THE MAINE DISASTER.

Otago Witness, Issue 2299, 24 March 1898, Page 61

THE MAINE DISASTER.

PARTICULARS BY THE MAIL. (Per Mariposa at Auckland.) Havana, February 15. The American battle3hip Maine, lying at anchor here, was destroyed an explosion ab 10 o'clock to-night. The explosion 6hook the whole city, and threw H&vana into a pauic. Note of the few survivors who have been geen cau tell how bhe explosion occurred. The injured are being taken on stretchers to K-s.sa ; D^focorro, where surgeons are in attendance. j James Riwe, the ship's cook, was least j injured of aDy that; were brcua;hti in. '• I doa'c j know, sir," speaking with difficulty, he replied j to a question as to the cause. '' I turned into j my hammock at 8 o'clock, aud heard three b^lls j strike. I don'fc remember anything until I felt j nijself turning over and over, and falling ', heavily upon the deck in a mass of smoks. I J got on foot and worktd my way on dsck. Wheu ; I got there the superstructure of the deck was , dipping under the =?ater, and I jumped over- j board to keep from beiog drawn down by tha j suction. I was picked up by a boat from » < Spanish maa-o'war. Four aaora wire picked j up by bbo same boat. They wsre Daniel i Crouin (a landsman), Charles Berrymau (boat- i swain), Albert 1 John (a seaman), and Ploomaf 1 (a landsman)." ; One poor fellow whose face is injured past all- j recognitien is lying moaning in a cot in tha hospital. Asked what his name was, he mumbled b »ck through terrible swollen lips: "My folks would feel uneasy 'f I fold you." The t-xp!o«ion shook tha city from end Lo end, and created the wildest excitement. All the electiic lights were blown out by the shock. The fire ergine* rushed madly from i<ne district to anobber, and no one knew for certain from which point fcho explosion cam?. Some shouted that it was the arsenal and others said it was ; a bomb. It was not until 11 o'clock that the | ival cause was known. | Consul General Lee, who wps &b the Hotel , lagleterra, received a telephone mts-age from General Blanco telling hitn that the Maine hud been blown up. General Lee hastened to the Palace, wheio the Cabinet was sitting. Admiral Manterolo ordered boats (\i all kinds to go to the assistanre of the Maine and her wcunded, i and the Hav%na fiiemen also gave aid, tend- ! ing cuefully to the wounded as they were ! 1 brought on ahore. Id «?&? a terrible sight. ' General Z.'lano and other generals were ordered by Captain Gfineral B'.anco to take steps to help ihe Maine's crew in every way possible. j A correspondent went cio'e to ih^ Maine in ; one cf the boats of the cruiser Alfonso XIII, | and saw others of the wounded, who corroborate j j the statement; of those first interviewed — that ] they were asleep when the explosion occurred, j I Captain Sigsbee s&id that the explosion occurred in the bow of th* vessel. Ha received a wound i io the head. Orders were given to the other ' officers bo save themselves as best they could, j The latter, who were literally thrown from j their bunks in their night-clothing, gave the 1 necessary orders with gceab self-control. i The first theory was that ,there hsd been a preliminary explosion of powder or dynamite below the water ; but this was ascertained to be nob true. Admiral Manterola believed that the first tx plosion was of a grenade, bub whether one of the ship's magazines blew up, or whether a bomb was placed beside them and set off by tbe Spaniard?, is not known. i I B-ecauee of the excitement in ihe city th« military authorities ordered the troops to j quarters, and the streets are filled wish j'js'.ling crowds- of excited citizens and soldiers. February 16 (midnigh*;). j The ship has just sunk, and there is nothing rem lining to show where she went down, j Captain Sigsbee has cob yet cooie ashore. • Thirty badly-wounded and buracd seamen have J been brought ashore, and several bodies have ] been resovered. The steamer Conocho has | taken on board a number of wounded, buo ib if j imposeibid now to ascertain who they nve. Captain Sigßbee was unhurt, although he was on board at the time. He was on deck when the explosion came, '.ibe t-xplosion wan in tha bow of the vessel. The sentry stationed &fc the bow was unhurt, and he reports be saw nobbing j suspicious. After the explosion thfc fire spread J rapidly, and several ezp'osicms occurred. Tha , magazines were burst open, tu<J the ijxplosive? ', thrown overboard. Jr half an hour it vras ap- J parent that nothing could save the ship. The firsb explosion wounded and diiabied a oumbsr of men — how many ;*■ is impossible to say. A number were struggling in tbe water. ] An engineer confirms the story regarding the explosion. He ss'd that when he started for deck the water was already in the engine room. He helped to fight the fire for * shorb time, buf; then another explosinn occurred, and when he recovered he found himself in the watsr. \ Later. { Of the Maine's ere*.? of 351- offioera, blue- j jackets, and marines, only 101 b>ve been ac- { counted for. This means that 253 perished in j that fright'f u) explosion in Hava-js, Haibour j last night, and which tore a st'oub- battleship ! into shreds. The Ward line sleaoaer City of Washington s»nd a" cruiser were the first to reach the scene, and their crews did all that could be done to rescue the drowning. The i three boats from the Maine were there too ; in [ fact, there were more boats to pick up the Ewimmers than there were swimmers to pick up. Some more survivor 3 were brought to the landing place and turned over bo fche firemen, whe earned the wounded on stretchers to the hospitals. O.hera were brought alongside the City of Washington, and still others were carried to the Alfonso XIII. The wreck took fire and lighted the harbour by lurid glares of flamep, fed chiefly by the inflammable cellulose contained in the forward and after ends. The wreck burned the long night through, and when broke^he solemn, pitying dawn dark wreaths of smfeke were stili going upward from the shapeless mass. At sunrise all the flags in the harbour were at half-mast. Captain. Sigebee was up nearly all uighb looking out for the comfort of his men. He took a short rest bsfore early daylight, and soon afterwards ha stood on the deck of the City of Wasfaingtoa peering into the falling mist which was screening tha wreck of his gallant ship. Tears camo to his eyes as he looked and thought of the men whose live 3 had so suddenly gone out. The Maine went down in water deap enough lo submerge all bub the after part of her superstructure. The whple part of the hull was turned completely inside oub by the explosion. The captain choked down his emobions when asked of bhe disaster. " There is very little that I can tell you," he replied. " I was in my cabin ab the time. I bad ju^b finished a j letter to my family when tbat awml crash cinie. The ship lurched heavily lo port, and I knew in an instant what ib all meant — my ship had blown up. All the cabin lights were pub oub, and I groped my way oub of my aparbments. I meb my orderly running towards me. Reaching the deck, I gave orders to posb senbrie3, to keep silence, and to flood the magazines. The

magazines were already flooding themselves. 1 saw then tbat the disaster was complete — is fact, I noticed a few of our men struggling in the water. Only three boats were left of ths number we carried. These — the gig, barge, and second whaleboat — were lowered as quickly as we could get them into the water. There was a big hole knocked inside of the barge, and it is a wonder it did not sink with the few men who had climbed into it." " What do you think caused the explosion ? " "You will have to excuse me from answering that," be replied. "la such caees it is best to know that it requires an investigation and time." The first lieutenant said : " I climbed on the poop deck, where I found the captain, the executive officer?, and several others. The barge and gig were lowered and manned, they beiDg the only boats left. We picked up all the wounded who could be found and put them into Iho boats. The Spanish flagship Alfonso XIII sent four or five boats very promptly to our aid, and more of cur wounded men were Herb 111 1 the Alfonso. One of our boats pulled around the Maine »nd picked up several men who bad been blown in'o the water. The executive tfftceH went forward to see if the fire could ba pufc onb, and. found it was useless to try to do anything to save the ship, as she was > total wreck. The captain then gava the order., to abandon the ship, and most of us went into the boats of the City oi Washington, of the Ward Hue, where we were most cordially received ond cordially treated. ■ The captain was the last te leave the ?hip." There were three mag»zines forward, bub, *ll of them contained powder, and it is bard to understand how this could be exploded by a torpedo bursting under the water." Several officers of the Maine, when asked what, in their opinion, caused the explosion, eaid they did not believe it was * torpedo, or that its was a mine. Their reason fcr thinking so i« the fact that neither a torpedo nor a rnirie would bava caused the destruction that the explosion wrought. There is no doubt that the explosion came from the forward end of the port side. It' was argued that a torpedo exploded against the sides of a ship might, by its detonation, set off any high explosive* located near, but there -?ere no high explosives stowed forward in the Maine, the guncotton raagszlne being locked aft. A riumbur of the men aft the San Ambrosia Hojpibal are destined to carry to their graves — some, I fear, very soon — the marks of to-night'a i iiisfsßter. Whenever a man could speak, he I said : •" The fiist explosion occurred amidships. 1 ' ''What was there amidships to explode?" I ! a«.k?d. "Nothing on board" was the invari- ; able reply ; "but God knows what was underI *ieabh the ship." I'rom 17 swathed men lying [ between life and death I heard repeated those : same words: "The firsb explosion took pUce | amidships." The officers of the City of Wash- \ ington will s.lso make abatements to this effect when they arrive in New York". Ib ia worthy of notice tHafc 15 minutes after the explosion the Alfonso XIII was being towed oub of the reach of danger. / ; SUSPICION OF SPANISH TREACHERY-. Nkw York, February 16. I A special to the WorJd from Washington says : "A suppressed cable despatch received by Secretary Lopg from Captain Sigsbee an- ; aoanced that the oftptaiu's conclusion, after a j hasty examination, was that the disaster' to the | Maine was nob c*usod by accident. Ho exj -pressed hie belief that whither the explosion | originated within ov withouF, ib is made pc»j sibly Ly aa tnemy."

i *** ** The steamer Cape Otw*y, which left Auckland iasfe week for Juneau. the port for the Alaskan gold9elds, took from Sydtiey six females booked for Klondjke, where the marriage warkfct is said to be particularly brisk. [ Three passengers from Onehnnga by the Mahinapun iasfc Saturday have (the Post saya) ever> reason to remember the trip. They had booked second saloon passages by the Miowera ! for Vancouver, tbeic intention being '.o proceed [ts Kionciykc. Bui; to their dismay the Mahina- | pua met with v strong head wiud *U the way from New Plymouth, and did not re&ca Wellington till the Miowera was weii <?o«rn tha barßonr. As a good sea was running at the iirnt-, the trio could not be transferred lo '.he big liner without endangering their lives, and this lisk Captain Robertson, of the Mahinapua, would not agree to take. Th« vae\> for KLod-* liykij consequently missed their passages, and will have to await the. arrival of tLe Warrimoo oti the 31st iiist.