Arizona republican., 1912-03-17
Gallant Battleship Maine is Towed Out to Sea and Given Impressive and Grandly Solemn Funeral Service
LIES AT BOTTOM
 OF OLD OCEAN
Wreck is Taken From Ha- vana Harbor and With Colors Flying She Goes Down in Six Hundred Fathoms of Water
I ,iSsociQfcd Press DiSPGtcIll

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 HAVANA. March IG.-Under lower in.. skies and heavy seas the old battleship Maine. resurrected alter fourteen years burial in Havana mar bor. today plunged. with her colors f;ving. to her everlasting rest slN hundred fathoms deep in the waters of the sea. The sinking Of the hulk was carried out precisely as planned. marking the end of the work begun more than a year and a half ago.
 After imposing ceremonies in the morning which ended with the formal transfer of the custody of the bodies of the dead by the mayor of Havana, JuIfo de Cardenas. to Brigadier Gen eraI ". H. Bixby. chief Of the en- g;neer corps. L. :. A., as representa- tive of the United States, the coiIihs were taken aboard the armored cruiser North Carolina, where they were deposited on the quarterdeck and covered by d great mound or floral tributes under d guard of honor com rosed Of marines Minute guns were fired by the North Carolina and scout cruiser Birmingham. and the batterles of Cabanas fortress until the shlpS cleared the harbor Soon after two o'clock the heavy tug Osceola, aboard or which were United States Minister Arthur H. Beaupre and the staff oI the legation. Brigadier General BiXby, l Colonel William H. Black, Lieutenant l Colonel Mason N. Patrick. and Ma1or Harley E. Ferguson. constituting the i Maine commission, passed lines to the stern end of the wedge-shaped wreck and started seaward. Two flanking i tugs attached lines 10 either end of the bulkhead. which then became the after part of the hulk to steady and ] steer her.
 With the decks covered deep with | flowers and palms and the United l states flag floating from the jurymast 1 " here the mainmast formerly stood, | the Maine put to sea on her last voyage. on the deck stood Captain | John O'Brien, famous as Dynamite | Johnny" skipper of the filibustering | steamers .'Dauntless" and Three i Friends" acting as the Maine's last | pilot.
 As the Maine passed the United l States squadron the crews manned | the rails and the marines presented | arms. the bandsmen played the na- tional anthem. while minute guns 1 boomed a requiem. Progress was nec- l essarily slow. Half an hour later the . North Carolina and Birmingham got | under way. followed by the Cuban l gunboats Haturi, Yara. Enrique Nii- lundas; De Octubre. the United States l engineers steam dredger Bernard, car l aIT f1,.. n-l1 had worked | on the cofferdam. d steamer with the Havana camp of the Spanish Amer ican war veterans aboard. Commodore Calbonelrs yacht Gypsy. with the Havana D. A R. fleet of tugs. and chartered vessels.
 Passing out of the harbcr the flo- tilIa. headed by the Maine. proceeded in silence with flags at half mast over q course almost due north, so as to keep the wreck head-on to the heavy seas. and thus avoid the danger of falling into the trough. At 8 three whistle blasts from the North Caro- lima. followed by one gun. announced that the three mile limit mad been crossed. Half an hour was given to the laggards of the fleet to arrive. Then the United States cruisers took up position to the eastward of the wreck; the Cuban warships moved to the westward: the accompanying yes
 sels were grouped to the north and south Meanwhile the wrecling crew went aboard the hulk and made ready to carry out the arrangements for the sinking. which consisted in the open ing of numerous valves in the bottom,
 operated from the deck, large sluice
 ways in the bulkhead and all doors in the two permanent bulkheads re-
 mainilg in the ship.
 Precisely at five o'clock another whistl sounded from tine North Caro- lima and another gun was fired. The crew threw open the valves and with
 Captain O'Brien jumped to a tug alongside, which steamed little dis
 tance away Then all eyes in the great fleet were fixed on the wreck
 the crews of the warships lining the rails. For ten minutes no change was visible in the battered hulk. which
 pitched heavily when the rollers struck her Then she was seen to be sinking at the bulkhead and soon the
 waves began to wash over her deck. The stern was seen to rise, and in a
 few seconds the hulk was almost yer tical, showing first the propellers. then
 the full keel. The next moment there was a flash of blue and white as the ensign flying from the mast struck
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