Middlebury register. (Middlebury, Vt.) 1886-1937, 1912-03-22
IN LAST RESTING PLACE.
Hulk of Battieship Maine at Bot
tom of Sea.

Havana, March IS. Under lowering
skies and in heavy tumbling sea the
old battleship Maine, resurrected after
fourteen years burial in Havana
Harbor, plunged with her colors flying
to her everlasting rest, 600 fathoms
deep in the sapphire waters of the Gulf.
The sinking of the hulk was carried 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 ended with the formal
transfer of the custody of the bodies of
the heroic dead by the Mayor of Havana,
Julio de Cardenas, to Brig. Gen. w. H.
Bixby, Chief of the Engineer Corps, u.
S. A., and the representative of the
| United States, the collins were taken
aboard the armored cruiser North Caro-
lima, where they were deposited on the
quarterback, completely covered by a
great mound of floral tributes, under a
guard of honor composed of marines.
Minute guns were fired by the North
Carolina and the scout cruiser Birming-
ham and the batteries of Cabanas
fortress until the ships cleared the
harbor.
Soon after o'clock the navy tug Os-
ceola, aboard of which were the United
States Minister, Arthur NJ Beaupre,
and the staff of the legation, Brigadier
General Bixby, Colonel William M.
Black, Lieutenant Colonel Mason M.
Patrick and Major Harley B. Ferguson,
constituting the Maine Commission,
passed lines to the stern end of the
wedge-shaped wreck and started sea-
ward. Two thanking tugs attached
lines to either end of the bulk-head,
which then became the afterpart of the
hulk, for the purpose of steadying and
steering her.
Her decks covered deep with flowers
and palms and great American ensign
floating from the jurymast, where the
mainmast formerly stood, the Maine put
to sea on her last voyage. On deck stood
Captain John O'Brien, famous as "Dy-
Mantle Johnny" skipper of the filibus-
tering steamers, Dauntless and Three
Friends, acting as the Names last pilot.
AS the wreck passed the American
squadron the crew manned the rails, the
marines presented arms, the scarlet
coated bandsmen on the quarterback
played the national anthem, while
minute guns doomed requiem.
The progress was necessarily slow.
Half an hour later the North Carolina
and Birmingham got under way down
the channel, the United States engi-
neer's steam dredge Barnard carrying
all the men who had work ed on the Golfer
dam, a steamer with the Havana
Camp, Spanish American War Veterans
aboard, Commodore Carbonell's yacht
Gypsy, with the Havana Chapter, D. A.
R., and a great fleet of tugs and
chartered vessels.
Passing out of the harbor no salutes
were fired, the fiotilla, headed by the
Maine, proceeding in silence with all
flags at half-mast. The course was
almost due north, so as to keep the
wreck head-on to the heavy sea and
thus avoid the danger of falling into the
trough
At 4:35 O'Clock a three whistle blast
from the North Carolina, followed by
one gun, announced that the three-mile
limit had been crossed. Half an houl
was permitted to elapse, awaiting the
arrivals of the laggards of the fleet
Then the American cruisers took up 6
position to the eastward of the wreck
the Cuban warships moved to the west
ward, and the accompanying vessels
were grouped to the north and south.
In the meantime the wrecking crew
went aboard the hulk and made ready
to carry out the arrangements for the
sinking, which consisted of opening nu
merous valves in the bottom, operated
from the deck, the large sideways il
the bulkhead and all the doors in the
two permanent bulkheads remaining
in the ship.
Precisely at 5 O'Clock another whistle
sounded from the North Carolina anC
another gun was fired. The crew in
stantly threw open the valves, and with
Captain O'Brien, jumped aboard tug
alongside, which steamed a little dis
lance away. Then all eyes in the great
fleet were fixed on the wreck, the crews
of the warships lining the rails. All
was silence but for the wash of the
heavy seas.