The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-03-17
Return of Hull to the Deep Marked With Impress
 sive Ceremonies
GEN ERAL BIXBY HAS
 CHARGE OF BODIES
All Silent But Wash of the Waves as Famous Wreck Sinks-Min- ute Guns and Sautes
 Mark Passage

Havana. March 1G-Under lowering skies and heavy. tumbing sea. the old battleship Maine. resurrected after II years burial in Havana harbor. today plunged. with her eolors nying to her everlasting resting place. 600 fatnoms deep in the sapphire waters of the gulf The sl king of the bulk was carried out pre- cisel2 as planned. marking the end of the great work begun more than d year and a half ago
 Ceremonies Are Impressive
 After impressive ceremonies in the morning, which ended with the formal tronsfer of the custody of the bodies of the heroic dead by the mayor of Havana, Julie de Cardenas. to Brig. Gen. w. Il. Bixby. chief of the engineer corps, U. $. A., as the representative Of the United States government, To the cruiser Meth Carolina, where they were deposited OH the quarter deck, covered by a great mound of floral tributes, under guard of honor composed of marines. Minute guns were fired by the North Carolina and the scout cruiser Birmingham and the batteries of Cabanas fortress until the ships cleared the harbor.
 Soon after o'clock the navy tug Oaee- ola. board which were the United states minister. Arthur NJ. Beaupre. and the staff of the legation, Brigadier General | BiNby. Col. William M Black Lieut.. Col. Mason NJ. Patrick and others. passed the wedge shaped wreck and started seaward. Two hanking tugs with lines passing to each side of the bukhead which then became the after part Of the hulk
 Covered by Flags l With her decks covered deep With | flowers and palms. and great American ensign floating from the jury mast, where l the main mast formerly stood, the Maine was taken to sea on her last voyage. on her deck stood Capt John o'Brien, fam ous as "Dynamite Johnny skipper of tue nHibusterins steamers Dauntless and Three Friends, acting as the Maine last pilot. As the wreck passed the Amer icaNl squadron tho crews manned the rails. the marines presented arms, the scarlet coated bandsnen on tho quarter deck played the national anthem while minute guns boomed a requiem. Progress necessarily was slow. Half an hour later the North Carolina and Blr- mingham got under way followed by the Cuban gunboats 1Iatuey, Yara, Endiqne Nilluendas and 70 de Octubre, the United States engineers team dredge Barnard, carrying all the men who had worked on the cofferdam. a steamer with the 1la- vana camp Spansh-Ameriean war vel erans aboard Commodore Carbornees yacht Gypsy with the Havana chapter D. A. R. and a great fleet of tugs md chartered vessels.
 | Proceed in Silence
 
 were fired, the noatilla. headed by the Maine. proceeding in silence with flags at half mast The course was due north. so as 10 keep the wreck head to the heavy sea. At 43o o'clock three whistle blasts from the North Carolina. followed by one gun, announcing that the thrse mile limit had been crossed The Amer
 can cruisers took up a position to the eastward of the wreck. the Cuban war ship moved to fhe westward and the ac- oompanying vessels were grouped to the north and south Meanwhile the wrecklns crew went aboard the hulk and mafa ready to carry out inc arrangements. forf the sinking which consisted of opening numerous valves in the bottom operated from the deck the large slaicewalls ind the bnlkhoad and all the doors In the two permanent hukheads remaining in the ship
 Sinks in Silence , Al. o'clock another whistle sounded from the North Carolina and anotnrr gun was fired. The crew instantly threw Iopen the valves and, with Captain O Bren, jumped aboard tug alongside which steamed little distance away Then all eyes in the great fleet were fixed on me wreck the crews of the warships lining the rails All was silence but for the wash of the heavy seas.
 For 10 minutes no change was vis- ible in the rusty battered old hulk which pitched hea willy as the huge rol Ter struck her. Then she began sink Ing at the bulkhead end. Soon the waves began to wash over her decks. As she remained pitching, each mo ment settling deeper and deeper, the stern rose. In a few seconds the hulk was almost vertical, showing first ths propellers and then the full keel Only Flowers Remain The next moment there was a flash , of blue and the mast struck the waves P and disappeared. Simultaneously the ] decks were blown up by the pressure of the air and with Incredible NelocitH r tbe Maine plunged down. leaving noth- - ing but flowers to crest the waves. f The silence was broken by whistle l. blasts from the entire fleet which Was the only salute.
 Three minutes later fhe Cuban nag
  ! to the squadron. To which both cruisers e replied then shaped their course for Norfolk.
 Twenty minutes elapsed from the iopening of the valves until the vessel disappeared This was exactly as planned. The depth where the MainO - plunged IS estimated to be not less n than 600 fathoms and on account of this and the velocity of the gulf stream it Is believed she did not reach the , bottom until carried miles to tue north s and eastward.
 < New York, March l6.-At the stroke. a Iof 2 this afternoon. fin reme embrance of s the Maine, all river and harbor craft !, hereabouts blew their whistles, and ; churches in all parts of the city tollsd |, their bells for five minutes. S Philadelphia March l6-Thirty sol !, emn peals from the bell in the tower ; of the historic lndependence hall o teoSTiSuED oN FACE o