KEY WEST, Fla., Monday, March 21, 1898.--After full and mature
consideration of all the testimony before it, the court finds as
follows:
ONE. That the United States battleship Maine arrived in the harbor of
Havana, Cuba, on the twenty-fifth day of January, eighteen hundred
and ninety-eight, and was taken to buoy No. 4, in from five and a
half to six fathoms of water, by the regular government pilot.
The United States Consul-General at Havana had notified the
authorities at that place, the previous evening, of the intended
arrival of the Maine.
TWO. The state of discipline on board the Maine was excellent; and
all orders and regulations in regard to the care and safety of the
ship were strictly carried out.
All ammunition was stowed in accordance with prescribed instructions,
and proper care was taken whenever ammunition was handled.
Nothing was stowed in any one of the magazines or shell-rooms which
was not permitted to be stowed there.
The magazines and shell-rooms were always locked after having been
opened, and after the destruction of the Maine the keys were found
in their proper place in the captain’s cabin, everything having been
reported secure that evening at 8 P. M. The temperatures of the
magazines and shell-room were taken daily and reported. The only
magazine which had an undue amount of heat was the after ten-inch
magazine, and that did not explode at the time the Maine was
destroyed. The forward boilers were wrecked by the inner explosion.
The torpedo warheads were all stowed in the after-part of the ship
under the ward-room, and neither caused nor participated in the
destruction of the Maine.
The dry gun-cotton primers and detonators were stowed in the cabin
aft and remote from the scene of the explosion.
Waste was carefully looked after on board the Maine to obviate
danger. Special orders in regard to this had been given by the
commanding officer.
Varnishes, dryers, alcohol and other combustibles of this nature were
stowed on or above the main deck and could not have had anything to
do with the destruction of the Maine.
The medical stores were stowed aft under the ward-room and remote
from the scene of the explosion.
No dangerous stores of any kind were stored below in any of the other
store-rooms.
The coal bunkers were inspected daily. Of those bunkers adjacent to
the forward magazine and shell-rooms four were empty, namely, “B 3,”
“B 4,” “B 5,” “B 6.”
“A 5” had been in use that day, and “A 16” was full of new river
coal. This coal had been carefully inspected before receiving it on
board. The bunker in which it was stowed was accessible on three
sides at all times, and the fourth side at this time, on account of
bunkers “B 4” and “B 6” being empty. This bunker, “A 16,” had been
inspected Monday by the engineer and officer on duty.
The fire-alarms in the bunkers were in working order, and there had
never been a case of spontaneous combustion of coal on board the
Maine.
The two after boilers of the ship were in use at the time of the
disaster, but for auxiliary purposes only, with a comparatively
low pressure of steam and being tended by a reliable watch. These
boilers could not have caused the explosion of the ship. The four
forward boilers have since been found by the divers and are in a fair
condition.
On the night of the destruction of the Maine everything had been
reported secure for the night at 8 P. M., by reliable persons,
through the proper authorities, to the commanding officer. At the
time the Maine was destroyed the ship was quiet and, therefore, least
liable to accident caused by movements from those on board.