Daily Kennebec journal., 1905-08-22
Caused the Bennington
Disaster at San Diego.
Is the Finding Of the Naval
Board Of inquiry. Ill. .e
Steam Gauge Failed to Register Pressure
Finding a Complete Surprise. =

ruhIic the proceedings ana TndlngS OF
,he court OF inquiry, which investigated
the cxnlosion on the gunboat Benning-
ton At san Diego. Cal. July Il.
TIa findings were u complete sur
rrjse. for they at once set at rest the
et.,ries which had circulated to the ef-
feet that the Benningfon's boilers ana
,crhaps those of Other naval vessels Oh
,h. same age were defective.
As , matter of fact, the court founi
IA. expIosion resulted from the closing
III !, valve which connected the eXplod
rJ boiler with its steam gauge. so that
~. pressure on that Doiler may hav"
been several hundred pounds to the
souarc inch when the accident oc-
Cured.
The officer and men who were respon-
cibIc, in the opinion of the court. are
poiutcl out and courtmartial proceed
ings suggested in tn case Of the only
one "c them surviving. Ensign Charles
r. Wauc The finding says:
The ship was in an excellent stare
of discipline and in Il COOL ard efficient
condition with the exception OF her
boilers. which were in fair condition,
and efficient, considering their age,
tabout II years.. and he Use to which
they had been subjected"
Continuing. the court says:
About o.20 on JuIy 2l after botn
boilers had been filled ard the furnaces
started il was observed that the steam
gauge on boiler "B" showed about hVc
pounds of steam pressure. and at TINS
time. Oiler Frank DE- Courtani. acting
as water tender. directed ID. \. Hol-
land second class, to 'lose the air cock
on boiler "B': that the said Holland
climbed up and closed a valve and al
most Immediately the steam gauge on
boiler "R" failed to register any pres
sure; that this was apparently not no.
ti,.nd nv either the water tender or the
fireman ana no attention appears to
have been paid to the fact that ths.
steam caug" failed to register, but they
kept on working the fires and firing
heavily; that when the steam gauge on
boiler "a" showed 135 pounds, there
was 10 pressure showing on the steam
g.rug" Of boiler b
tn" finding then goes on to state tha,
about IL - o'clock a small leak was found
in boiler b" A request had h"cn sent
to IL" bnII"rmakcr to come and attend 10
th,- ri.,p wfEih thei rldsinn afefuras'd
All that happened after tho explosion Is
described at considerable length. tn
court says.
''%u on" seems to have noticed any 'S-
cape nf steam from the safety valves Of
any at m" boilers and no one can state
that tny Of the safety valves blew off 1T
AMY tim. that morning. that We can ma
no r.,urd Of the safety valve of boiler
rs having been oycrIaulct! Slnc" july,
lfri uui any positive cvid"uc" of IT having
been done though orders had been given
FOR this "a b. done in March. 100. that
thyt" is uu record Of the s"ntine! valves
havtrG been ovcrhaulcd since July. 1901;
that the safety valves were set at H.
pounds. but IN route from Honolulu to
this port orders were given to carry tho
steam pressure ut from l50 10 ~ pounds.
not - exceed the latter but the safety
valves wcr, not changed: that this order
hid nccn clearly understood; that the
hand gear for lifting the safety valves
WIS not In working order anI there is no
record nor direct cvidcuC" that the safety
valve, lad been tested !" accordance with
the navy regulations; that the discipline
seems to have been excellent and every
thing that could be don" bv the surviving
officers and crew was done in q cool and
CONTAGIOUS manner: thIt after an exami-
nation OF the collapsed furnarr fiue and
from physical tests that We have maIlc
IN" material Of this rurnac" fIuc was al
good quality. that III" ship is practically
uninlured except in aud about tie engine
aud boiler rooms
The opinion Of the court is that The
explosion was due to excessive pressure
IN boiler r. caused by tn" shutting Of
10y mistake of the EuaEc valve so tina
the guagr dii not register the pressure
hy IN" heavy firing which followed il
an effort tp get up 4 steam pressur
Which the Cuagc failed to indicate, ant
10y til" failure of the sentinel and safe
tv valves to lift at the pressure 70
h II tLcy were set.
1t is also the opinion Of the court tina
II. y. Holland. the fireman on duty a
IN" time, shut off tn" guaSc valve b.
mISt,kc. that Frank D. Courtenai. act
Inr water tender, on watch. i'm charg
81 boiler II. failed to notice that tn
I'm EIIagC was not recording, an
tnlt he caused the firing Of the boile
Ia h. puShcd and that T.. H. Ferguson
,Ei"C mdrhinist's mate. in charge of tn
engine and fire rooms. failed to inspeC
th" boiler while steam was being raise
:Iud failed to cause the steam guage I
l." connected with the boiler. Thes
thirc m,u being dead, continues tn
opinion, mo further proceedings "a
bc taken against them"
But the court recommends that Er
sign Charles T. Wade. who had been
charge "f the engineering departures
of la !,
brought before a general court marti;
for neglect of duty in accepting the vel
bal statemcnt'of his subordinates tha
the safety valves had been overhaule
i'm March. 1905. instead of seeing to tt
oVerhduling in person: and for failuI
To- see that safety and sentinel valve
were in order as provided in the nav
regulations.