The Red Cloud chief., 1911-11-09

bodies cannot be reached until the
tons Of twisted metal that lie upon
them are cut away and removed.
Here . thigh bone, there q rib, over
yonder part Of a hand--these are the
grewsome finds that the workmen
make every day.
Although the explosion occurred in
February-over 13 years ago. by the
way-the night was hot and many Of
the crew slept out on the port side
Of the berth deck. Most Of the bodies
recovered have been from this part
Of the ship. Down In the engine
room-when that 10 reached-from Is
to 80 bodies probably will be found
bodies Of the poor devils who worked
down below the water line and who
hadn't q condemned mans chance
to get away.
In the Captains cabin and in the
other quarters that have been uncov.
cred and mud.relieved, articles Of Va
rious sorts In most remarkable pres
ervation have been found. The most
striking thing in this line 10 . boz
Of rubber bands In . perfect state Of
elasticity and preservation. Their i'm.
mersion in the intensely salt waters
Of Havana harbor appears to have i'm.
proved them. II anything. Bits Of
leather sword hilts, shoes, caps have
come out practically uninjured. All
metals, however. show the effect Of
the immersion.
There 10, roughly, rs feet Of mud to
take out yet before the Maine can be
raised" The piling that forms the
exterior Of each Of the caissons com.
posing the cofferdam II 80 feet long.
Between rs and 30 feet Of water was
pumped out. There 10 nothing but
mud remaining. But 1t 10 glue-liks
mud and 10 10 times harder to get rid
Of than the water was. Hydraulic
pumps have been installed, but the
work put upon them Is 80 unusual
that they haven't been successful as
yet.
Oxygen-acetyline apparatus has
been used to separate-"cut up"-the
steel and iron Of the ship where It
was necessary to remove those tan.
gled portions hampering the further
work OF excavation. This apparatus
resembles. In . way. . plumbers blow
lamp. Only the intense heat cuts
through metal - q knife would
through butter. A five-inch square
piece OF steel was seen severed 20
quickly that the operation appeared
to be almost magical. The method Of
cutting away the opposing metal parts
will be continued until the wreck u
entirely removed.
inerustsd With Oysters.
The whole part Of the ship 20 far
exposed is incrusted with oysters and
barnacles-mostly oysters. Hundreds
Of thousands Of the bivalves have at-
tached themselves to the hulk. The
incrustations appearing In the pic.
ture are all oysters. When the water
was being removed from the Golfer
dam thousands of nsh and eela
splashed and struggled In the inolos
ure There were many Of the several
hundred workmen employed BY Major
Ferguson who took homo strings OF
fish every night whom they quit work
Now, of course, there 10 nothing but
Shiny mud within the inclosure.
The work Of constructing the cot
ferdam, and, In fact, practically all oi
the executive labor connected with
the raising" has been conducted BY
Major Hartley B. Ferguson, who II
one OF the main board. Colonel vii
liam Black and Colonel Mason Patrick
are the other two. The cofferdam
has been repeatedly tested and in sew
eral places REINFORCED. and, while II
10 the nrst one Of the sort ever con
structed, the complete success Of II
has marked place in the history oi
engineering. But successful % the
work has been remarkable. the cold
fact probably 10 not more than hall
finished.