![]() ![]() ![]() Captain Sigsbee kept everyone on board, except for some officers who made social calls and visited a bull fight, and some sailors sent ashore to procure provisions. Maine and its crew entered Havana harbor on 25 January 1898 to make a friendly port call in the city, then under Spanish administration, and protect American lives and property threatened by an ongoing civil war between Spain and the local Cubans. All in all, the sailors onboard would have had fairly typical careers in the new and expanding American navy, if it weren’t for the Cuban insurrection. Maine also had some tragedies and close calls, like the time three men were washed overboard and lost in a storm off of South Carolina, or when Captain Charles Sigsbee chose to ram a pier in New York Harbor to avoid sinking a ferry full of tourists. The crew particularly enjoyed visiting New Orleans for Mardi Gras, so much so that the ship’s log book entry for 1 March 1897 notes that of 72 men released on liberty the day before, 39 did not return for morning muster. This routine was broken only by port visits for repairs, refueling, and training of local naval militiamen. ![]() Life on board Maine was a lot like life in any Navy ship with daily musters, watch bills, gunnery drills, and constant maintenance as the ship headed up and down the East Coast. ![]() Almost a quarter of Maine’s crew came from outside the United States, a marker of the heavy pace of immigration around the turn of the century. Maine’s crew was typical for Navy ships of the era, recruited from across the country and made up of a mixture of immigrants, workers, and men from seafaring families. ![]()
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