THE SPANISH-AMERICAN WAR. 198 as they wishedto show their sorrow tor the loss of the Maine by observing a time of mourning. "Iknew some of the bravemen of theMaine," he said, " andIand all here are heart-broken that such a calamity should befall them." The whole bearing of the Spanish officers showed that these were no mere formal words of sympathy,but that they felt whathad happened as a personal grief. Short as had been the time since the wreckingof theMaine,popular feeling hadrisen tofever heat, andit was feared by the authorities in New York that there might be some outrage attempted on the Vizcaya andher crew. At night police picket boatsrowed round her as she lay at anchor, and Captain Eulate, acting, no doubt, on friendly advice, gave no leave to his crew to go ashore. In a few days the cruiser departed, bound for Havana. She passed down the Narrows, still in mourning, with the red and golden flag of Spain drooping at half-mast.

lined the streets, and stood bareheaded as the funeral cars passedby.

On the same day the United States Navy Department appointed a board of officers to inquire into the loss of the Maine. The president was Captain Sampson, then in command of the battleship Iowa, who had been for some years a member of the American Board ot Ordnance, and was a recognised expert on explosives. During the civilwarCaptain Sampson hadhad a narrow escape from being killed byr a submarine mine. He was in command of a gunboat engaged in clearing torpedoes out of a creek when oneof them explodedandwrecked his ship. He was picked up out of the water a hundred feet from the vessel, little the worse for his adventure. The officers of the board proceeded to Havana in the lighthouse tender Mangrove,and a staff of experienced divers was sent to examinethe wreck.

On Friday, the 18th, the Spanish cruiser, Vizcaya,arrived off New York. She had come to return the visit paidby theMaine toHavana, and it was onhy when thepilot came on board off Sandyhook that her commander, Captain Eulate, and his officers heard of the awful disaster that had occurred three days before. They seemedthunderstruck at the news. What a change from everything that they had anticipated ! They had expected that the Spanish flag flying from their smart warship in New York Harbour would be a sign of the coming period of renewedfriendship betweenSpain and America. And now the first news they heard was of this terrible event, which might well mean thatwar wasclose at hand. The weather at Sandyhook was very bad, first fog, then driving rain and a rising gale, and the pilots thought it was safer for the Vizcaya to wait outside till it improved, rather than risk an accident ingetting up through the Narrows to the inner bay. So it was not till Sunday that theSpanish ship passed up. She flew her own flag at half-mast, and as she ran by the forts at the Narrows, she hoisted the Stars and Stripes and salutedit with her quick-firing guns. The salute was returned from the fort at Castle Williams,and when she anchored,an American officercame onboard with a messageof welcome from the Admiral commanding the station. CaptainEulate informed him that he meant to keep the Vizcayd's flag half-mast high while he was in harbour, and that he and his officers would pay a formal visit to the authorities,but woulddecline all invitations to social gatherings, Meanwhile the Court of Enquiry had begun work at Havana. Captain Sampson acted as President, the other members being Captain F.E.Chadwick, Lieutenant-CommanderPotter, and Lieutenant-Commander Marix, all distinguished officers of the United States Navy. In theBritish service theenquiry wouldhave taken the shape of the formal trial of the Captain of the Maine by court-martial for the loss of his ship, and in the appointment of the Havana Court of Enquiry the American Government recognised the fact that Captain Sigsbee was practically on his trial, for they took care to name as Presidentan officer who was his senior in the service. The Court had to superintend the collection of the evidence which was laid before it. This was madeup of the statements of survivors, the reports of skilled divers who examinedthe wreck, and the opinions of experts on the many technicalquestions which arose in connection with thesereports. Theproceedings were orderedto bekept secretuntil thedecision of the Court was published by the President of the United States.

At the outset animportant pointof procedure had to be settled. The Spanish authorities suggested that the examination of the wreck should be carried on jointly by American and Spanish divers and navalofficers. This request was considered and rejected by the United States officers. A warship in a foreign port is regarded as a part of the territoryof the nation to which she belongs;and,legally, the wrecked Maine, halfsunk in the muddy water ofHavana