The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1880-04-24 00:00:00

THE ATALANTA.

The Times of Monday says :—" The composite gun
vessel Avon, Commander keppel, arrived at Spithead
yesterday afternoon from the East Coast of America.
It was Ined that-she would bring tidings of the Ata-
lanta, but the captain reported that he had not heard
or seen anything of her.
"Although no news ha.s been received of the missing
training ship, it may be regarded as a somewhat hope-
ful sign that the classes who may be supposed to be
best acquainted with the dangers of the sea in par-
ticular latitudes, and with the capabilities of sailing
ships to weather them, have never ceased to believe
that the Atalanta is merely overdue. Those who have
from the first taken the gloomiest view of the case
are the townsmen a Portsmouth and civilians of
all classes, many of whom gave the ship up for lost
before any real anxiety was felt in official quarters
regarding her. On Saturday a report was bruited
abroad to the effect that a boat had been found,
with the name 'Atalanta' painted on the stern. This
was not confirmed, and even if it had been the boat
could not have belonged.to the missing ship, as it is
not a custom in the navy to paint the names of the
men-of-war to which they belong on the stern or any-
where else. Although the Admiralty have officially
announced that the Atalanta was amply provisioned
and watered before leaving Bermuda, and Commander
Key has stated that when he served in her . a-s the
Juno he sailed from Sydney to Bahia (about three
times the distance from Bermuda to England) with-
out the crew being so much as deprived of their
washing allowance, there is still a disposition to
revive the painful belief that the crew, haling been
carried far away from the track of passing steamers,
would be maddened by thirst and hunger. As to the
water supply on the islands, it may be pointed out that
while the well water, in consequence of the porous
nature of the rock, is not wholesome, there is an
abundant rainfall, the potable water being supplied
from tanks. At the dockyard there the tanks are of a
capacity to supply any war vessel with water at any
time of the year. It is also worth pointing out that
the Eurydice, the late sister ship to the Atalanta,
received her final supplies of water and provisions
within the Camber at Bermuda. Some consolation is
to be found in the circumstance that the Atalanta has
been abundantly proved to be a thoroughly seaworthy
ship. A gleam of hope is even to be derived from the
loss of the Eurydice two years ago, since it is im-
possible to doubt that the lessons to be derives from
that tearible event must have contributed to the safety
of
.the Atalanta."

The Times of Tuesday said :—"The gunboat Avon,
from the China station, arrived in Portsmouth Har-
bour yesterday. She reports that at the Azores she
noticed immense quantities of wreckage floating
about before reaching and after leaving the islands
—in fact, the sea was strewn with spars, 4:c.
The harbour at Fayal was crowded with dis-
masted ships, and wreckage was washed in con-
tinually during the five days the Avon remained.
Nothing, however, seemed to indicate that a ship
had gone down or broken to pieces. When asked
for their opinion as to the fate of the Atalanta,
the officers of the Avon, before they had time to learn
what were the opinions of their comrades at home,
seemed inclineclho the belief that the Atalanta had
suffered grievously in the gales, had been dismasted,
and that as a last resource, having been allowed to
drift she had gone north, where they think she now
remains disabled. If this view is correct, the crew
are undergoing great privations, as the 69 days provi-
sions must by this time be exhausted, and as the
Atalanta has no steam appliances on board the facili-
ties for condensing saltwater are extremely limited.
Some of the officers of the Avon do not deem it im-
probable that the Atalanta has met with icebergs, but
they reject the idea of her having turned turtle.'"

• The Times of Wednesday gives the following from
their Portsmouth correspondent :
" While the absence of all intelligence of the Atalanta is,
no doubt, a deeply painful circumstance, it should be borne
in mind that upon either assumption—that she had been dis-
masted and driven out of her course, or that Captain Stirling
had gone far to the northward with the expectation of catch-
ing a westerly wind—news cannot be looked for yet. No one
is rash enough to believe that the training ship, unassisted,
is at ag likely to put in an appearance either in the Sound or
at Spithead. She will most probably require aid and
succour from the ships yhich have been dispatched in
search of her, and until intelligence can be heard from the
Channel Squadron it is idle to expect news. The squadron
left Gibraltar for the Azores on Wednesday last,
and if we allow Admiral Hood five days to accomplish the
passage, the islands would not be reached until Monday last.
But, as there are no means of telegraphic communication
with the Azores, it would be necessary, in case of informa-
tion being obtained of the missing ship, to despatch the
Salamis either to Maderia or Lislinn, which would take three
or four days more. At the soonest, therefore, intelligence
could not be received at the Admiralty until Thursday even-
ing. It must also be remembered that in these days of steam
the public are inclined to be unnecessarily alarmed if a sail-
ing ship does not come up to time. In the days of the old
frigates a week, more or less, in the arrival of a ship would
have caused no comment, and in the case of the Atalanta we
must, as far as possible, ignore the existence of a power which
readers our fleets independent of the wind. The progamme of
the Indian troopships is prepared months in advance. The
times of their arrival and departure at and from Portsmouth
add Bombay are fixed for them, and the amazing punctuality
with which they keep their appointments is calculated to
render the public impatient and restless if a vessel, which is
Wholly dependent upon her canvas and the winds, does not
maintain the same punctuality. It is not, in fact, the non.
arrival of the Atalanta which constitutes the gravest factor
in the case, but .the absence of all intelligence respecting her.
But even on this point numerous instances of missing ships
which afterwards turned up all right are being brought for-
ward. Although the 9th of April—twelve days ago—was ap-
pointed for the conclusion of the Atalanta's cruise, Captain
Stirling was permitted to exercise his own discretion in the
matter."

That the Atalanta is not overdue beyond all precedent is
shown by the following communication which Mr. T.
Stewart has sent to a Portsmouth paper:—" The Bon-arrival
of the Atalanta at the time appointed appears to liTive caused
a deal of axcitement in the town, but if we lived in the age
of sailing ships instead of steamer ships no notice would be
taken of the matter. I beg to draw the attention of some of
your old readers to a case as nearly parallel to the present as
possible. I sailed from Sebastopol on the 27.nd of January,
1855, was about seven days on the passage to Malta, cleared out
our guns and powder, and again sailed for Gibraltar, at which
place we arrived abut the 16th f February,. and from
that time until the 21st of April, the day we arrived in Eng-
land, we had only about thirty-six hours fair wind. A chart
was drawn to be hung on the main deck for the gratification
of the ship's company, and the day's work intended to be
marked on it every afternoon- but head winds prevailing,
we got off the chart to the westward} and remained off
for three weeks; in fact, we found ourselves nearly on
the banks of Newfoundland. The ship was lost several times,
and there was reason for it, as we were nearly to months
doing a passage that in another part of the year-we did in
five days. The slap I allude to was the Vengeance; she
was a sailing ship, and the fastest ship in the Mediterranean.
The time of the year wasexactly the'same as at present, and
we were at least six weeks tenger on the passage than we had
been previously. Yet the old ship turned up and was paid
off without a mishap, and the ship's company., with,,the ex-
ception of a growl now and then at the nor'-easter, as happy
as usual, in blissful ignorance of the excitement occasioned
by tbe long passage. It is the prevailing opinion of those
qualified to judge that she is quietly riding at anchor in some
qbay or harbour refitting after experiencing some very rough
weather."

In a letter to The Times, Mr. Thomas Brassey, 31. P., says:—
" While sharing in the general anxiety, I de not despair of
the safety of the •Atalanta. Against persistent adverse
wins, with intervening calms, the passages of sailing
vessels may be almost incomprehensibly slow. On one occa-
sion I was 13 days in a smart yacht making the passage from
Cadiz to Lisbon, a distance of 220 miles. I have heard from
an officer, who was on board, of a sailing line-of-battle ship
' occupying six weeks from Lisbon to England. The Atalanta
has tvad to contend with a long succession of unfavourable
wind, and it is much more probable that she has been delayed
than. that she has been lost."

The following letter frem two seamen on board the
Atalanta, written prior to orders received for her homeward
voyage' will, under existing circumstances, be perused with
painful interest (says the Standard):—" Dear Sister,—We
leave here next Friday., the 9th January, for a regular cruise
around; so you had better not answer this uutil you hear
from us again, which will lie five or six months at the least,
because the places we arc going to are out of the way places,
but if I can see a chance of writing again I will do 50. Dear
sister, I have no more to say at present, so now I must con-
clude with love and best wishes. We remain, your affec-
tionate brothers, Joux and WALTER OSBORNE, H.M.S.
Atalanta."