is known as a loco
motive boiler. The circulating water is
over the top Of the crownsheet At the
time Of the accident, this water had been
allowed TO run low. This left nothing
but the steam above the top Of the crown
sheet and as a result the top Of the sheet
was soon heated red hot Later it be-
came white hot This, Of course, weak
ened the crownsheet and with the tre-
mendous amount Of steam pressure above
caused il 70 collapse.
How the circulating water was allowed
20 run 50 low of course 1 don't know
However, I do not believe that any at
tention was paid TO the water gauge.
Another thing. from what I have seen
neither the water gauge, the steam gauge
nor tie safety valve was in proper con-
6iLOn. The safety valve on that boiler
would not have popped OF under 500
pounds pressure. This is shown by the
condition Of the valve. The seat of the
valve Is cOrroded in such manner that
it shows conclusively that it had not
been popped off for at least a year and
Ne-y possibly eighteen months
HEAVY PRESSURE ON BOILER.
You must know that the action of the
steam causes a corrosion 10 form at the
seat Of The safety valve. This corrosion
Is net exactly a rust and yet its effect
Is not entirely unlike rust 1t is sticky
and unless cleaned out viii soon cause
the valve uo stick in such a manner that
5ou TOuncs Of steam could not set il off
Neither was the valve properly weighted
Il II had been. when the pressure had
passed the danger point tee whole valve
would have been blown out Nothing
could have prevented that The regula-
tons require that every safety valve must
be blown at least once every three
within the last three months the steam
would have cleaned out all the corrosion.
i am very certain that the steam gauge
did not register correctly. Had 1t regis
tered correctly there would not have been
such tremendous pressure of steam at
tAe time Of the accident. When that
crownsheet collapsed the boiler was
carrying a pressure between go and 100
pounds"
Lieutenant Yates and Ensign Wade Of
the Bennington were before the court of
inquiry to-day. Officers of the court say
4 taat they do not expect TO be able TO
aclode the investigation this week.
MEN LEAVE THE HOSPITAL.
The naval court Of inquiry continues its
daily session on board the flagship Chi
cago. Testimony is still being heard by
the board and no formal report has been
made TO the admiral. but no information
as 10 the probable length OF the inquiry
is available.
OF the injured seamen remaining in the /
military hospital those still in the most /
serious condition, Mueller and Sullivan, /
probably viii recover, so that now there 4
may De no further additions to the death /
list. Yesterday eighteen Of the men were 1
discharged, and there are now only thir-
ry-fve in the hospital Hospital Surgeon
Hneedler spoke in terms Of praise Of the
civilians who have assisted in the care Of
the injured boys. He said:
The women Of San Diego have aided
materially in the rapid recovery of the
boys Not a day passes but several visit
the sick at the barracks, read to the
boys to help them pass the long hours
and write their letters for them. Those
women have done a world of good. 1
don't see how we could have got along
without them"
Every. afternoon the sick men are en-
tertained by the marine band from the
Chicago, which plays for an hour and a
racks.
Word has been received here that the
Los Angeles division Of the Naval Re
serves has decided to appropriate s25O
from its treasury to the Bennington me-
mortal fund.