Maine at the time she was blown up, three others who lived through
that awful night were present. They were Lieutenant Commander
Wainwright, who was the executive officer of the Maine and who
afterwards sank the Furor and Pluton at Santiago; Lieutenant F.C.
Bowers, formerly assistant engineer of the Maine; and Jeremiah Shea, a
fireman of the Maine, who was blown out of the stoke-hole of the ship
through the wreckage.

[Illustration: Wreck of the "Maine."]

After three volleys had been fired over the dead, and the bugles had
rung out the soldiers' and sailors' last good night, Captain Sigsbee
introduced Shea to President McKinley. Being asked for an explanation
of his escape, he responded, as he had done to Father Chidwick when
he visited him in the hospital in Havana, where he lay covered with
wounds and bruises, and with nearly every bone in his body broken:

"I don't know how I got through. I was blown out. I guess I must have
been an armor-piercing projectile!"

The work of saving the guns and other valuable things on the Maine was
carried on for some time. Among other things that the divers recovered
was a splendid silver service that had been presented to the ship by
the state of Maine. The keys to the magazines were found in their
proper places in the captain's cabin, and his money and papers were
also recovered. Finally, it was found that the hull of the great ship
could not be raised, and in April the United States flag, that had
been kept flying above the wreck since the night of the fatal
explosion, was hauled down and the ship formally declared out of
commission.