The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1895-03-16
SPAIN'S MISSING WARSHIP.
SHE WAS LAST SEEN MINUS HER
FJNNELs AND BRIDGE.

4 Gale blowing aud she Appeared 10
BE UnmanageabIe-As She Did Not
Signal For Assistance, the Vessel
which sighted Her ORered None,
Though Confident That She Could
Not Keep AnOat Long fn Her Dis
abIed Condition.
Barcelona, March 15.--The steamer May
fair. which arrived here this morning.
reports that she sighted the Spanish
cruiser Reina Regente on the morning OF
March 10 between Tarifa and Cape Es-
partel. The warship had lost her tunnels
and bridge. and was laboring heavily in
the high sea and fierce gale which was
prevailing. She was apparently unman-
ageable, but, as She did not ask for as
sistance, the Mayfair did not offer her
any. The captain OF the Mayfair is OF
the opinion that the Relna Regente could
not long have survived the storm I'm the
condition in which she appeared to be at
the time he saw her.
Madrid. March 16. a. m.-The Spanish
cruisers lsla De Luzon and Alfonso XII
have carefully searched the waters Of the
Spanish and African coasts and the
straits, but have found no trace Of the
missing war ship Relna Regente. The
ceived here concerning the missing ship
is a rumor that British vessel had found
her in a disabled condition on the African
coast and taken her in tow. This rumor,
however, is not credited. as IL cannot be
traced to any reliable source.
In the Chamber of Deputies last evening
Deputy Diaz More, n naval officer read
the statement of a former commander OF
the Reina Regente, in which the writer
describes her as a ship unable to weather
a heavy storm, owing to the increased
weight of her armament.
The Reina Regente is stcel-protected
cruiser. and was completed in 1887. Her
dimensions are: Length, 800 feet; beam,
80 feet Z inches; draught, 1923 feet. She is
of 4,750 tons displacement, 1850 horse
power, and her speed is POO knots.
Her main armament consists of four
945 inch guns, one on each side forward of
the superstructure and one on each side
aft; six Az inch guns mounted in broad
side. She has an auxiliary battery Of
fourteen rapid fire and machine guns,
and has five torpedo tubes. Her protect
ed deck is 43 inches thick on the slope,
her coming tower is inches thick, and her
heavy gun shield three inches thick. She
has a coal capacity of 1,l50 tons.
She was one Of the three Spanish war
ships that took part in the great COlum-
bian naval parade in New York harbor
Ing been the Nueva Espana and Infanta
Ysabela.
In the chamber to-day Premier Sagasta
said he had no information as to the ru-
mored arrival of the Reina Regente at
the Canaries.
The government has not abandoned
hope however. Human bodies and wreck
age had been found at various ports along
the southern coast, but they did not be-
long to the cruiser. The premier read dis
patches from Capt Lopez, commanding
one of the Cuban transports, which were
compelled TO seek shelter at Teneriffe
Island from the gale. The waves swept
her decks, carrying Off live stock and
damaging the deck houses. Capt Lopez
did not see the Reina RegeRte.
In the Senate Admiral Beranger said:
'The Reina Regente was one Of the best
ships in her class atloat. She was we'll
appointed in every way. If she is lost,
I believe she must have collided with an
other vessel, or has gone ashore" In a
subsequent interview Admiral Beranger
said that the overweight of the cruisers
deck guns was rectihed two years ago by
his order. when he was minister of
marine
Fifty bodies have come ashore on the
south coast in the last two days, but none
Of them is from the Reina Regente.
London March 1.-THE Times corre-
spondent in Madrid says the uncertainty
of the fate of the Reina Regente has
caused great public excitement there. The
government is accused of keeping back
news of the ship and of having ordered
the detention by censors of all telegrams
giving information of her. It is more ike
ly, however, that the government is as
badly off for definite news of the missing
ship as is the public. The more op-
timistic portion of the public are of the
opinion that the cruiser has been driven
into the Atlantic by the storm and is either
disabled or short of coal.