The Birmingham age-herald., 1919-09-20
SPANISH STEAMER, 45O ON BOARD, IS BELIEVED LOCATED
 AT BOTTOM OF SEA
Divers Employed to Make Examination State Name of Vessel Plainly Visible. Fate Passengers and
 Crew Unknown
BY Associated prss.

Key West, Fla, September That the Spanish steamer Valbanera, carrying 300 pas sengers and a crew of 150, went down in the hurricane that swept Key West 10 days ago, appeared to have been made
 certain tonight by the state ment of Ensign L. l. Ro-crts, commanding. officer. of tn.
 United States subchaser 2O3,
 who stated he plainly saw the nameplate of that steamer on the vessel found today sunk in 40 feet of water near here.
 The statement of Ensign Roberts corroborated that of divers who. on orr der of the Cuban consul here, made an investigation of the sunken vessel. The wreck was seen by the suh-chaser and the coast guard vessel Tuscarosa near Rebcccn shoals lighthouse, about 10 miles from here. It lay in water which covers n he'd of quicksnnd. No signs of any bodies were seen.
 The Valbanera has been missing since the storm which caught her IS she neared Havana en route from Spa nish ports t~ New Orleans. The passengers are thought to have been chiefly or almost entirely Span- ish or Cuban, as virtually all of them were to have been put off at Havana Mrs. Pauline Beckner of France. Sts- ter of Mrs. George Pollock of New Or-s l leans however was thought tu aaNe
 beer aboard The vessel also carried | a valuable cargo.
 | A wrecking crew Is to leave here
 tomorrow and the naval station hese i has promised all facilities to aid them 1 There have been no reports here. 1 however Of any number of persons adrifi or having been landed ana it 1 was not regarded as probable that any { could have been saved by 9tnes vts- sells without word ha .Ing cofne of that | fact
 l The spanish steamer Valbanera arr l rived off Morro Castle. Havana, Septem- l Der 9 but due to the tropical hurricane l which swept these waters at that time 1 was unable to enter port. She put to sea and although wireless calls sup posed to nave come from the Valbanera 1 have been reported, she had not been : located.
 Cuban gunboats have been sent to ! search for her and it was suggested 1 that seaplanes might go out from key | West on the same mission.
 The steamer was found today. sunk | in 40 feet of water in the quicksands, | by United States coast guard vessel | They reported the sunken steamer ap- | peared to be about a 5000 ton vessel l The missing Spanish steamship was | of 3.291 tons net. considerably smaller 1 than the estimate made by the coast l guard men of the sunken ship. The | Cuban consul. on being informed or l the find, however. employed divers to | make an examination on the theory
 that it might be the Valbanera Divers 1 said the name was clearly visible. 1 Further investigations are expected 10
 clear beyond all doubt the identy or l the ship and possibly throw some light on the fate of the 450 persons aboard. Ships and land statiops have re- ported faint calls for help from the | Valbaneras crew during the past few ! days The signals were so weak that their locatio could not be determined Whether they were sent from the snip or with an improvised apparatus set up on land remains mystery. The fqint- ness of the calls would indicate either ldamaged or improvised instruments 1 MRS. BECKER PASSENGER
 By Associated Press
 | New Orleans September l9.-Mrs. 1 Pauline Becker of France. sister of Mrs. George Pollock of New Orleans. is be- lieyed to have been a passenger on the 1,ph Ttaff fA q