The Key West citizen. [volume] (Key West, Fla.) 1879-current, 1943-02-15
Before-THE MAINE-After

as a religious institution and
turned into an emergency hospital
to care for them.
The monument in Key West
IICemetery marks the spot where
a number of dead from the Maine
were buried, and one of her tur-
rets, set up in the yard of the
Harris School, at Southland and
Margaret streets, is an interesting
relic for Navy men of today to in
spect. Remember the Maine" be-
came the natinoal watchword for
the recruiting of an army dedi-
Gated to driving the remaining YES
tiges of SPANS power out of the
Americas, just as Remember
Pearl Harbor" has spurred the
nation to a new crusade to out
law such treacherous aggressionS
from the world our children are
to live in.
When the Maine sailed from
Key West for Havana late in jan
uary of 1898 relations between the
United States and Spain had al
most reached a breaking point,
and Key West had long been a
center of the Cuban revolutionary
movement, Spain charging that it
was point of departure for many
of the armed expeditions taking
men and arms to the island. To put
a stop to any such activities the
Maine and other ships had been
based at Key West during 1896
and 1897. The Names visit to Ha-
vana was, officially, courtesy
visit, but the Spaniards, and es-
pecially the Cuban "Voluntaries, "
violently pro-Spanish and anti
United States Cubans became
furious when the Maine sailed in
to Havana Harbor. Three weeks
later almost three-fourthS of her
men were dead and she was a
twisted hulk with parts of her
decks barely awaSh> and her bow
pointed toward the sky.
That it was a submarine mine,
exploded near her keel at about
frame nineteen, which caused al
most simultaneous internal eX-
plosions and destroyed the Maine
and nearly all her complement, is
the official and almost universal
ly accepted version, although
Spanish - and many Cuban -
textbooks claim it was solely an
internal explosion and imply that
it was instigated by the United
States or some political element
of the United States to provide a
pretext for the conquest of SPANS
colonial EMPIRE.
Early in 1911 the United States
l Government contracted for the
raising of the Maine and the re-
! moval of her remains from Havana
Harbor. for the three-fold purpose
of getting rid of a menace to ma
vigation, of recovering the remain
ing bodies of her dead and to per-
NIT more complete examination
of her hull. Cofferdams were
built around her; the water inside
was pumped out, leaving her on
the dry bottom of the bay; her
forward section, about forty per-
cent of the ship, was cut off
squarely, taken to sea and sunk
in deep water after careful meas
urements and study. All her decks
were covered by inches of foul
blush mud from which skulls,
bones and the more resistant items
of equipment were carefully re-
/ moved. One or two of the crania
recovered and few handfulS of
bones were put in each casket, the
end of each box being Stencilled,
"1-or two-Unknown Dead
u. S. S. Maine
This forward transverse sec
ton was closed with a bulkhead
of timber deals and canvas, so
that when the wateF was let in by
the removal of sections of the dam
the old hulk floated again at bay
level. A private concern was said
to have offered the United States
100000 for her as she floated. to
use most of the materials in her
in the making of souvenirs. The
buttons and medals of the Span
ish-American war veterans are
made of metal salvaged from the
Maine, but the offer was refused
as not in keeping with the dignity
due the martyred ship. and she
was towed about six miles to sea
for formal burial.
On the morning of February