Show I SPANIARDS BLEW UP TiE MAINE I Opinion of John P Holland Inventor of the Famous I Submarine Boat BY JOHN P HOLLAND The explosionwhatever its cause which destroyed the Maine in the harbor har-bor of Havana may be compared to thole by which the warships Lutfidjelit Aquaban and Blanco Encalada were blo ap respectively in the Russo Turkish the Brazilian and the Chilian I w r The nature and force or the explosives plosives used in these three cases the only ones to be cited from modern warfare war-fare are thoroughly understood Instituting I In-stituting a parallel between the effects > roduce < J by the explosives we know t I to have been j used against those ships i I and the facts that have so far cometo hand regarding the Maine we may I reach one or two interesting conclusions that do not seem to me Ilkejy to be upset I up-set by the report of the board of inquiry I i in-quiry now sitting I The Lutfidjelit was sunk by I Russian 1 i I torpedo the Aquidaban and Blanco t 1 Encalada by automobile torpedoes comparing in efficiency with the best J I I which could have been used against j I the Maine Only small fractions of the I i structures of the Aquidaban and Blanco I Eiicalada were destrcyed they sank I slowly their decks in place their stacks I intact The Maine went down within 1 three minutes The photographs as I well as the descriptions by her officers I show her to have been converted al rnost instantaneously into a mass of ruins forward I What would have been the effect on I i I I the Maine of the discharge under her i port side forward of the most powerful power-ful automobile or dirigible torpedo we I know anything about Is there a I Whitehead a SimsEdison a Patrick I or a Schwarzkoff torpedo capable of j Instantaneously converting a battleship 1 Into a crater of flaming ruin unless one of her magazines be at the same I moment exploded i I The bursting charge of these torpedoes torpe-does is not more than 110 pounds of guncotton gun-cotton Although Whitehead torpedoes are now to be made IS feet long I do I i not think there are any in use beyond 1 the standard size of 1 feet 9 inches I I long and 18 inches thick Fired i from ul a torpedo tube at a steel ship lying lthin the effective range of 1030 yards the Whitehead torpedo released from i all control from and connection with shore dartlnsr through the water at an I Initial velocity of 32 knots an hour pro I polled by its own machinery driven by a selfcontained compressed air engine of 40 or 5U horsepower is a magnificent I i magnifi-cent war machine 1 But not only do the details of the de i struction of the Aquidaban and Blanco Encaladp absolutely negative the sug I gention that even this powerful torpedo could have wrought such havoc on the I Maine unless her main magazine forward for-ward had been exploded by the torpedo I I but observations in other directions on the force and effect of high explo j sives discharged under the water alike forbid the torpedo theory I What inference do the facts warrant In regard to a magazine explosion Whether as the result of a torpedo exploded I ex-ploded from without or any other conj con-j cernable cause within the ship I The explosion which did the damage 1 must have occurred on the port side of the ship forward either Inside or out Its fcrce was exerted along the line of least resistance towards the starboard 1 side where the forward main sidewher man magazine maga-zine was situated containing 25000 pcunds of brown powder Had that I I magazine been exploded It was quite capable of causing all the rUin which we know was wrought in the Maine and a great deal more too But would not the line of least re sistLnc that case have been In exact ex-act t1 I ppcsitf direction I seems that th must have been the case The explosion deed of that magazine maga-zine would have strewn the fragments of tho ship all over the vicinity The fragments of the 550 shells we know It contained would have been scattered allover over Havana THE MINE THEORY Discarding the torpedo on the maga zine hypothesis there Is nothing left but a mine A study qf the Aquidaban and Blanco Encalada explosions confirms independent independ-ent observations of my own the facts of the Maine disaster do not fit another I an-other than a mine theory I They unanimously tend to support I that theory Nor Is it necessary to suppose that the Maine was anchored over an old mine A new mine for that II special purpose could have been putdown I put-down ir i an hours time before the Maine was assigned to her station The mine could have been taken out In a I boat on any dark night and drooped I overboard at will its own weight holding I hold-ing it In position One ordinary ground mine containing contain-ing 500 pounds of high explosive is perfectly fectly competent to do all the damage that was Inflicted on the Maine We may suppose a ground mine with I its contactmaker and shore connections r connec-tions to be arranged something like I i what is shown in the plan sketched to j I accompany this article The official I I commanding the contactmaker is In a batel on shore from which an electric I elec-tric wire runs A B to the contact maker D floating caps down and harmless By pressing a button he releases i leases esfhe cortactmaker from its anchor C and permits i to float out caps tin over the mine E and assumes as-sumes the position F ready for action > In the contactmaker we will assume a charge o say 20 pounds of high explosive ex-plosive which is fired by the ships bottom bot-tom comins in contact with the caps pointing upward as In F This explosion causes immediately the explosion of the mine E j Now suppose there Is a current as there is In the harbor of Havana The contact matter wil drift away on the current to a position G which will still bring it directly beneath the hull of the ship riding at anchor I the mine were under her bow the contactmatter would row strike about amidships POSSIBLE CAUSES Coal gas could not have blown up the Maine because there Is absolute evidence evi-dence that when the magazines were closed and locked for the nightabout an hour and a half before the ezoo sion the temperature of the magazine was only 59 degrees I is not conceivable conceiv-able that In the interval this tempera I HO I < o ± J IA A I W = r 0 u = I a EXPLHlfTOY IiZTCH BY lil HOLLII ture could have risen to a sufficient degree de-gree to explode coal gas which requires i incandescence Spontaneous coinous ton In the coal bunkers Is impossible for that icason Nor old the spo tai J ous combustion of oil waste cause it for nothing like oil waste Is ever left I in a magazine I could the smokeless I j powder ir I the ijgazine have undergone under-gone chemical changes in any such I I temperature as CD degrees Nor qould I the shortcircuiting of an electric light wire have caused the explosion for the I light is admitted to the magazines In I a war ship only through thick glass I plates And all the wiring is outside i I the magazine wall I In my opinion the war heads of the i I Maines torpedoes will be found intact They were stored aft not near the i I points of explosion which cannot rsn sonably be attributed to them What then is left except a mine As for the 1 i ridiculous unjust and uncharitable 1 I charge of lack of discipline on board I the Maine the very fact that when the 1 i magazine was cosed for the night its 59 shows that temperature was only thatL i there nvst have been constant and L careful ventilation of i In waters whose temperature is as high as that of the harbor of Havana 75 degrees or ISO I-SO degrees I should say only magnificent magnifi-cent ventilation would keep a magazine as cool as that |