USS MAINE MEDAL

[trevmma]

I have been looking for anything that would tell me about this. I found it in my grandfathers attic. He built the house so he would have been the one to put it there. I've checked all the names on the ship and cannot find any relationship to the family. I have had it my possesion for about 25 years. We lived outside of Pittsburgh.

 

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[Gypsy Heart]

There must have been alot of charms,medals etc made at the same time from the ships wreckage...I found this blurb about a charm with a hole in it ..... Medallion Made From Bronze Recovered From the Wreck of the USS Maine, ACR-1


USS Maine (ACR-1)''', the first ship of the United States Navy to be named for the state of Maine, was a 6682-ton second-class pre-dreadnought battleship originally designated as Armored Cruiser #1. She was powered by twin screw vertical inverted triple expansion engines, manufactured by Quintard Iron Works, and generated 9,000 horsepower.

Congress authorized her construction on August 3, 1886, and her keel was laid down on October 17, 1888, at the New York Navy Yard. She was launched on November 18, 1889, sponsored by Miss Alice Tracey Wilmerding (granddaughter of Secretary Benjamin F. Tracy), and commissioned on September 17, 1895, under the command of Captain A.S. Crowninshield. Her active career was spent operating along the U.S. east coast and in the Caribbean area. In January 1898, Maine was sent to Havana, Cuba, to protect U.S. interests during a time of local insurrection and civil disturbances.




Three weeks later, at 9:40 on the evening of February 15, a terrible explosion on board Maine shattered the stillness in Havana Harbor. Later investigations revealed that more than five tons of powder charges for the vessel's six and ten-inch guns ignited, virtually obliterating the forward third of the ship. The remaining wreckage rapidly settled to the bottom of the harbor. Most of Maine's crew were sleeping or resting in the enlisted quarters in the forward part of the ship when the explosion occurred. Two hundred and sixty-six men lost their lives as a result of the disaster: 260 died in the explosion or shortly thereafter, and six more died later from injuries. Captain Sigsbee and most of the officers survived because their quarters were in the aft portion of the ship. On March 28, the US Naval Court of Inquiry declared that a naval mine caused the explosion. The tragedy was a precipitating cause of the Spanish-American War that began in April 1898 and which used the rallying cry, "Remember the Maine." At the time, it was used as pretext for war by those who were already inclined to go to war with Spain.

On August 5,1910, Congress authorized the raising of Maine to remove it as a navigation hazard in Havana Harbor. On February 2, 1912, she was refloated under supervision of the Army Corps of Engineers and towed out to sea where she was sunk in deep water in the Gulf of Mexico on March 16, 1912, with appropriate military honors and ceremonies.

Materials from the USS Maine were recovered during this period, and numerous souvenirs were made from the recovered metal. The obverse of the medallion reads, "U.S.S. Maine - Destroyed In - Havana Harbor, Cuba - February 15th, 1998", and the reverse reads, "This charm - Made from Bronze - Recovered from the - Maine - And issued by the - Veterans of Foreign - Wars in Memory of - Our Departed - Comrades" The token, or charm as it is called, was made from bronze recovered from the ship for distribution by the Veterans of Foreign Wars. The token is 1 ½ inches in diameter, and suspended from a loop.

http://www.check-six.com/Museum/Sea-m.htm

 

[kenb]

Great job as always gypsyheart!!! wonderful reply.

kenb

 

[cedarratt]

Thats a neat little token!!!!

 

[privateer]

Great item-when you know the history of the Maine-and you have an item made from the wreckage-nice.

 

[idahotokens]

This medal is one of many in the "Made From" category. Generally they were sold as fund-raisers for some commemoration event, so there is often no connection between the purchaser and the thing the medal was made from, be it cannons captured in a war, a battleship, or whatever. The concept is not much different from souvenirs containing Mt. St. Helens ash or even a poster commemorating the Boise State win in the Fiesta Bowl (had to get that in...)
John in ID

 

[WolfmoonX]

Here is another interesting site about the Maine.

http://www.arlingtoncemetery.net/ussmaine.htm

 

[mikfan]

An old family friend gave me this medallion. I would like to find out its current value. Please help!
Mike