Destruction of U. S. Battleship Maine

The United States Battleship Maine arrived at the port of Havana, Cuba, January 25th, 1898. She was received with the usual international courtesies, and during three weeks remained quietly at anchor in the harbor. No appreciable excitement attended her stay, and officers and crew were treated with courtesy by the Cuban government and people.

At forty minutes past nine in the evening of the 15th of February the Maine was destroyed by an explosion by which the entire forward part of the ship was utterly wrecked. In this catastrophe two officers and two hundred and sixty-four of her crew perished. Prompt assistance was rendered by the neighboring vessels anchored in the harbor, aid being especially given by the boats of the Spanish cruiser Alfonso XII. and the Ward Line Steamer City of Washington, which lay not far distant. The wounded were generously cared for by the authorities of Havana, the hospitals being freely opened to them, while the earliest recovered bodies of the dead were interred by the municipality in a public cemetery in the city. Tributes of grief and sympathy were offered from all official quarters of the island.

The appalling calamity fell upon the people of this country with crushing force, and for a brief time intense excitement prevailed, which might have led to hasty acts of blind resentment. This spirit, however, soon gave way to the resolve to investigate the facts before forming a judgment as to the cause, the responsibility, and the remedy due. According to the usual procedure in all cases of casualty or disaster, a naval court of inquiry was organized of which Captain (now Rear Admiral) W. T. Sampson was President. With the aid of a strong force of wreckers and divers the court proceeded to make a thorough investigation on the spot. Its operations were conducted with the utmost deliberation, and, while independently pursued, no attainable source of information was neglected, and the fullest opportunity was allowed for a simultaneous investigation by the Spanish authorities. The finding of the court of inquiry was reached, afrer twenty-three days of continuous labor, on the 21st of March. Its purport is, in brief, as follows:

When the Maine arrived at Havana she was conducted by the regular Government pilot to buoy No. 4, to which she was moored in from five and a half to six fathoms of water. The state of discipline on board, and the condition of her magazines, boilers, coal-bunkers and storage-compartments were reviewed, with the conclusion that excellent order prevailed, and that no indication existed any quarter of any cause for an internal explosion. At 8 o'clock in the evening of February 15th everything had been reported secure and all was quiet. At forty minutes past 9 o'clock the vessel was suddenly destroyed. There were two distinct explosions, with a brief interval between them.

The first lifted the forward part of the ship very perceptibly; the second, which was more open, prolonged, and of greater volume, is attributed by the court to the partial explosion of two or more of the forward magazines. At frame 17, the outer shell of the ship from a point eleven and a half feet from the middle line of the ship, and six feet above the keel when in its normal position had been forced up so as to be about four feet above the surface of the water, therefore about thirty-four feet above where it would be had the ship sunk uninjured.

The outside bottom plating was bent into a V shape reversed (A), the after-wing of which, about fifteen feet broad and thirty-two feet in length (from frame 17 to frame 25), was doubled back upon itself against the continuation of the same plating, extending forward. At frame 18 the vertical keel was broken in two, and the flat keel bent into an angle similar to the angle formed by the outside bottom plating. This break is now about six feet below the surface of the water and about thirty feet above its normal position. In the opinion of the court this effect could have been produced only by the explosion of a mine situated under the bottom of the ship at about frame 18, and somewhat on the port side of the ship.

The conclusions of the court are: That the loss of the Maine was not in any respect due to fault or negligence on the part of any of the officers of members of her crew.

That the ship was destroyed by the explosion of a submarine mine, which caused the partial explosion of two or more of her forward magazines; and that no evidence has been attainable fixing the responsibility for the destruction of the Maine upon any person or persons.

While the United States court of inquiry was carried on, the Spaniards also organized a court of inquiry as to the cause of the destruction of the Maine, presided over by Captain Don Pedro del Peral y Caballero.

This court held sessions from the time of the catastrophe till March 22d, 1898, and examined many witnesses carefully and at length. These witnesses were all persons who had seen the explosion at a greater or less distance, or had made some examination of the wreck. No one on the vessel at the time of the disaster was called before the court, nor does it appear that the inspection of the wreck by divers or others was very thorough. The important parts of the finding of the Spanish Court are as follows:

First.-That on the night of February 15th an explosion of the first order, in the forward magazine of the American iron-clad Maine, caused the destruction of that part of the ship and its total submersion in the same place in this bay at which it was anchored.

Second.-That it is learned, from the diagrams of the vessel, that there were no other explosive substances or articles in that magazine, the only one which exploded, than powder and shells of various calibers.

Third.--That the same diagrams prove that said magazine was surrounded on the port side, the starboard side, and partly aft, by coal bunkers, containing bituminous coal, and which were in compartments adjoining said magazine, and apparently separated from it only by metal bulkheads.

Fourth.-That the important facts connected with the explosion, in its external appearances, at every moment of its duration, having been described by witnesses, and the absence of all circumstances which necessarily accompany the explosion of a torpedo having been proved by these witnesses and experts, it can only be honestly asserted that the catastrophe was due to internal causes.

Fifth.-That the character of the proceedings undertaken, and respect for the law which establishes the principle of absolute extra-territoriality of a foreign war vessel, have prevented the determination, even by conjecture, of the said internal origin of the disaster; to which, also, the impossibility of establishing the necessary communication, either with the crew of the wrecked vessel or with the officials of their Government commissioned to investigate the causes of the said event, or with those subsequently entrusted with the issue, has contributed.

It was testified before the Spanish court by experts that, on the explosion of a submarine torpedo or mine, there would be great disturbance of the water, the shock would be felt by vessels near, and that the fish in the neighborhood would be killed. Officers on the Alfonso XII., which lay near the Maine, said there was no disturbance of the water and no shock to their vessel. Several witnesses who visited the spot soon after the explosion testified that, although the harbor abounded in small fish, they saw no dead ones.

The statements above made are taken from official reports to the United States Senate.