Piece of wood found at garage sale was part of the sunken USS Maine
A small sign stated it was 'purported' to be part of the mast from the USS Maine, the U.S. Navy ship that exploded in Havana harbor in 1898 and ignited the Spanish-American War
For 20 years, a weathered wood and iron artifact was on display at a tiny museum in Park Ridge, N.J. A small sign stated it was “purported” to be part of the mast from the USS Maine, the U.S. Navy ship that exploded in Havana harbor in 1898 and ignited the Spanish-American War.
The story went that the worn three-foot-long spar with saw marks at one end had been discovered at a local garage sale, and then donated to the Pascack Historical Society...
...Whitaker [Steve Whitaker, a retired Navy captain and an expert on the ship’s history and construction] soon determined that the mast’s wood and iron fittings matched the materials used to construct the armored battleship at the Brooklyn Navy Yard in 1889. He consulted records and plans in the archives of the New York Public Library to confirm his suspicions. He then examined paint flecks on the artifact. The USS Maine was originally painted white, then repainted tan and finally covered in black paint...
“There are definitely three types of paint remains on this relic,” he said. “There’s a black oil-based overcoat with a lead-based coat underneath that was sort of a straw color. Underneath that there are remnants of a whitewash paint.”
...Whitaker then started examining photos of the USS Maine from before and after the explosion. Specifically, he looked at images that showed the aft mast and how it changed over time. The breakthrough came when he found an 1899 photo of the wreck in Havana harbor with the proof he was looking for...
In late September, Arlington National Cemetery staff will hand over the artifact to conservators, who will undertake a multiyear effort to protect it from further deterioration.
A small sign stated it was 'purported' to be part of the mast from the USS Maine, the U.S. Navy ship that exploded in Havana harbor in 1898 and ignited the Spanish-American War
For 20 years, a weathered wood and iron artifact was on display at a tiny museum in Park Ridge, N.J. A small sign stated it was “purported” to be part of the mast from the USS Maine, the U.S. Navy ship that exploded in Havana harbor in 1898 and ignited the Spanish-American War.
The story went that the worn three-foot-long spar with saw marks at one end had been discovered at a local garage sale, and then donated to the Pascack Historical Society...
...Whitaker [Steve Whitaker, a retired Navy captain and an expert on the ship’s history and construction] soon determined that the mast’s wood and iron fittings matched the materials used to construct the armored battleship at the Brooklyn Navy Yard in 1889. He consulted records and plans in the archives of the New York Public Library to confirm his suspicions. He then examined paint flecks on the artifact. The USS Maine was originally painted white, then repainted tan and finally covered in black paint...
“There are definitely three types of paint remains on this relic,” he said. “There’s a black oil-based overcoat with a lead-based coat underneath that was sort of a straw color. Underneath that there are remnants of a whitewash paint.”
...Whitaker then started examining photos of the USS Maine from before and after the explosion. Specifically, he looked at images that showed the aft mast and how it changed over time. The breakthrough came when he found an 1899 photo of the wreck in Havana harbor with the proof he was looking for...
In late September, Arlington National Cemetery staff will hand over the artifact to conservators, who will undertake a multiyear effort to protect it from further deterioration.
"There's a sucker born every minute"
It caught me completely by surprise. 
