BRADENTON BEACH – A 1940 wreck off the Bradenton Beach coast is in line to become the state’s 10th underwater archaeological preserve.
Third Place
Environmental Reporting
2004
The Regina, a molasses barge that sank in a storm and took the life of one crewman, will be mapped, measured, marked and memorialized for future generations of divers and snorkelers to enjoy
“It’s a way to educate people that the wrecks have historical value whether they had gold on board or not,” said Della Scott, an underwater archaeologist with the Florida Department of State’s Bureau of Archaeological Research.
The site will be marked with a bronze plaque displaying the history of the shipwreck, and brochures and laminated underwater guides will be available at dive shops, she said.
Usually, a shore-based exhibit is built close to the site with photographs, artifacts and brochures for history buffs who don’t dive or snorkel, she added.
Scott is still researching the Regina’s history, then will spend four to six weeks in Bradenton Beach making an archaeological site plan.
Community meetings will be organized to solicit volunteers for the mapping, the shore-based exhibit and other projects.
Seven other historic shipwrecks have been named state preserves, Scott said.
They are the Half Moon off Key Biscayne, the Urca de Lima off Fort Pierce, the San Pedro off Islamorada, the City of Hawkinsville near Old Town, the USS Massachusetts off Pensacola, the SS Copenhagen off Pompano Beach and the SS Tarpon off Panama City.
The eighth and ninth preserves are being mapped now off Boynton Beach and Mexico Beach, respectively.
The sites are nominated by local people, including charter boat captains, fishermen and schoolchildren, Scott said. The Regina was nominated two years ago by Lorraine Athas of SeaTrek Divers, 105 Seventh St. N. in Bradenton Beach, directly across Gulf Drive from the site.
For more information on state underwater archaeological preserves, visit http:\\dhr.dos.state.fl.us/bar/uap.
The wreck of the Regina
Some of the details of the wreck of the Regina are as murky as molasses, but according to records at the Anna Maria Island Historical Society, the story goes something like this:
On March 8, 1940, long before the American embargo against Cuba began, the Cuban tugboat Minian was towing the 300-foot barge Regina from Havana to New Orleans.
The Regina had a boiler on board that most likely was used to turn Cuban sugar cane into molasses at sea on the way to market.
On March 8, as it passed by Egmont Key during a storm, it was laden with 350,000 gallons of molasses and was pitching with the waves. Rough seas broke the towline between the vessels. The Minian made for Egmont Key. The wind and waves drove the Regina south toward Bradenton Beach, where it grounded on a sandbar between 225 to 500 feet offshore, depending on who’s telling the story.
The St. Petersburg Coast Guard station was alerted, but couldn’t send a boat because night was falling and the storm was too severe. Bystanders lit fires on the beach to encourage the stranded crew throughout the night.
The next morning, the Coast Guard’s seaplane dropped life jackets, most of which were swept away. In desperation, the ship’s black cook, Severino Canisares, and the boat’s mascot, a German shepherd, attempted to swim to shore, but drowned.
Two crewmen made it to shore with the help of a volunteer, Cortez resident Clayton Adams, who swam out to help them with a rope tied to his waist.
The Coast Guard sent a truck from St. Petersburg equipped with a gun to shoot a lifeline to the barge, but it didn’t work. Volunteer Furman Smith took a dinghy out to the Regina and got a rope to the crew, who tied it to the barge. The other end was secured on shore.
Coast Guardsman Barney Barnett attached a boatswain’s chair to the rope, took the chair out to the barge and helped the remaining five crewmen into the chair one at a time with the assistance of volunteer Jim Parker. Men on the beach pulled the chair down the rope to shore.
All told, seven of the eight crewmen survived. And a chicken was saved, discovered on the barge’s wreckage after the ordeal.
If you have any information about survivors, heroes, photographs or artifacts from the wreck, please contact staff writer Cindy Lane at 941-778-3986.
