738 



UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. 



vestigation into the cause of the " Maine " explo- 

 sion ; but the Government at Washington declined 

 the proposition, being determined to investigate 

 independently the destruction of the battle ship. 

 The naval board of inquiry consisted of Capt. Wil- 

 liam T. Sampson, Capt." French E. Chadwick, 

 Lieut.-Commander William P. Potter, and Lieut.- 

 Commander Adolph Marix. When these officers 

 examined the wreck they found the bottom plates 

 bent upward, forming a great arch, and a portion 

 of the forward keel blown through the body of the 

 ship and protruding above the deck 36 feet in ver- 

 tical distance from its original position. Under- 



taken to imply that the report required such con- 

 firmation. 



The findings of the American court of inquiry 

 on the " Maine " explosion were communicated to 

 the Spanish Government. In his message to Con- 

 gress thereon the President said he did not permit 

 himself to doubt that the sense of justice of the 

 Spanish nation would dictate the course of action 

 suggested by honor and by the friendly relations 

 of the two governments. On March 26 Sefior 

 Gullon assured Minister Woodford that Spain 

 would do all that the highest honor and justice 

 required in the matter of the " Maine." On March 



Copyright, 1898, by J. 



THE " MAINE '' PASSING MORRO CASTLE, HAVANA, AS SHE ENTERED THE GATE OF DEATH. 



neath the arch was a hole in the mud 15 feet in 

 diameter and 7 feet deep. The outside bottom 

 plating was doubled back upon itself. The conclu- 

 sions of the court of inquiry were that the loss of 

 the " Maine " was not in any respect due to fault or 

 negligence on the part of any of the officers or crew ; 

 that the ship was destroyed by the explosion of a 

 submarine mine underneath the port side, which 

 caused the partial explosion of two of the forward 

 magazines ; and that no evidence had been obtain- 

 able fixing the responsibility upon any person or 

 persons. The Spanish Government subsequently 

 made an independent investigation, which resulted 

 in conclusions attributing the catastrophe to an in- 

 ternal explosion in the forward storerooms, these 

 containing other explosives than powder and shells 

 of various kinds, and being surrounded on the star- 

 board side by coal bunkers, which explosion those 

 who witnessed it agreed in saying was due to a 

 purely accidental cause. Respect for the extrater- 

 ritoriality of a foreign man-of-war prevented the 

 commission from ascertaining by inspection the 

 origin of the disaster, but when it should become 

 possible to float the vessel an examination of the 

 hull, both outside and inside, would justify the cor- 

 rectness of the report, although this must not be 



31 the Spanish Government proposed to submit to 

 arbitration all differences that might arise in this 

 matter, and in a note presented by the Spanish 

 minister on April 10 Spain proposed, as to the 

 question of fact springing from the diversity of 

 views between the report of the American and 

 Spanish boards, that the fact be ascertained by an 

 impartial investigation by experts, whose decision 

 Spain accepted in advance. To this no reply was 

 given. 



War Preparations. At the time when the 

 ' Maim- " was sent to Havana an American squad- 

 ron assembled at Key West and the Tortugas Is- 

 lands. The United States Government had already 

 abandoned the attitude of benevolent expectancy in 

 regard to the autonomy experiment, since ii had 

 proved a failure from the outset, and since the 

 severities of the military policy, though ostensibly 

 revoked, were in fact continued. Leave was ol>- 

 tained to distribute food among suffering Ameri- 

 cans and the distressed reconcentrados, and a cruiser 

 and a coast-defense vessel were detailed to coi 

 the supplies to Cuba. On March (i Scfior Gullon 

 informed (Jen. Woodford that the Spanish Govern- 

 ment desired the substitution of merchant vessels 

 for the war ships, and also the recall of (Jen. 





