REPORT OF THE INVESTIGATING BOARD.
The text of the report of the Board of Investigation was as follows:
U. S. S. Iowa, first rate, Key West, Florida, Monday, March 21, 1898.
After full and mature consideration of all the testimony before it, the court finds as follows:
1. 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.
2. 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 magazine 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 eight 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 10-inch magazine, and that did not explode at the time the Maine was destroyed.
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 stored aft under the ward room and remote from the scene of the explosion. No dangerous stores of any kind were stowed below in any of the other store rooms.
The coal blinkers were inspected daily. Of those bunkers adjacent to the forward magazines and shell rooms four were empty, namely, "B3, B4, B5 and B6." "A5" had been in use that day and "A16" 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 "B4" and "B6" being empty. This bunker, "A16" had been inspected Monday by the engineer officer on duty.