The St. Lucie County tribune. (Fort Pierce, St. Lucie County, Fla.) 1905-1920, 1911-06-16
NAMES TOMB
IN DEEP GULF
The Remains of Inflated Battle
ship Will Rest in the Ocean
EXHIBIT NOT ALLOWED
After Minute Inspection as to Cause of
Wreck the BattIeship Will be Sunk in
Six Hundred FathOms

The tomb to receive the remains of
the battleship Maine will be the bosom
of the Gulf Stream, in the Straits of
Florida. This is in accordance with
the original suggestion of the engin-
GERS entrusted with raising the wreck.
There have been many propositions
received by the government, all of
which had the objective of making
snow of the battered old wreck. Sew
eral were made in which it was agreed
that the wreck should be raised at the
expense of the promoters, who were
willing to incur the heavy outlay for
the prospective profits to accrue to
them from exhibiting the wreck, and
later, for the sale of it as souvenirs.
Others wanted the government to
contract with them to take charge of
the wreck after it had been raised,
they to pay the government a percent
age of the proceeds realized from it's
exhibition. Several years ago a Ger
man-American group endeavOred to OBJ
tain, through the Cuban government,
the right to remove the wreck from the
center of Havana harbor. The matter
was taken up by the Cuban govern
ment with the Washington authorities,
but the latter were not inclined to con-
sent to the plan. The parties making
this proposition had no intention of ex-
hibiting the week, but simply intended
to remove it piecemeal, transferring all
the fragments and portions of the
wreck to warehouse, where souvenir
pins, medals and buttons were to be cut
from the steel and stamped with proper
inscriptions. These parties estimated
that these souvenirs would be worth
their weight in silver, or even more.
All of these propositions savored too
much of cOmmercialism and were not
regarded with favor. While a great
many people would have been interest.
ed in seeing the wreck, yet the act of
towing it about, from place to place
for exhibition, would outrage the sense
of propriety of the great mass OF the
American people and occasion great
disparagement of our government in
the eyes of the European nations. In
fact, it would appear cheap, and our
government could not afford it, nor
countenance profit being made out of
something held sacred in the hearts of
the people-a relic of the honOred dead,
in whose memory others died IN war
that the nations honor might live.
Animated by such sentiments, the
United States government could DO no
more than give the wreck of the ILL.,
fated ship solemn burial at sea, and
so it has been ordered. When the eX-
aminng board, which is to finally de-
termine the cause of the destruction OF
the Maine, has finished its labors and
given it's verdict, the old hull will be
"bulkheaded," or sheathed over with
heavy planking, a temporary makeshlit
for an outer hull, to make it possible
to float the remains. AS soon as this
work is sufficiently watertight to In
sure the success of the final act. the
water will be let into the large Golfer
dam and the wreck will float.
No work of this nature can be done
until the examining board gives out It's
! findings when the naval corOner's IN
quest is closed. 1t may occur that
other nations may wish their experts to
examine the wreck, or, if the finding
reflects on Spain, that country might
ask for an investigation by an interna-
tional commission. This will be the
first occasion when the hull of Il vessel,
destroyed by such terrific explosion,
will be barred to minute examination
on the exact spot of the disaster. IL
will afford most interesting and III
structive study to naval and explosive
experts, and there can be no doubt that
those of the Unites States government
will make the most of the opportunity.
Once the water is turned into the
cofferdam, it is likely that powerful
pumps will be employed to keep the
wreck ahoat, no matter how well the
bulkheading may be done. These
pumps will probably be kept in con-
slant operation from the time the water
is allowed to flood the cofferdam until
the barges on which this machinery will
rest, retire from the sides of the Maine
a few minutes before the wreck is al
lowed to sink. To predict when the
wreck will be in a condition to float
would be idle, but che possibility is that
it will occur sometime during August.
As soon as the wreck is afloated, the
four caissons at the western end of the
oval of twenty caissOns, toward which
the bow of the Maine is now pointed,
will then be removed and the wreck
pulled into the open harbor. 1t will
then be towed to sea, probably ten
miles out from Havana, and there be
allowed to disappear forever from hu-
man eyes, to find bed on the coral
bottom 600 fathoms below, perhaps in
touch with Spanish galleons or bucca-
neer craft which have slept in peace for
centuries in the warm, indigo colored
waters of the Gulf Stream.