Salvaged Medical Document from the U.S.S. Maine

Partly printed medical document accomplished in manuscript. Hampton Roads, Virginia, 7 February [1898]. 1 page. Undersigned by 3 medical officers. 1 page. Framed with an affixed newspaper clipping.

A remarkable relic from the U.S.S. Maine, whose unexpected sinking sparked the Spanish-American War. The document itself is a Medical Report permanently discharging Francis William Bennett from U.S. Naval Service as he was “unfit for service” due to “mental weakness”. The original printing of the document is all but faded, however, as the including clipping notes, the “metallic ink used by the navy is clear and distinct.”

The accompanying newspaper clipping reports on the recovery of the document: “the package was underwater for four days, from its appearance, and it still bears evidence of that fact, besides having an unpleasant brackish odor. The blue mark lines ruled on the paper by the printing office are nearly faded out but the reading in the journal in the metallic ink used by the navy is clear and distinct.” It further notes that “Surgeon Heneberger, the Maine’s medical officer, that the record was brought up to the last moment before the wreck of the ship, the last entry being Feb. 15.”

How best to Remember the Maine than with this remarkable relic?

[Spanish-American War, U.S.S. Maine, Militaria, Documents, Manuscripts, Ephemera]