The Wilson times. [volume] (Wilson, N.C.) 1896-19??, 1911-12-19

out any reference to the location OF |
the magazine, but that is not consid-
cred at all probable The belief is
that whoever planted the mine knew
the location of the magazine for the
mine of itself was not large enough
to destroy the ship, though undoubt-
edly it would have torn a hole in ner
hull large enough to sink her.
Events in Cuba after the arrival of
the Maine transpired rapidly. The re-
moval of General Weyler and the ar
rival of the Maine undoubtedly we're
taken as a menace by the Spanish
party in Cuba and some remarks made
by Captain Sigsbee were so garbled
as to make it appear that he favored
the new peace council
Shortly after $50 o'clock on the
night of February 25, 1898, the for
ward part of the Maine was entirely
destroyed by an explosion or a series
Of explosions. A number of officers
and men testified that there were two
explosions and placed the difference
in time anywhere from three to forty
seconds. The impression of the Off
GERS at first was that the ship had
been attacked.
Two officers and 259 men lost their
lives in the explosion. Of these. 18S
we're recovered shortly after and of
the remaining 73 officers and men, one
officer and SO men have been recov.
cred recently.
What is known generally as the
Sampson court was convened. This
court took testimony from all surviv-
oEs and from divers who examined the
wreck. Diving operations began on
/ TT11or1 Il NM
chains and various kinds of ammuni-
ton were recovered. On March 27 the
court arrived at the decision that the
loss of the Maine was not due to neg
lect of any officer or on the part of
the crew and that at frame 18, the
vertical keel was broken projecting
above the water 80 feet and that the
effect could only have been produced
by the explosion, it was claimed, was
brought about by the explosion of a
mine on the exterior Of the ship.
This report was the direct and i'm
pelling cause for the Spanish-Ameri-
can war, which formally began on
April 21, 1898.
Two years ago Congress appropriat-
ed money for the removal of the
| Maine. There had been a demand for
| this both on sentimental and business
grounds. Major w B. Ferguson. Lieu
! tenant Colonel Patrick, stationed at
Norfolk, and Colonel Black, all OF
| the United States army engineering
corps, were appointed a board to
carry on the work.
| After thorough study of the prob
| lem the board decided to undertake
the task by means of cofferdams sur
| rounding the wreck. Lieut.. Col. Pat
rick drew the plans for the Golfer
! dam and Major Ferguson was left. on
! the job at Havana to build the lcofer-
| dam and expose the wreck.
! At the very start it was predicted
that the plan would fail, but Major
| Ferguson, who, by the by, is a native
Of North Carolina, paid no heed to
such predictions and went steadily
ahead with his work That the under
taking was a difficult one was known
| from the start. Nothing like it had
| ever, been attempted before and the
problem was an experiment from be
| ginning to end.
What made it all the more difficult
was the fact that there is thirty feet
| of mud in Havana harbor. Mud al
ways is an unknown quantity and
| there is no accounting for the freaks
| of mud pressure. Major Ferguson
knew this as he had had occasion to
test mud pressure once before.
/ The cofferdam now built around the
wreck consists of twenty steel cylin-
ders, each fifty feet in diameter, form
ed of interlocking steel piles and
! connected together by arcs of Cir
cles. The piles are each about seven
ty five feet long and are driven in
! thirty feet of water thirty feet of
mud and about fifteen feet of har
clay. Each cylinder is filed with mNd
from which the water has been care
fully drawn as the level of the water
within the cofferdam was pumped
| down.
1t developed after about fifteen feet
of water had been pumped out of the
cofferdam that, as had been antici
pated, the cylinders moved inboaro
and that this motion was not alto
/ gether uniform. In order to reinforce
the cofferdam and stop this motion
a considerable amount of dirt was
applied around the cofferdam and or
the inside of the cofferdam consid
erab1e amount of broken stone was
: applied, over 10000 tons being used
AS the pumping proceeded, it was
) found necessary to further >stiffen the
: cofferdam by the use of heavy tim
| bers Of yellow pine carried in the
; form of bracing from one side to the
other through the area of the ex
; plosion. Where the after part of the
; ship remained intact heavy shore:
we're plpaced to form a bracing.
Before these braces could be gotte1
+ in place and strengthened so as tt
hold, the 26 cylinders, rs feet deel
} and 80 feet in diameter, had moved a
| IL - - Of IN inch
} 1 day until they had gone eleven fee
/ a,rd this