STORY TOLD BY WITNESSES washington march 28 the full testimony taken before the naval court of inquiry comprises ses about words of chih ah the hip press to is permitted dermitt d to ta sr yel n 1 a cc prein hett sive abstract tho the avi bidne vid we ne 9 given aven hore here Is in a concise nt of the facts testified to by all the witnesses having ku knowledge of the subject washington march 28 consul general fitzhugh lee appeared before the court march 8 his testimony related to the official formalities preceding the maines mir arrival rival 1 on oil january 24 he received t a message from the state department part ment saying that the maine would be sent to havana on a friendly vi visit a it to resume the regular status of naval relations between the two countries a aaa he was ordered to make arrangements at the palace for the interchange of official courtesies after EL a call at the palace he sent the state department t a cipher message saying au profess to think the united states has ulterior purposes in sending the ship say it will obstruct autonomy and aad produce excitement and most probably a demonstration ask that it be nt net done until they can get time from madrid say that if for friendly purpose as claimed delay is unimportant it was too late however the maine haying hang already sailed she arrived next day and reported her arrival to the state department march 28 captain sige sigsbee in testifying before the court of ing inquiry said that he assumed command of the maine april 10 1897 1997 and that his ship sap arrived in the harbor of havana the last time january 24 1898 the authorities ties at havana knew of the maines coming consul general lee having informed the authorities according to official custom after he took on an official pilot sent by the captain of the port of havana the ship ww was berthed in the man of war anchorage aff the machina or the shears and according to his understanding it was one of the regular buoys of the place lie he then stated that he had been in havana in 1872 1972 and again in 1898 he H could not state whether the maine was placed in the usual berth for men afar af of war ar but said that he had heard remarks since the explosion using captain stevens temporarily in command of the ward line steamer city of washington as authority for the statement that he had never known in all his experience which covered visits to havana for five or six years a man of war to be anchored at that buoy that he had rarely known merchant vessels to be anchored there and that it was the last used buoy in the harbor in describing the surroundings when first moored to this buoy captain sigsbee stated that the spanish man of war alfonso XIII was anchored in the position now occupied by the fern about yards to the northward and westward of the maine the german ship senua was anchored at the berth now occupied by the spanish man of war le caspe which is about ar ards about due north from the maine he then located the german man of war charlotte which came into the harbor a day or two later which was anchored to the southward of the maines berth about four or five hundred yards in describing the surroundings at the time of the explosion captain firsbee stated that the night was calm and still alfonso XIII was at the same berth the small spanish dispatch boat le caspe had come out the day before and taken the berth occupied by the german man of war the griese nu nua which had left tha steamer city of washington was anchored about 1 yards to the south and east of the maines stern slightly on the port quarter the maine coaled at key west taking on about tons the coal being regularly inspected and taken from the government coal pile this coal was placed generally in the forward bunkers no report was received from the chief engineer that any coal coq had been too long in the bunkers and that the fire alarms in the bunkers were sensitive the regulations regarding inglam mables and paints on board captain sigsbee testified were strictly car carried out in regard to storage and that the waste also was subject to the same careful disposition As to the situation of the paint room he fixed it as in the eyes of the ship just below the berth deck the extreme forward compartment the in flammables were stored in chests according to the regulations ions and when in flammables were in excess of chest capacity they were allowed to be kept in the bath room of the admirals cabin regarding the electric plant of af the maine captain sigsbee stated that there was no serious grounding nor sudden flaring up of the lights before the explosion but a sudden M and total eclipse As for regulations affecting the temperature pera ture of the magazines etc captain sigsbee stated there were no special regulations other than the usual regulations required by the department he examined the temperature himself and conversed with the ordnance officer as to the various temperatures pera tures and the contents of the magazine and according to the ion of this officer as well as sigsbee the temperatures were never at the danger point 1 I do not think there was waa any laxity in this direction said the captain replying to a question of judge advocate marix he had no recollection of any work going on in the magazine or shell rooms room s on the day of the explosion the keys were called for in the usual way on the day in question and were properly returned at the time of the disaster the two after berths in the after fire room were in use because the hydraulic system was somewhat leaking speaking generally of the relations of afie spanish authorities captain etain sigsbee stated that with the officials they were outwardly cordial the I 1 me demirs members of the council of the government however seem to have brought to the attention of t the e navy department the fact that he did not visit them and that fact brought embarrassment to the government at washington he took the ground ta W the department that it was unknown etiquette to call on the civil member i of the colonial government other than I 1 the governors without waiting for such an order captain sigsbee madja made a j visit afterwards and as he states wa pleasantly received and his vidt H promptly returned by certain member ft i of the council A party of ladies andl and 1 gentlemen called and the president ou of the council made a speech which cap tain sigsbee could not understand but ba I 1 which was interpreted to him briefly briedy f 1 to which he replied j my reply said captain s was afterwards printed in at leaa least sim tac j papers in havana but the terms buldo me favor autonomist govern government mem J in the island I 1 am informed that the Ms tono mist government in havana is in wt u popular among a large class of S span baart s ish and cuban residents I 1 have 20 means of knowing whether my apparent interference in the political cori con cerns of tae the island had any relation W t the destruction to the maine 11 1 when asked whether there was any ant demonstration of animosity by people j afloat captain said that xvi th was never on shore as he was in formed but there was afloat lie re PC I 1 that on the first sunday after 1 maines arrival a ferry boat crow crowded j densely with people civil and military returning from a bull fight at regla passed the maine and about 40 people on board indulged in Y yelling elling whistling and derisive calls during the stay star 1 aft i i havana captain sigsbee took mote more i than ordinary precautions for the pro 3 lection of the maine by placing seft gen tries on the forecastle and poop i antine and signal decks on the bridge brida art and on the poop J A corporal of the guards was eel ee specially ally instructed to look out for th tte port gangway and the officers of tale deck and quartermaster were es e 4 specially ally instructed to look out for aa 1 starboard gangway a quarter bratch was kept on deck all night sentries 4 cartridge boxes were tilled baled their armei anna kept loaded a number of rapid fire ammunition kept in the pilot room and th in the spare captains pantry and under the after superstructure were kept i a additional supplies of shells close tit at hand for the second batte battery ry steam was kept up in two b boilers instead of et one and positive instructions were dav en to watch carefully all the gear and report defects he said he had given orders to the master at arms and the order to kw keep a careful byeon eye on everybody that came on board and to carefully observe any aay packages that might be held on the supposition that dynamite or other bladt explosives might be employed and sky ter wards to inspect the routes abe people had taken and not to 16 lose flight of the order he states that very fe people visited tue thle ship lieutenant commander wainwright being rather severe on visitors i there were only two or three of the spanish military officers came on board but according to fo the captain they were constrained and not desirous of accepting much courtesy I 1 this visit was during the absence of the captain he said he melde made every effort to have the spanish visit the ohp to show good will according to the spirit of the mainee visit to havana but with exceptions stated no military officers of spain via cited the ship socially i capt sigsbee then went into details regarding the precautions in foroe sm and especially in relation to quarter watches which he said had never rescinded one of the cutters w th the water at the time of the accident and one of the steam laun launches cheo tb toe atut was riding at the starboard boom fhe captain said that the night was quiet and warm and that he remembered hearing distinctly the echoes of the bugle at tattoo which was very stars were out the sky t agilva however ver being overcast the maine at tai thelme time of the explosion was heading i northeast pointing to ad ama the shears he was writing at his taft cabin table at the time of the ex 8 and was dressed he then went into a description of tr the me explosion when he felt the crash ate characterized it as bursting buril ting rend inn and crashing sound or roar of immense se volume largely metallic in fc wt ater Aar cater it was succeeded by a r imset lue c sound probably of falling der lofta a trembling and lurching motion vt the tee vessel then an impression of bence attended by an eclipse of electric lights and intense darkness his cabin he thought immediately 1 dt that the maine had blown up ua ohe was sinking he hurried to the baard oard cabin but changed his course to abe passage massage leading to the super then he detailed the manner of 09 private anthony which is 1 the same asha as has s been published 1 beat commander wainwright was on deck wk when capt sigsbee emerged f ati the passageway and turning to the orderly he asked for the time which iwo given as p m sentries were ordered e A placed about the ship and the 1 f ord r magazine flooded he called 1 silence the surviving were about him at the time on the 4 6 ap he was informed that both forward W and after magazines were under waw mt eter then came faint cries and white 7 floating bodies in the water boats were flace fc ace ordered lowered but only two 1 rr found available the gig and whale they were lowered and manned f rs and men and by the captains 0 they left the ship and helped JSU the wounded jointly with other that had bad arrived on the scene by this time was burn cely caly izz and the he spare am ammunition pilot house was exploding at ime ne commander wain sald said he thought the 10 inch ie forward had been thrown up the e burning mass and might exir in time everybody was then doted to get into the boats over the mv which was done the captain get into the gig and then proceeding igwe city ity of washington where he 1 the wounded in the dining D being carefully attended by the u and crew of the vessel he then ion on deck and observed the wreck few minutes and gave directions taken board the we e a muster on of washington and other vessels nt at down in the captains cabin dictated S a telegram to the navy ent ill various spanish officials desm on board and expressed sym and ad sorrow for the accident representatives of gen blanco I 1 ws of the admiral of the station were leftoff liftoff lif the spanish officials who ten bearid their sympathies about four fate men were found that night who s1 sa ewt d jk tsy the time captain sigsbee reached arter deck it was his impression bat an overwhelming explosion had when he came from the I 1 he be was practically blinded for a his only thought was ib he e vessel and he took no note of phenomena of the explosion that reply to the direct question of any of the magazines or fell rooms were blown up the captain aalt 1 was wae extremely difficult to come y conclusion the center of the don was beneath and a little foret the conning tower on the port in the region of the center or of the explosion thea inch pee wv ire magaz magazine tn which cont contained albed little powder about pounds the 10 inch magazine was to in the same same general region but on the starboard side over the 10 inch magazine in the loading room of the turret and in the adjoining passage a number of 10 inch shells were permanently kept according to capt sigsbee it would be difficult to conceive the explosion involved the 10 inch magazine because of the location of the explosion and that no reports show that any 10 inch shells were hurled into the air because of the explosion the captain went into details as to the location of the small ammunition he said that he dad not believe that the forward 6 inch magazine blew up the location of the gun cotton was aft under the cabin the guncotton gun cotton primers and the detonators were always kept in the cabin he stated that he had examined the wreck himself conversed with other officers and men but as the spanish authorities were very much adverse to an investigation except officially on the grounds as stated by the spanish admiralty that the honor of spain was involved he fo to examine the submarine portion of the wreck for the cause of the explosion until the day the court convened he said the discipline of the ship was excellent the marine guard was in excellent condition the report of the medical department shows that about medical ope e man an and d a quarter per ay y were on the sick list the past year in the engineers department the vessel was always ready and always responsive spon sive he paid a tribute to the crew and said that a quieter better natured lot of rhen men he had never known on board any vessel in which he had served s he had no fault to find with the behavior of any man at the time of tle disaster and considered their conduct admirable on his examination by the court capt sigsbee said that the highest temperature he could discover was but that was in the atter after magazine the temperature in the forward magazines being considerable lower there was no loose powder howdek kept in the magazine all the coal bunkers were ventilated through air tubes examined weekly by the hiet chief engineer and were connected electrically to the near his cabin door the forward coal bunker on the port side was full the forward coal bunker on the starboard side was half full and it was being used at the time of the explosion capt sigsbee being recalled stated that he had detailed commander wainwright holman and chief engineer holman all of the maine to obtain Inform information atlon in regard to any outsiders who might have seen the explosion capt sigsbee also gave as hi his 9 opinion that if coal bunkers A 16 had been so hot as to be dangerous to the six inch reserve magazine that this condition on would have been shown on three sides where the bunker was exposed and that men constantly passing to and fro by it would have necessarily noticed any undue heat capt cant sigsbee was recalled and examined as to the ammunition on board the maine he stated that