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Story
April 10, 1911
Daily Kennebec Journal
Augusta, Kennebec County, Maine
What is this article about?
Rapid progress on cofferdam around USS Maine wreck in Havana harbor completed on April 9, 1898. Next steps: fill with dredged material, then search for bodies with warship assistance. Forward section shattered.
Clipping
OCR Quality
98%
Excellent
Full Text
Work on Wreck of Maine
Progressing Rapidly
To Point Where Shattered Hulk Can Soon Be Explored.
Search for Bodies First--Then for Cause of the Disaster.
Havana, April 9.--In the driving of the last few interlocking steel piles of the last of the 20 caissons forming the enclosing wall of the huge basin or cofferdam surrounding the wreck of the Maine, the first stage in the great work of exposing and ultimately removing the shattered remains of the battleship sunk in the harbor of Havana on the night of Feb. 15, 1898, has just been brought to a successful conclusion.
The work was accomplished with a rapidity fully up to the most sanguine expectations of the army engineers in charge, and its progress was marked by but a single hitch which was soon remedied.
The second stage of the work, that of filling the caissons, as fast as they are completed, with mud, clay and rock dredged from the harbor bottom, has been going on for some time as fast as circumstances would permit, and now that the ring of caissons is completed, is being pushed forward with the utmost rapidity. Steam dredges are dumping hundreds of tons of material into the caissons, the work going on, as it has from the beginning, night and day.
As soon as the wreck is fully exposed the work of exploration in search of human remains will take precedence of every other consideration. It is expected that when this stage is reached, an American warship will be ordered to Havana and will lie close to the wreck, to receive the bodies as fast as they are recovered.
It is known that the forward part of the ship, about one-third of her length, is practically detached from the rest and is much shattered.
Progressing Rapidly
To Point Where Shattered Hulk Can Soon Be Explored.
Search for Bodies First--Then for Cause of the Disaster.
Havana, April 9.--In the driving of the last few interlocking steel piles of the last of the 20 caissons forming the enclosing wall of the huge basin or cofferdam surrounding the wreck of the Maine, the first stage in the great work of exposing and ultimately removing the shattered remains of the battleship sunk in the harbor of Havana on the night of Feb. 15, 1898, has just been brought to a successful conclusion.
The work was accomplished with a rapidity fully up to the most sanguine expectations of the army engineers in charge, and its progress was marked by but a single hitch which was soon remedied.
The second stage of the work, that of filling the caissons, as fast as they are completed, with mud, clay and rock dredged from the harbor bottom, has been going on for some time as fast as circumstances would permit, and now that the ring of caissons is completed, is being pushed forward with the utmost rapidity. Steam dredges are dumping hundreds of tons of material into the caissons, the work going on, as it has from the beginning, night and day.
As soon as the wreck is fully exposed the work of exploration in search of human remains will take precedence of every other consideration. It is expected that when this stage is reached, an American warship will be ordered to Havana and will lie close to the wreck, to receive the bodies as fast as they are recovered.
It is known that the forward part of the ship, about one-third of her length, is practically detached from the rest and is much shattered.
What sub-type of article is it?
Historical Event
Disaster
What themes does it cover?
Catastrophe
Recovery
What keywords are associated?
Maine Wreck
Cofferdam Construction
Salvage Work
Body Recovery
Havana Harbor
Where did it happen?
Havana Harbor
Story Details
Location
Havana Harbor
Event Date
April 9, 1898 (Sinking Feb. 15, 1898)
Story Details
Work on enclosing the wreck of the USS Maine with a cofferdam of 20 caissons is completed rapidly. Filling with dredged material proceeds night and day. Next, exploration for bodies will begin, with an American warship to receive them. The forward third of the ship is detached and shattered.