The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1903-05-10


the flagship of Admiral Montojo's fies
that went down in flame and smoke or
May Day of 1898. has been reclaimed
from the sea and is once more aaoal
in the same spot where she once proud
ly Haunted, the castles of CASTLE and
the lions of Leon.
| When Constructor Hobson made his
survey of the wrecks of the Spanish
fleet he gave it as his official opinion
that the raising of the Reina Cristina
was impossible. The Philippine SAL
wage Company, however. undertook the
task and, having secured the services
of Captain c. f. Gary. has. In about a
months work succeeded in floating the
ship. The difficulty of the task will be
better appreciated when it is known
that the ship--a first class cruiser OF
$500 tons register-had a gaping hole
in her bow made by an s-inch shell and
fourteen other holes made by missiles
OF smaller calibre. one, three and four
Founders.
YEARS.
To add to this the ship had been
under water for nearly five years and
the waters of the bay had washed in
The main injection valve had also been
removed allowing a stream of water,
eighteen inches in diameter to flow into
her 1t was necessary to do all the
work of stopping leaks and building
up false wooden free-board under
water and in this work Captain Gary
and his able assistant, Mr.. A. Brown,
with their crew, have been engaged
day and night for a month, using div
ing suits.
AS soon as the artificial bulwarks
were sufficiently high and the leaks
stopped, three pumps, one raising 1000
gallons per minute and two raising 800
gallons per minute each were set TO
work AS the water was pumped out
the ship fioated and was towed into
shallower water by the steamer Marin
duque until she grounded again. This
operation was repeated until the Reina
Cristina now lies in comparatively
shallow water with her rail far above
the surface and it only remains to
pump out what water she still contains
and remove the mud that has drifted
in. This will be quickly done by the
two pumps with a. capacity of 1000 gall
Ions per minute which were put TO work
today, and it is expected that by We'd
nesday the ship will be afioat for good.
The ship, at present. is a melancholy
spectacle. Before she sank she was set
on Gre, either by her own crew. or by
the explosion of the S-inch shell which
struck her in the bow, and there is
nothing left of her except her hull
the tangled mass of her
ruined engines and her funnel, which
still stands. with two shot-holes
through it. made by large sized shells.
For a distance of thirty feet or so
at bow and stern the steel Orders Of
her decks are still in place. warped
and twisted out of shape by fire.
SUBMARINE CHARMED HOUSE.
The hospital of the ship was in the
bow and it was in this part of the ship
that the inch shell exploded. Here are
heaped together the skeletons of eighty
men, according to Captain Gary's esti-
mate.
In other parts of the ship other
skeletons were found and one Of them
is supposed to be that of the executive
officer who is known to have gone
down with his ship. A sword founo
nearby gives color to this belief. NO
treasure has been recovered from the
wreck if one may except the comnan-
der's gold watch which was found,
melted into a conglomerate mass OF
gold and steel in his cabin, and some
of nine-carat gold which
were probably decorations of the chap
ell which is found on every Spanish
war ship. What viii be found when
the mud is taken out OF the ship can
only be conjectured but there Is every
reason to believe that many more bod
les will be recovered.
~ 1o0T T-nAyTYTTON