The citizen. (Honesdale, Pa.) 1908-1914, 1911-11-22
Five Army and Navy Officers
Instructed to Learn Cause
of Explosion

"a BOARD of five army and navy
N officers has been appointed to
inspect the wreck of the bat
tleship Maine and report all
possible data which it can gather, in
cluding the cause Of the destruction of
the vessel. The members of the board
are Rear Admiral Charles Il. Vreeland,
aid for inspections; Chief Constructor
Richard M. Watt, Colonel William
Black. engineer corps; Commander
Charles F. Hughes. member of the
board Of inspection and survey, and
Commander Joseph Strauss on duty
in the Office of the aid for material.
This will be the second formal in
vestigation of the cause of the wreck
of the battleship.
nificant. None of the members was
identified with the first investigation,
which Immediately followed the de-
struction of the vessel. Admiral Vree-
land and Commander Hughes are
members of the board of inspection
familiarity with this sort of work
Chief Constructor Watt is chief of tn
bureau of construction and repair and
an expert on the structural features of
naval vessels. Commander Strauss Is
a powder expert and was formerly in
Indian Head, Md. Colonel Black was
chosen because of the fact that he was
the president of the army board which
decided to raise the Maine by means
of cofferdam. He is the senior en-
gineer officer in charge of the work of
raising and removing the Maine from
Havana harbor in accordance with
legislation passed several years ago.
$500,000 Already Spent.
About $500,OOO has already been
spent in raising the Maine. A large
cofferdam was constructed around the
vessel and the mud cleared away. For
the last few weeks no work has been
done, as the hurricane season was
threatening. All danger of an acci-
dent of this sort is now over, and the
army engineers are ready to remove all
the water from the cofferdam and dis
close the hulk of the Maine for the in
restigation of the board.
Immediately after the wrecking of
the Maine ON Feb. Is, 1898, a court of
inquiry was appointed, consisting of
Captain William II. Sampson, presi-
dent; Captain French E. Chadwick ana
Lieutenant Commander William +. Pot
ter, and Lieutenant Commander Adoph
Marx, judge advocate. After hearing
testimony for about three weeks the
court found that the loss of the Maine
was not due to any fault or negligence
IN the part of any of the officers OF
members of her crew; that the ship
was destroyed by the explosion OF a
submarine mine which caused the par
tial explosion of two or more of her
forward magazines and that no evi-
dence was obtainable to fix the respou-
Sihility for the destruction of the
Maine on any person or persons. Much
of the testimony on which this report
was based was from naval and civilian
divers who investigated the condition
of the wreck below the water line.
The new board. however, will have
better facilities for studying the prob
able causes of the wreck. The water
will be entirely removed from the cof
ferdam. which will give the naval and
army experts an opportunity of gather
ing first hand information, and they
will not have to rely on the reports OF
divers.
There has always been good deal
of comment not only in navy circles
but also in the American and foreign
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