The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1880-05-08 00:00:00

THE RETURN OF _THE BACCHANTE.

- The Bacchante, with the young Piineee Edwara
and George of Wales, arrived at Spithead on Sunday
afternoon, and saluted the flag of Admiral Ryder, the
Commander-in-Chief, at the termination of their first
cruise at sea. The afternoon was very warm and
bright, and the arrival and anchoring of the ship were
witnessed by many thousands of people from the beach,
The cruise has proved in every respect a gratifying
success; and though, like the Queen, the Prince of
Wales only intended his second son to become a
sailor—the constitutional position of Prince Edward as
the eldest son of the Heir Apparent preventing his
adoption of the Navy as a profession—the selection of
the service as a "practical training school " for both
boys has given great satisfaction to the Navy.

The Prince and Princess of Wales, accompanied by
the Princesses Louise, Victoria, and Maud, left Vic-
toria Station at ten o'clock on Monday morning by
special train for Portsmouth, for the purpose of
welcoming home the Royal midshipmen, 'Princes
Edward and George of Wales, on the conclusion of
their first cruise at sea, on board the Bacchante. The
train arrived at the south railway jetty inside the
dockyard at five minutes past twelve, where the Com-
mander-in-Chief's yacht, the Fire Queen, Staff-Com-
mander Fawckner, was waiting with steam up to con-
vey the party to Spithea,d, where the Bacchante
was riding at anchor. The whole proceedings
were marked by an absence of all ostentation, though
no rigorous instructions were issued to insure privacy.
On leaving the train the Prince and Princess were re-
ceived, bareheaded, by Admiral Ryder, Commander-
in-Chief, and Captain Culme-Seymour, his flag-
captain, Rear-Admiral Foley, Dockyard Superin-
tendent, &c., &c. There were also on the jetty
Prince Edward of Saxe-Weimar, in plain clothes, who,
attended by his Aide-de-Camp, Captain the Hon.
Charles Byng, had accompanied their Royal High-
nesses from London. The proceedings did not
occupy more than ten minutes. As the Prince
and Princess crossed the scarlet-bedizened brow
and entered the Fire Queen the pendant was
lowered and the Royal Standard " broke " at the
main, bugle salutes being at the some time sounded
from the Italian corvette Christoforo Colombo,
Captain Labrano, which was lying alongside—an in-
ternational courtesy which the Prince of Wales, who
was attired as a captain of the Royal Naval Reserve,
duly acknowledged. As the yacht shoved off from
the jetty a slight shower of rain fell, and the Royal
party took shelter in the charter-house on the bridge
in preference to going below. As soon as the Fire
Queen left the harbour and was fairly on her way to
the anchorage, the broadside guns of the corvette were
heard to fire a royal salute. The blue jackets were
also in readiness to man the yard.; but in deference to
the wish of the Prince of Wales the ceremony was not
carried out.

The visitors were conveyed from the yacht to the
Bacchante by the Admiral's barge bearing the Royal
standard at the bow, and manned by a complement
of twelve rowers. A guard of honour was drawn
up on the poop. The captain and officers -in undress
uniform clustered about the gangway, the two midship-
men being at the head of the accommodation ladder,
and as the Prince and Princess entered the band of
the ship played the openisg bars of the National
Anthem. After affectionately embracing the young
sailors the Prince and Princess shook hands with all
the officers, and made a careful inspection of the ship.
His Royal Plighness, penetrating to the engine-room,
made several inquiries as to the performances of the
machinery and its condition at the end of its labours.
As was natural, the Princess of Wales was more par-
ticularly concerned with the little sailors who had been
the associates and fellow students of her sons during
eight months of their sea life. It must not be sup-
posed that the young Princes have returned from
a mere holiday trip to the West Indian possessions
of the Queen. On the contrary, besides attend-
ing the instructions of the Rev. Mr. Dalton,
their private tutor, they have had .to perform
their share, such as it was, of the actual duties of the
ship. They were each obliged to take a watch until
-
nine o'clock, and to mess with the rest of the midship-
men and cadets in the gun-room where their birth
and station did not protect them from the customary
practical jokes and horse-play. With the exception
of their not being under the necessity of slinging
their hammocks in the after lower deck, the Princes
have fared and been treated exactly as the other
midshipmen. It may also be mentioned that the
cruise though, on the whole, fortunate as regards the
weather was by no means of a uniformly agreeable
character. After leaving Madeira, for instance, the
Bacchante experienced such heavy weather as to com-
pel her to put back, and on the return voyage, shortly
after their departure from Bermuda, she met with a
gale which carried away the foretopgallant mast and
one of the yards. The young sailors, indeed, have
seen something of the peculiar terrors and dangers of
the ocean as well as of its beauty; but they have by
all accounts come out of the ordeal in a satisfactory
'planner, whildbheir progress in their studies is proved
by the circumstance that, whereas they left England
as cadets, they return full midshipmen having earned
their promotion during the voyage. This, indeed, has
been the case with all the cadets.

At the conclusion of the inspection of the ship,
the Royal visitors, the young middies, and the suite
were entertained at luncheon by Captain Lord
Charles Scott, with Prince Edward of Saxe-Weimar
and Admiral Ryder, who had come on board in
the meantime from Portsmouth. The Prince and
Princess, accompanied by the whole of their family,
left the Bacchante at about half-past-three, the return
journey being marked by the ceremonial which had been
omitted in the morning's proceedings—the yards were
manned, the band played, the crews gave three ring-
ing cheers with more than usual heartiness' and the
ship fired a parting salute of 21 guns. The firing was
afterwards taken up by the garrison, the St. Vincent,
and the Duke of Wellington, the men-of-war also dis-
playing their masthead flags, while the Royal banner
floated from the semaphore and other con-
spicuous places. The dockyard was regained at
a quarter to four; but, instead of immediately enter-
ing the special train, the Prince and Princess of Wales
and the young Princes proceeded in the carriage of
Prince Edward of Saxe-Weimar to Government-house,
where they were followed by the young Princesses
and the retinue. Having partaken of an afternoon
tea, the party returned to the railway, and the train
left for London at half-past four o'clock. Their Royal
Highnesses did not formally communicate to the offi-
cers before leaving the Bacchante their acknowledg-
ment of the care and attention which the midshipmen
had received from them during the cruise, but they
did so privately to Captain Lord Charles Scott, and
it is expected that means will be taken shortly to
officially testify their feelings on the subject to all
concerned.

It may be mentioned, in conclusion, that the first
intimation which the officers received of the mys-
terious absence of the Atalanta was from a pilot
vessel as they were entering the Channel. No news
of the anxiety at home had, reached Bermuda at the
time of the departure of thee Bacchante.

The Bacchante, an unarmoured corvette, cased with
wood, of 4,130 tons displacement and 5,350 indicated
horse-power, was commissioned for "particular
service" by Captain Lord Charles T. M. Scott, at
Portsmouth, on Tuesday, the 15th of July, 1879, with
a complement of 385 officers and crew. After a week's
experimental cruise in the Channel for the trial of her
machinery, being a new ship, she was joined at Spit-
head on the 17th of September by the two Royal
cadets, Princes Edward and George of Wales, who
were accompanied to the ship on the occasion by the
Prince of :Wales, who made a thorough inspection of
her, and expressed himself as being well satisfied with
the arrangements which had been made for the com-
fort of his sons. On the following day the Bacchante
started for her cruise, which included a short stay in
Mediterranean, a visit to Port Mahon, and thence to
Madeira and the West Indies. She first called in
at Portland, where a week was spent in making things
" ship-shape " before leaving England, several last
touches having been left until the last moment.
'
Leaving Portland on Thursday, the 25th of Sep-
tember, she arrived at Gibraltar on Monday, October
6, and left the next day for Port Mahon, where she
arrived on the 10th. Here she remained until the 18th,
when she left for Palermo, where she anchored on the
22nd. This completed her cruise in the Mediterranean,
to see the shores of which Dr. Johnson accounted the
grand object of travelling: "On those shores," he
observes, "were the four great empires of the world—
the Assyrian, the Persian, the Grecian' and the
Roman. All our religion, almost all our law, almost
all our arts, almost all that sets us above savages, has
come to us from the shores of the Mediterranean."
These facts were doubtless impressed upon the minds
of the Princes by the Rev. Mr. Dalton, their tutor.
The cruise, however, was intended in no sense as an
historical and antiquarian expedition but was orga-
nised for the express purpose of making them prac-
tically acquainted with a sailor's duty at sea. They
accordingly left Palmero on the 28th for the return to
Gibraltar, and finally leit the Rock on the 15th of
November for their voyage across the North Atlantic.
Madeira was the first place of call ; they, arrived there
on the 21st. A week was devoted to the island, after
which the Bacchante steamed for Trinidad, arriving
pn the 7th of January. Leaving again on the 20th, she
directed her -course to Grenada, which she reached on
the 26th, and next left, after staying until the 2rml of
February, for Martinique, where she anchored on the
20th. She next visited St. Thomas, on the 7th of
March, and Port Royal, Jamaica, on the 12th. Dur-
ing their stay here the Princes visited Kingston and
Spanish Town, and were everywhere received with
enthusiasm by the negroes. On Monday, the 22nd,
they left for Bermuda, where on the 12th of, April, in
the presence of Sir R.BLiashffion, the
Newfoundland
M'Clintock, and the _ e.wfoundland and
Bermuda, their Royal Highnesses laid conjointly the
first stone of the Seamen 'lMarines'
lub which is
The Bacchante. left Bermuda on
in course of building.
the 13th ult., and arrived at Spithead almost at the
hour appointed.