The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1895-03-20
Masts Of the Spanish. Cruiser Discov-
cred Sticking Out OF the Water Not
Far from Gibraltar straits.
OVER 400 SOULS persisted
WHEREABOUTS OF TIE sUNkEN
SHIP FOUND ny A SISTER VESSEL.
The F~oundercd Man-of-War One of
bus CaraveIs Across the Sea.

CADIZ, March 19.-There is no longer any
doubt as to the fate of the Spanish cruiser
ReiDa Regenta and her crew of 40 officers
and men. The cruiser lies at the bottom of
the Mediterranean, and it is believed ev-
cry soul on board persisted. The cruiser
Alfonso XIII arrived here to-day after a
search for the Reina Regenta, and reports
having found the latter vessel sunk near
Bajo Aceitanos. not far from the Straits
of Gibraltar. Only twenty inches of the
Reina Regenta's masts were above water.
The Alfonso XIII at once returned to the
scene Of the wreck with a number of di-
vers and diving appliances in order to re-
cover the bodies of the crew of the sunken
war ship.
The Reina Regenta was reported missing
on March 10. She had just conveyed from
Cadiz to Tangier the returning Moorish
mission to Spain. The cruiser left Tangier
on March 5 for Cadiz, and her whereabouts
has not been definitely ascertained until
to-day. Pieces of one of her boats and
semaphore flags were reported to have been
picked up along the shore near Ceuta and
Tarifa. So soon as the reports of the disas-
ter became current a number Of Spanish
and British war ships put to. sea in search
of her. A french steamship, on March IA,
arrived at Gibraltar and reported having
seen a big vessel, supposed to have been
the Reina Regenta, ashore in Bajo Aceita-
nos. The commander of the French craft
added that he was unable to assist the war
ship on account of heavy weather. On
March Is the steamer Mayfair arrived at
Barcelona and reported sighting a vessel
believed to be the Spanish cruiser Reina
Regenta on the morning of March 10 be-
tween. Tarifa and Cape Espartel. The war
mr-t- 49, - - $780, - -.l-- --I
was laboring heavily in the high seas and
fierce gale which prevailed. Although she
was apparently unmanageable the cruiser
did not ask for assistance, and therefore
the Mayfair did not offer her any. But
the captain of the Mayfair added that he
was of the opinion that she could not long
have survived in the storm in the condition
in which she appeared to be at the time
he saw her. Later the Spanish cruisers
Isla de Luzon and Alfonso XIII returned
to Cadiz after having searched the Span
ish and African coasts and the straits with
out any news of the missing war ship.
Deputy Diaz Moreau, who was formerly
an officer in the Spanish navy, in the Cham
Der Of Deputies, during the evening of
March IA, read the statement of a former
commander of the Reina Regenta in which
the writer described the cruiser as a YES
sci unaDke 10 weather a IEdNy SlOIil OW-
ing to the increased weight of her arma-
ment. In the Senate Admiral Beranger,
former Minister of Marine, said that the
Reina Regenta was one of the best ships
in her class. She was well appointed in
every way, he added, and if she was lost
he believed she must have colIfded with
another vessel or have gone ashore. Sub
sequently, in an interview In regard to the
statement made by Deputy Diaz Moreau,
in which n former commander of the ReinA
Regenta alleged that she was top heavy,
Admiral Beranger said that the overweight
of the cruiser deck guns was rectified two
years ago by his orders when he was Min
lister of Marine.
Reina Regenta caused great public excite
ment in Madrid, and the government was
accused of keeping back news of the ship
and of having ordered the detention of the
censors of all kilograms giving information
about her. But when a number OF flags, a
to have belonged to the Regenta was
washed ashore at Tarifa she was given up
for lost.
the 40 officers and men of the lost cruiser
belonged, there has been great anxiety and
excitement from the moment she was re-
4 dispatch from Madrid says: The posi-
tive news of The loss of the Spanish cruiser
Cadiz immediately after the arrival there
of the cruiser Alfonso XIII, caused the
greatest emotion IN Madrid and through
out Spain. The Queen Regent was deeply
distressed. By her Majesty's orders. the
sacrament has been exposed. night and day.
in the royal chapel from the time the first
report of the disaster reached her, and by
her direction prayers for the safety OF the
crew of the Reina Regenta have been said
continuously ever since.
Hope Not Yet Abandoned.
MADRID. March 19.-The officials here
consider that it is still possible that the
officers of the Alfonso XIII are mistaken
In their identification Of the wreck as that
of the Reina Regenta. Senior Moreu, lately
the commander of the cruiser Sonde De
vonedito, said, in an interview, to-day, that
he believed that such an expert sailor as
the captain of the Reina Regenta would
have quit the dangerous coast in the vicin-
ity of Tangier at the first symptoms of a
storm and made for Cadiz or Algecienas. If
he found that impossible. owing to the
tempest. he would have endeavored to have
got into the open sea. where the vessel
may nave foundered or still be floating. dis
abled. The Queen Regent. after whom the
ordered that the prayers for the safety OF
the ship and crew be continued.
The government probably knows whether
or not the vessel has been lost, but is hid
ing the truth until q new ministry shall
have been formed. 1t is stated that the
search will be continued but this is a for
their maledictions, which they direct against
the Moorish Mission. to convey which. back
to Morocco, the Reina Regenta was sent
The Correspondence De Espana is re-
sponsible for the statement that the AL
fonso XIII brought to Cadiz the bodies OF
thirty men belonging to the Reina Regenta.
The Lost Cruiser.
NEW YORK. March s.-The Reina Re-
genta about two years ago came to New
York as one of the Spanish squadron which
escorted across the Atlantic the Columbus