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“...346 POCKET GUIDE TO THE WEST INDIES
sanitary improvements have rendered Havana quite
healthy.
It was in the harbour of Havana that the Spanish
treasure fleets, known as the Galleons and the Flota,
used to collect before their departure for Europe, and
it was in it, too, that the United States cruiser
Maine (Captain Sigsbee) was blown up at 9.40 p.m. on
February 15th, 1898, an event which was the immediate
cause of the outbreak of war between the United States
and Spain. Two hundred and seventy men and two
officers were killed, and it was claimed that the disaster
was due to the explosion of a mine by the Spaniards.
Whether this was really the case or not has been the
subject of much subsequent discussion; but the cry
which was raised, “ Remember the Maine ! ” proved
irresistible.
For years after the war the wreck lay where she
sank with the Stars .and Stripes flying at Tialf-mast over
her, but in 1912 the vessel was raised and towed out to
sea and burred. The following account of the ceremony...”
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