| Show MESSAGE ON THE MAINE DISASTER washington march 28 the president today sent the following message to congress to the congress of the united states por some time prior to the visit to the to havana harbor our consular natives pointed out toe the advantages rat to follow a visit of naval ships to ism cuban waters in accustoming the people to the presence of our nag flag as the abol of good will and of our ships in toe fulfillment of the mission of protection to american interests even though no immediate need might exit exist accordingly on oh the of january toft t after a conference with the spanish minister in which the renewal of visits of our war vessels to spanish wafers was discussed and accepted the peninsular authorities at madrid and havana baua vaua were advised of the purpose of this mis government to resume friendly naval visits at cuban ports and with that view the maine would forthwith call at the port of havana this announcement nogA no cement was received by the spanish government with appreciation of the friendly character of the visit of the maine and with the notification of the intention to return the courtesy by sending spanish ships to the principal ports borts of the united states meanwhile the maine entered the port of havana op on the of january her arrival being marked with no special incident besides the exchange of customary salutes and ceremonial visits the maine continued in the harbor of havana during the three weeks following her arrival no appreciable excitement attended her stay on the contrary a feeling of relief and confidence followed the resumption of se long interrupted friendly intercourse so noticeable was this immediate effect of her visit th that atthe the consul general strongly urged that the presence of our ships in cuban waters should be kept up by retaining the maine at havana or in the event of her recall by sending another vessel there to take her place at forty minutes past nine in the evening of the of february the maine was destroyed by an explosion br which the entire forward part of tin ship was utterly wrecked jn n tins this catastrophe two officers and bof 96 of her crew perished those who were not killed outright by her sion being penned between decks by aha e tangle of wreckage and drowned vr the immediate sinking of the hull vh prompt ampt assistance was rendered by athe neighboring vessels anchored in we the darbor aid being especially given W th the boats of the spanish cruiser alphonso XIII and the ward line city of washington which MV lay not far distant abe wounded were generously cared tor 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 the 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 our country with crushing forge force and for a brief time an intense excitement prevailed which ina in a cond less just and selfishly controlled than ours must have led to hasty acts of blind resentment this spirit however hoever soon gave way to the calmer processes of reason and to the resolve to investigate the facts and await the material proof before forming a judgment as to the cause the responsibly tty and it if the facts warranted the remedy due this course necessarily recommended itself from the outset to the executive for only in the light of a dispassionately ascertained certain ty could it determine the nature and measure of its full duty in the matter the usual procedure was followed as in all cases of casualty or disaster to national vessels or any maritime state A naval court of inquiry was at once organized composed of officers well qualified by rank and practical experience to discharge the onerous duty imposed upon them and by a strong force of wreckers and divers the court proceeded to make a thoro rugh investigation on the spot employing every available means for the impartial and exact determination of the causes of the explosion its operations have been conducted with the utmost deliberation and judgment and while independently pursued no source of information was neglected and the fullest opportunity was allowed for a simultaneous investigation by the spanish authorities I 1 the finding of the court of inquiry I 1 was reached after twenty three days of continuous labor on the of march and having been approved on the by the commander of the naval force on the north atlantic station was transmitted to the executive it is herewith mid laid before the congress together with the voluminous testimony taken before the court 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 one half to six fathoms of water the state of discipline on board and the condition of her magazines boilers coal bunkers and storage compartments axe are passed in review with the conclusion that excellent order pr and that no indication of any cause for an internal explosion existed in any quarter at 8 in the evening on feb 15 everything had ben reported secure and all was waa quiet at forty minutes past nine oc lock 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 prolonged js Is attributed by the court to the partial explosion of two or more of the forward magazines the evidence of the divers establishes that the after part of the ship was practically intact and sank in that condition a very few minutes after the explosion the forward part was completely demolished upon the evidence of concurrent external cause the finding of the court to is as follows at frame 17 the outer shell of the ship from a point eleven and one 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 an to be about four feet above the surface of the water therefore about thirty four feet above where it would be had she sunk uninjured the outside bottom plating 1 is bent into a reversed IV shape the after wing of which about 16 15 feet broad and 32 feet in length from frame 17 to frame 25 it doubled back upon itself against the continuation of the same plating extending fo forward at frame 17 the vertical keel is broken in two and keel bent into an angle similar to the angle formed for the outside injates this break is about 6 feet below the surface of the water and about 30 feet above its normal position tn in the aninion of the court tb this to pf af fact could have been only bv the explosion of a mino under the bottom of the ship at about frame fram IR 18 and somewhat on the port side of tb tho 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 or members of her crew that the ship was waa destroyed by the explosion of a submarine mine which caused the partial explosion of two or more of her forward magazines arid add that no evidence has been obtainable fixing the responsibility for the destruction truc tion of the maine upon any person or persons I 1 have directed that the finding of th the L court of inquiry and the views or of a government thereon be communicated to the government of her majesty the queen and I 1 do not permit myself to doubt that the sense of justice of the spanish nation will dictate a course of action suggested by honor and the friendly relations of the two governments it to is the duty of the executive to advise congress of the result and in the meantime deliberate consideration is invoked signed WILLIAM executive mansion march 28 1898 |
