The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1878-03-30 00:00:00

llt *adage Observer.

SATURDAY, MARCH 80, 1878

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-MARITIME DISASTERS.

The terrible calamity which took place off
the sonth-east eoast of the Isle of Wight on
_ .

_
Sunday afternoon i 3 an irresistible reminder of
the.truth of a siqitig once uttered by Edmund
13u)k• , upon the death of his son, "What
sbAdows we are, and what shadows we pursue ! "
From the eerliust ages the mariners of all
IlutiOcß have txustwl their lives upon the sea
with the tame contifieucc as though tney_ were

_
traveTaing thP 3and. The Tyrians
Pboardeiatui wure accustom:4 to go sown io
the bea in ships ; and the tatter, in doing
peas upon the great waters, made Weir way, i.,
their primeval b*tqt.e, aerosa the broad rAi
pause of the Meiiiterrliac-an, and landing upon
the iron•botind co9st of Coruwad, carried off
some of the riches to be found in tin, tin. wine,"
of that country, which endure even to this day.
Their means of navigation was no doubt rn.le
and rough, but they succeeded. Long bcfore
the Roman galleys, with their two, three, and
four banks of oars, were aconstorned to carry

the flag of empire over the wi.drvness 1 waters,
the Persians had vast sailing ftee:4 which wenz

forth to de battle with tilt; navies of Greece.
The idea ef their not being enabled to contend
with the winds and the waves does not seem to

have impressed itself much upon their minds.
Tbe plementa were to be bent to the will of

man. dud ithe currents of the air were to be
1,1 into requisition to work the ship against
tilt, currents of the sea. The vessel might
strike upon an unknown reef, or be cast upon
a r. ky coast amid the fury of a storm, but the
-vide spread of sail was sufficient to show that
tad notion of being blown over or capsized was
not a common one. _ _ _

And ye k it seems that, even at this time of
day, riter the ships of all maritime peoples
have been ploughing the stormy main for
thousands of years, and after every research
and nudy—every description of science and
skill have been brought to bear by man upon
conquering the forces of nature, and making
them bow to his will, occasions arise in which
_ _

human ingenuity is baffled, and the fruits a
intellectual efforts are laughed to scorn. The
vessels comprising the Brit!sh navy, numbering
BOMO hundreds in all, and including all types of
naval architecture, have had to venture upon
every ocean and sea upon the habitable globe.
The flag, which has floated in every clime, is
said, in a popular song, to have braved, not
only a thousand years, but "the battle and the
breeze" as well. With our vast commercial
interests to protect, our battle ships are found
not onl3 off the frozen shores of Newfoundland,
4.airl the stifling heats of the Persian Galt• ;
, only ainid the ;;wide waves of the Pacific,
b :Liao in tilt? tempestamas Atl Lntie. In the
arranean, so notorioue fur the saddeneess
vieienee of :A3 equalleewe regu'erly k^ep
ot laigest of our i..),,e, _ 'Tear'y
Oeflt.nry had eliii-Hea • i eirieei, ut
Reyel Georee; ttir
.• ntion of the e - • •ied
pei-,13 of the ,i--tep•,•... o Lro .e.
Caii`ein. Sae wee ee exeetievieeta. suite
true, but her de.eiger_e L. `,4rl e greaimeLtrli
dance in her, and so els° had the AfitzlintL'y, oi•
they would not have eatrusteu 500 iivee on
board. Yet this soleeuie vessel, winch had
cost half a tnillion sterling, and with ali her
preeieue freiget, cape-ie. e 51 midnigut in a
eneeeer• gale—one erten at. MIIBI. Wive
bi s swept, oeer the M&ii.e see el.. Ine lege
of :ife in the Eurydice, leeegii Less, strikes
the ilhaginatiou is beieg teeritee it its nature
frotei the peculiar oiraunieteetoee eurrodedinc;
the catastrophe. She, at all events, had been
rtnii upon no experimental principles, for she
fte
rrom her construction, specialireelected
iihe training of second-oiaes seamen in tier
sty's navy Had there been any thought
eager happening to her through the
‘iolence of the wind, she would never have
n sent to the West Indies—a portion of the
eeeA„ish possessions which have from time to
been desolated by some of the fiercest
baritenes that ever blew under Heaven. But
it was not amid the wild tempests of those
latitudee that she met her doom. She had
been oat there for a winter cruise, and any
Laies that Might have passed over these seas
were encountered by her in safety. The good
ship was on her way home, had traversedbound-
less tracks of ocean, and was making her way
up the well known paths of the English Chan-
nel. She had passed the Lizard in the early
morning—a fine bright trorning in the spring,
when the sun was shin ig over the homes of
England, and whel, as the hours wore on,
worshippers innumerable, in response to the
chimes from a thousand steeples, gathered in
the churches and offered prayer for those who
travel by land or by water. The men on board
the Enrydiee might have been expected to be
in high spirits. Mile after mile of the Channel
was left behind, and an hour before sunset
weuld find them Ist Spithead, when scares of
teem would be greeted by relatives assembled
weleosit theei slur a long absence. As the
ef .erecon w..,re on, a change came over the
eeene, and the heavent grew teeck with wind
le very Sight of the aoese of •, of
e-eith the lele "R.;
.5aT, rorroA tlt.e..ra ht A pert, and uvive. a Efla ..c•;y. •
. , •
irk,arrser day lite- emeeee ,e• -
d of Veotuor, Witifoe
e,--elead, she is wrack "' 1
:JL•STSCATior ! Wel! they we • eceeeiee,
. eperaee efferte of tete
clew t save
r, the hasty; MAW:ions OT S.ds tore-ire-re
et chi; tran,•,ic veegglee
t.,., VoSSOI tho. 7 }v.:. heeling r I
in vain sighti ut home, as ete: ~f
tiorti etterter, 004,4 of
A,4ieeey Wert. eaysge InNra lit 3,4 a
et length bee Ice fight was a
brief and a hopelees ;eine , The esieft end the
w-,.vee, for once, tekieg .eee by suroriee, had
en hem--a wnizzies elliceing, in the
ea. s. And all wes over.
"4 Aud there was no more an!" S'o wrote
exi4i in the Isle of Pat.ecee in describing
tee end of things created, LeeeL peehah;y there
could be no more powerful ilinsiiration of the
-.aing away of the solid globe than the dis-
appearance of the great °chime of water etern-
try rolling between pole and pole, and covering
three quarters of the earth's surface. The
grAeclear and itneeeneity of the ma, so irre-
eietibk in it itiiget, so imposing in its majesty,
o uggestivo in its sub-imity, is at the same
L.ime remorselees is its victims when it come*
oat the.couqueror. Green and hungry close in
upon the land, blue as cobalt far out in its
greatest depths, the sea, which is vast enough
tee• 6W111109 up a thoueaud ships at noon, will
d teen and sperkle in the sunlight at eventide,
es then,: the S.A3 ti Of its waves warn 1,,t
tCI.I ttres for thoee.• who had
bee., eirreptied. Ali titol4l uu4ll=l tam