The Mena weekly star. (Mena, Ark.) 1904-1977, 1912-03-21
THE MAINE GIVEN
BURIAL At SEA
Six Hundred Fathoms Deep, She
Lies in the Deep OF the Sea She
SaiId-Homeward Bound
With Her Dead.

Havana. March TO- Under low
ering skies and in a heavy, tumb-
ling sea, the old battleship Maine,
resurrected after ii years burial
in Havana harbor, today plunged
with her colors flying to her ever
lasting rest, GOO fathoms deep in
The blue waters of the gulf.
The sinking of the hulk was car
ried out precisely as planned,
marking the end Of The great work
begun more than a year and half
ago.
After imposing ceremonies in the
morning, which closed with the
formal transfer of the custody of
the bodies of the heoric dead by
She mayor Of Havana, Julio de Car
denas, to Brig. Gen. w. II. Bixby
chief of the engineer corps, y. >.
A.. as representative of the United
States. the collins were taken
aboard the cruiser North Carolina,
where they were deposited on the
quarter deck and completely COW
cred with a mound of floral trib-
utes. Marines composed a guard
of honor. Minute guns were fired
by the North Carolina, the scout
cruiser Birmingham and the bat
teres Of Cabanas fortress until the
ships cleared the harbor.
Soon after o'clock the navy tug
Osceola passed lines to the stern
of the wedge-shaped wreck and
started seward. Two thanking tugs
attached lines to either ends of the
bulkheads, which then became the
after part Of the hulk. to steady
and steer her.
Her decks, covered deeply with
blowers and palms, great Ameri-
can ensign floating from the jury
mast, where the main mast for
merly stood, the Maine was drawn
20 sea on her last voyage.
As the wreck passed the Ameri-
can squadron the crews manned
the rails, the marines presented
arms, the scarlet coated bandsmen
ON the quarter deck played the
national anthem and minute guns
doomed a requiem.
Passing out of the harbor, no sa-
lutes were fired, the flotilla head
ed by the Maine passing in silence
with flags at half mast. The
course was due north, so as to keep
1he wreck head on to the heavy
sea.
At :35 o'clock a three-whistle
blast from the North Carolin, fol-
lowed by one gun, announced that
The three-mile limit had been
crossed.
The American cruisers took up a
position TO the eastward of the
wreck, the cuban warships moved
do the westward, and the accom-
panying vessels grouped to the
north and south. Meanwhile the
wrecking crew went aboard the
hulk and made ready to carry out
athe arrangements for the sinking
which consisted Of opening nu-
merous valves in the bottom (op-
Grated from the deck, the large
sluice-ways in the bulkhead and all
the doors in the two permanent
hulkheads remaining in the ships.
The Long, Last Plunge.
At 5 o'clock another whistle
sounded from the North Carolina
and another gun was fired. The
crew instantly threw open the
valves and Captain O'Brien leaped
10 a tug alongside, which steamed
a little distance away.
Then all eyes in the great fleet
were fixed on the wreck, the crews
OF the warShips lining the rails.
An was silence but for the wash
of the heavy seas.
For ten minutes no change was
visible in the trim of the great,
rusty battered hulk, which pitched
heavily as the huge rollers struck
her. Then she began sinking by
ahe bulkhead end. Soon the waves
were washing over her deck. AS
she remained pitching, each mo-
ment settling deeper and deeper,
the stern 0rse. In few seconds the
bulk was almost vrtical, showing
first the propellers and then the
full keel.
The next moment there was a
flash of blue and white as the great
ensign flying from the masthead
struck the waves and disappeared.
Beneath the Troubled Sea.
simultaneously the decks were
blown up by the air pressure, and
with incredible velocity the Maine
plunged down, leaving no trace
save flowers tossing about on the
breast of the troubled sea.
The silence was broken by whis-
Tie blasts from the whole fleet
the only salute. Ten minutes later
the Cuban flagship Hatuel fired a
farewell salute to the United States
squadron to which both cruisers
replied. Then they shaped their
course for Norfolk.
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