I was enclosing my letter in its envelope when the explosion came. It was a bursting, rending, and crashing sound or roar of immense volume, largely metallic in character. . . . The electric lights, of which there were eight in the cabin where I was sitting, went out. Then there was intense blackness and smoke. Read Captain Charles D. Sigsbee’s account of the sinking of the USS Maine, given in 1899. This is a reliable source mainly because