3-085-866 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

The United States war-ship "Maine," blown up in Havana Harbour, 1898. 'By a terrible catastrophe which will long stand out as one of the most sensational incidents of naval history in times of peace, the US Government has lost one of its finest vessels...the Maine anchored in the harbour of Havana with the object of protecting American interests in troubled Cuba...suddenly there occurred an explosion, followed shortly after by a second, which sank the cruiser with all on board...a number of the officers and crew were rescued, but two hundred and seventy lost their lives...The more sensational of the American papers point to Spanish treachery; but two of the highest experts of the American navy agree that no explosion produced through exterior agency could have so completely and thoroughly wrecked the vessel. Only an interior explosion could have produced such disastrous results. It is possible...that the disaster might have been caused by the explosion of one of the boilers or the crossing of the electric-light wire; but the consensus of opinion is that the fire originated from spontaneous combustion in the coal-bunkers, and fired the magazine. All explanations of the disaster...are mere conjectures...until the official report is made known'. From "Illustrated London News", 1898.