Daily camera., 1898-12-05
JUNK AT A BARGAIN.
Spain Is Anxious to Sell Her Sunk.
en- Warships.
The Fleet That Our Dewey Toyed
With So Heedlessly May Be Pur-
chased At Less Than Ftre
Sale Figures.

The Spanish rRpverIrueni WISHES "
out up to the highest uIuoer the meet
that an admira, -. ours named De"eJ
was so thoughtless as to send 10 the
bottom of Manila bay, purchaser TO 90
his own trucking. The Spanish govern
ment is very particular TO impress th's
latter point upon prospective puFers'
The dons will not undertake TO denver
the purchases, as they think by the
time the fleet is raised 10 the top OF the
Manila waters and made tit TO hoat 10
the destination appointed by the pui'
chaser the purchase money might nave
yanisheul IN expense. The goods are de-
scriped III the catalogue as follows:
Reina Christina, $500 tons dlsplace-
ment. ~ guns; no definite lnformatloh
obtainab.e as 10 her condition, but IL is
not 1nought that she can be brought TO
the top IN any other shape than that
of a demoraNZed mass OF junk, Tor the
reason that besides the thCughtless
damage done directly by the guns OF
the American warships her magazine
blew up and seriously dlsarranged her
internal machinery. On these accounts
the Spanish government, wishing 10
play fair with the bidders. o1fers her as
Old metal, and viii be glad to star the
bidding at ten pese1as on Dehal1 Oh lhe
Spanish royal junk yard, which 1t Is
the young kings hobby to see kept well
stocked with secondhand naval mate
rial.
The Castillo, a 3,342-ton vessel Of 20
guns, is added to the catalogue as
matter of form, because she once De-
longed TO the fleet that Dewey sunk.
The bidding in this case will be started
very low. In tact, it Is probable nal
the Castli.a VIII be thrown In free with
the other ships purchased. The Castllla
was wooden ship, and II is doubtful II
more OF her can be recovered mar
would make good-slzed boLnre. 1t Is
thought, however, that her guns mlghi
be worth something as old metal, pro-
vided the actlon of the waters OF Mania
bay has not melted them. 1t is known
that they were of very soft and yIeId-
ing material. AT the Manila fig ht II Was
deemed advisable not 10 fire them to-
often tor lear they would damage u
wooden ship. which was not accus'
toned TO such violence. and had al
ways been enveloped IN mackln' osL
in wet weather to prevent her catching
cold.
The Velasco is LISP tons, seven guns,
will have 10 be taken on speculation.
All that is known is that she was sunk
and IS somewhere between The surface
of the >rater and the bottom OF tie
bay The Don Antonio de Clloa, 13U
tons, l3 guns, and the Don Juan dt
Austria are sister ships, md abou; th
best of the bunch. They are prooaD..
suffering severely from rheumatlar,
of the joints from their long stay at ln>
bottom of the pay, but anyone who has
a fancy for secondhand navy wouiC
probably be able to get these two at
bargain by speaking quickly. Ihes,
two boats are rated as unprotected
cruisers, 21O feet long, 80 feet beam and
of l,l3U tons displacement.
Two more ships that are, or were.
valuable are the Isla de Cuba and tn,
IsIa de Luzon, rated as third-class
cruisers. They might make good mud
scows if they could be raised ant
brought across the ocean to America
Or, as novelty at the seaside resorts
they might repay the auction price an,
expense of raising and transporting
them. Of the Others, ,ne RI Cano, 2.524-
ton boat, and the Marquis del Duero
and Gen. Lezo, they might as well b,
left in the mud of Manila bay II
wouldn't pay anyone to dig them out.
In case it might be taken from the
foregoing rather fippant remarks that
the whole thing is a joke, it is well tC
state here and now that the Spanlsl.
government actually and seriously has
decided to put up its sunken feet al
auction, and awaits a bid. Well said
is it that the Spaniards have something
radically wrong in their composition
There is lacking somewhere. The
national tile is little loose, in the Eng
lish slang. The Spaniard is off his base.
in the American vernacular. In the
Frenchman's inexpensive words. but
with his very expressive pantomime,
the don has "someteeng vanting." But
step up if you want to see that second
band 1eet.-Washington Post.
mn