The USS Maine Mast Memorial is a memorial honoring those who died aboard the on February 15, 1898, after a mysterious explosion destroyed the ship while at anchor in Havana Harbor. It is located in Arlington National Cemetery in Arlington County, Virginia, in the United States. The memorial consists of the main mast of the battleship set atop a circular concrete burial receiving vault designed to resemble a battleship turret. The memorial has occasionally been used to hold the remains of important individuals, such as Lord Lothian and Ignacy Jan Paderewski.

The Maine disaster

The USS Maine was one of several new battleships and other warships built by the United States Navy after 1884 to modernize the fleet. The Maine was launched on November 18, 1889, and commissioned on September 17, 1895. She was part of the North Atlantic Squadron for nearly all of her career.

On January 25, 1898, the Maine was sent from Key West, Florida, to Havana, Cuba, to protect American citizens and interests during the Cuban War of Independence. At 9:40 p.m. local time on February 15, an explosion on board Maine destroyed and sank the ship. More than of powder charges in the ship's ammunitions magazine detonated, instantly destroying about (or one-third) of the bow of the ship. The central third of the ship remained somewhat more intact, but was severely damaged and lacked structural integrity. The last third of the ship at the stern remained completely intact. The burning Maine rapidly sank. Most of the Maines crew (none of them officers) were sleeping or resting in the enlisted quarters in the forward part of the ship. Eight others died later from their injuries. Captain Charles Dwight Sigsbee and all but two of the officers survived.Axelrod, p. 67–68.

Official figures for crew and dead are difficult to determine, and even government sources disagree. The majority of sources say the ship carried 354 crew.Kachur and Sterngass, p. 92.Nichols, p. 48.Hunt, p. 8.Stewart-Jones, p. 37.Youngblood, p. 68.Marley, p. 907.Navarro and Mejia, p. 250.Keith, p. 11.Rice, p. 33.Gardiner, p. 45.Paterson, Clifford, and Kagan, p. 12.Starr-LeBeau, Kross, and Allison, p. 127.McCaffrey, p. 4; Mack, Connell, and Lovette, p. 207. But crew numbers cited by sources include 327,Lauderbaugh, p. 1050. 328,de la Cova, p. 366. 350,Hazen, p. 82.Limburg, p. 1.Drew and Snow, p. 358. 355,"The USS Maine Mast Memorial." Arlington National Cemetery. No date. Accessed 2013-05-21.Housenick, p. 190; Staten, p. 88; McNeese and Jensen, p. 12; Peters, p. 276. 358,Cutler, p. 176. 374,Johnson, p. 40.Paine, p. 100.Crompton, p. 22. and 375."The Destruction of USS Maine." Naval History and Heritage Command. Department of the Navy. U.S. Department of Defense. February 6, 1998. Accessed 2013-05-21.

The number of dead is also difficult to determine. Sources claim 252, 260,Peters, p. 276."Sad Mission of the Texas." Washington Post. November 28, 1899.Crompton, p. 40, 50; Franklin, p. 8; Murray, p. 116; Morris and Kearns, p. 394-395; Ochoa and Smith, p. 120; Ferguson, p. 206; Gould, p. 314. 262,Dunlap, p. 752. 264, 266,Tucker, p. 1501; LaRosa and Mejia, p. 276; Yzaguirre, p. 31; Lauderbaugh, p. 1049; Hendrickson, p. 111. and 274 dead.Hughes, Murphy, Flippin, and Duchaine, p. 386. The number of dead is complicated by the fact that several members of the crew died after the initial explosion. But even these figures vary. Some sources say just 6 later died of their injuries, while others claim 8 did so.McCaffrey, p. 5.

On March 19, a U.S. Navy board of inquiry led by Captain William T. Sampson concluded that Maine was destroyed by the explosion of its ammunition magazines. But the board of inquiry were unable to determine what set off the ammunition. Nonetheless, the press and most members of Congress concluded that the Maine had struck a naval mine laid by the Spanish. Resolutions declaring war on Spain were introduced in Congress on March 28 and passed on April 20, initiating the Spanish–American War.Marley, p. 598. (Subsequent investigations have suggested that the cause of the explosion was the ignition of coal dust in the fuel bunker or a fire in the coal bunker, although some have also concluded that the cause was a mine.)

Recovery and interment of bodies at Colon Cemetery

The days following the Maine disaster were chaotic. Some of the twisted wreckage of the center section and bow jutted high out of the water. At low tide, the decks of the center section of the ship were just under water, while the stern (which angled upward) was slightly out of the water. At high tide, all of the ship except the bow wreckage, the main mast, and the aft-mast was under water. The site of the disaster was quickly but not immediately secured by the Spanish Navy and Cuban colonial government."Guard On Wreck." Washington Post. February 19, 1898. Souvenir seekers and the well-meaning nonetheless often accessed the wreck. Divers, most of them Cubans, were employed by the United States to bring bodies to the surface."Divers At Work." Washington Post. February 20, 1898."Operations of the Divers." Washington Post. February 21, 1898. Pieces of the ship lay some distance from the wreck, and some items washed ashore days or even weeks later.

Press reports about the dead were often confused. For example, the Washington Post reported that the body of engineer Darwin Merritt had been found on February 16, but this was incorrect. The newspaper also incorrectly reported that the body of Lieutenant Friend W. Jenkins was recovered on February 16."258 of Our Sailors Are Lost." Washington Post. February 17, 1898. In fact, Jenkins' body was retrieved from an area near the aft torpedo tube on March 24."Lieut. Jenkins' Body Found." Washington Post. March 25, 1898."Great Havoc Found in Wreck of Maine." New York Times. June 16, 1911. It was sent home to his family in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania."News From Havana." Washington Post. March 26, 1898. The newspapers often got names wrong, reporting that an Edison or Tennis was among the dead (when no persons with those first or last names were among the crew).

The recovery of bodies was slow. Spanish law required that, in order to avoid the spread of disease, bodies be buried within 24 hours and remain buried for at least five years."Bodies Cannot Be Moved from Havana." Washington Post. February 27, 1898. Three bodies were caught in the wreckage at the surface. But no one noticed them until February 23 (a full week after the explosion), and by then vultures had devoured much of the corpses."Plates Driven Upward." Washington Post. February 24, 1898. Although only 19 corpses had been found, the city of Havana held a funeral for the dead. Thousands of people turned out for the funeral cortege and watched as the Spanish military bore the 19 elaborate coffins with great ceremony through the streets to Colon Cemetery, Havana. Another 135 bodies were recovered on February 19.Many bodies sank at first or were snagged underwater on wreckage. But as the bodies decomposed, gas formed inside them—bringing them to the surface. The New York Times reported that this included the limbs of about 10 men."Incidents of the Funeral." New York Times. February 19, 1898. Twenty-four of them were identifiable. Two of the eight wounded (including Coxswain Alfred J. Holland) died that day as well.

Five more bodies were recovered on February 20, and Ordinary Seaman Frank Fisher died that day of his wounds. Several more bodies were recovered on February 21. Divers discovered another 20 bodies trapped below the forward hatch of the center section on February 23, but only three were brought to the surface as wreckage prevented the rest from being immediately retrieved. Two more of the wounded died that day as well. Another 12 bodies were recovered from near the engine rooms on February 22, all of them dismembered and badly disfigured."Divers in the Maine." New York Times. February 23, 1898. Work to free the bodies below the forward hatch continued on February 22, and was largely successful the following day. All but one was brought to the surface, and that body was too tightly caught in the wreckage to free. Another body rose of its own accord to the surface, and divers reported seeing several bodies trapped in twisted metal or in places where divers could not reach."Is Slow Work." Washington Post. February 26, 1898; "The Day in Havana." New York Times. March 1, 1898.

By March 4, a total of 161 bodies had been buried at Colon."Honoring the Maine's Dead." New York Times. March 4, 1898. The body of one of the Maine four Japanese mess attendants and another sailor were pulled from the wreck on March 24, and another six bodies (including that of the muscular Coal Passer John Ziegler) brought to the surface the following day.

Work on the wreck of the Maine stopped on April 3, 1898. All divers and tugs were withdrawn from the site, and the recovery of bodies called off. U.S. naval authorities estimated that 75 or 76 bodies still remained undiscovered below."To Abandon the Maine." Washington Post. April 3, 1898.

Key West burials

Some bodies in Havana were not recovered until the end of February. For reasons which remain unclear, the U.S. Navy transported these remains to Key West, Florida, where they were buried. The first burials, of an unreported number of bodies, were made there on March 1 at City Cemetery. The funeral was organized by Captain Bowman H. McCalla of the . Small detachments of Marines from nearby vessels and from Fort Jefferson in the nearby Dry Tortugas provided an honor guard and guided the caissons on which the coffins were borne. Guns from the ships fired after the funeral ended."Maine Funerals at Key West." New York Times. March 2, 1898. Six more bodies (including two in a single coffin) arrived on March 8, and were buried in City Cemetery as well."Six More Victims Buried." Washington Post. March 8, 1898. Another two unidentified bodies were brought to Key West by the cruiser Olivette on March 17, and buried on March 18."Two More Maine Victims." Washington Post. March 17, 1898; "Two Maine Victims Buried." Washington Post. March 18, 1898.