The Sun.
London, England, 1870-09-15 00:00:00

THE LOSS OF THE CAPTAIN.

ADMIRALTY, SEPT. 14.

The following particulars respecting this lamen-
table catastrophe have been taken from the deposi-
tions of Mr. May, the gunner, and the 17 men who
have returned to this country in H.M.S. Volage.
It appears that Mr. May, feeling the Captain un-
easy, left his cabin soon after midnight, and pro-
ceeded to the after turret to look at the guns, when
he suddenly felt her heel steadily over. A heavy
sea struck the ship on the weather side, and she then
turned gradually bottom upwards, and went down
stern foremost in two or three minutes.

Mr. May was washed overboard out of the top of
the turret, and was eventually picked up by the
second launch, the boat in which all the remainder
of the survivors were saved.

All those rescued, with the exception of Mr.
May, belonged to the watch on deck, and the men
appear to have been washed overboard as the vessel
turned over, one of them having actually stood on
her bottom " where the keel would have been had
she had one."

he Ist and 2nd launch with the galley were
stowed one within the other, and when the canvass
cover of the next had been cut the first launch
appears to have sunk from under the second one,
whilst the men in the second launch threw the
galley overboard, together with all the articles
which could be spared, so as to lighten the boat as
much as possible.
The launch appears, immediately after the vessel
sank, to have drifted past the steam pinnace, which
was bottom upwards, and to which Captain Bur-
goyne, Mr. May, and five seamen were clinging.
Mr. May and three of the men jumped off and
gained the launch, but it is not clear whether Captain
Burgoyne jumped or not. It seems certain, how-
ever, that he gave orders, whilst clinging to the
pinnace, to the men in the pinnace, to "be care-
ful of their oars, as they would want them much."
The launch tried again to approach the pinnace
to save him, but the sea was running too high to
admit of it, and in the attempt to turn the boat one
seaman, Lamed Myers, was washed out of her and
lost. Captain Burgoyne was not seen afterwards.
The launch with Mr. May and the rest of the
men, 18 in all, then bore up for the land, and after
twelve hours pulling, without food or water, they
reached Finisterre, from which place they pro-
ceeded to Corcubion, and were taken on board the
Monarch on the afternoon of the 9th inst.

Mr. May says that he cannot speak too
highly of the conduct of all under these
trying circumstances, and mentions especially
the services rendered by Charles Tregenna,
leading seaman, who worked. the oar by which
the boat was steered ; the rudder hav-
ing been found useless and unshipped; stating
that he (Mr. May) and others wished to relieve Tre-
genna, but none managed the oar so well. It
was, therefore, resigned entirely to him.
The ship seems to have been unable to right her-
self, and the waves appear to have washe 1 ever the
tops of the turrets, and between the gr ,:;s of the
• hurricane deck.

The period of the catastrophe m ust have been
shortly after midnight, as Captain Burgoyne was
heard by some of the survivors to give the orders to
let go topsail sheets whilst the middle watch was
being mustered.
The whole of the ship's company, both officers and
men, appear, according to the Ftatements of the
survivors, to have had great confidence in the capa-
bilities of the ship.

The following letter, probably the last letter he had
written, from Captain Cowper Coles, will be read with
interest. It was addressed to a friend in England, who
has sent it to the Times:—

" Captain, at Sea, 120 miles from Gibraltar,
Aug. 14, 1870.
"As we may expect to be in to-morrow, and an oppor-
tunity for letters, I write to you a line. We have
had, so far, a most satisfactory and successful cruise. The
greater part of the cruise has been under sail and steam,
and when there was sufficient wind to have the ships under
command, the fires have been banked.
" Admiral Sir Hastings Yelverton, I am glad to see, is
a great man for keeping the ships under sail, when practi-
cally it can be done with economy to fuel.
" Keeping the ships in their prescribed order of sailing
under sail, with orders only to use steam if necessary to
keep station, results in a great saving of fuel, and practice
to the officers (so much wanted) in keeping station and
handling their ships under sail. The Inconstant, Captain,
and Hercules have shewn themselves the best ships in this
point, the Inconstant and Captain having kept station and
performed the evolution of ' Port division to become star-
board division by passing through the line without steam,'
while all the other ships had to use steam.
" The Hercules, so far as speed under sail goes, is equal
to the Captain, but is uncertain in her steering, and on
one or two occasions has been very erratic in her move-
ments. On one occasion, being asked by sional the reason
she (the Hercules) could not get into station, she said
the ship would not answer her helm. This is, no
doubt, in consequence of the balanced rudder, and the
large hole before it in the stern of the ship, which with
twin screws there is not, and gives this ship (the Captain)
obviously a great advantage in steering and handiness
under sail. One day, with a rattling breeze two points
abaft the beam, the Captain and the hercules were
ordered to disconnect screws and try rate of sailing ; the
ships were q ickly under royals, all sail and port stud
sails; they a peared to fly from the rest of the squadron,
and would soon have been out of sight although the
squadron was pressing on all sail, had not the recall been.
made. The disconnecting of our screws made the differ-
ence of about a knot and half speed when they revolved.
It was a neck and neck race, and I was delighted at the
performance of the Captain, proving that a ship with
twin-screws can sail. In a twenty-five mile run, the
Hercules claims to have gained 400 yards, but in conse-
quence of the Captain's foretopmast stud-sail boom
having been sprung before, she could not set her foretop-
mast stud-sail for nearly an hour, thus losing one of
the most important and drawing sails on this point
of sailing the area of this sail being 2,032 square feet of
canvas. In returning to the squadron, when both ships
were under the same sail, the Captain headed the Her-
cules, and was back in her station some considerable time
before her • and so ended another glorious day for Her
Majesty's ship Captain.
" I have not heard yet the opinion of others in the fleet
as to our sailing, but I think it will be found that Sir
Hastings Yelverton and all will give her great credit for the
character she has sustained of a cruiser under sail alone,
performing evolutions and keeping station without steam,
and shewing that Sir T. Symonds was rather premature in
his conclusions that ships like the Captain could not cruise
in company with a fleet under sail alone.
" Good as the Captain is in her sailing, I see my way
clearly to making her equal in sailing to any sailing frigate
in the world, or in building another similar ship. The
great economy in masting ships is obvious even from this
cruise alone. The ships have been about 134 hours under
sail alone, and 59 hours under sail and steam. Allowing
£1 per ton for coals would, in round numbers, make a
saving of at least £l,OOO, supposing that the ships would
have been steaming during that time at the most economical
speed, so that I see no reason to deviate from the conclu-
sion I came to and recorded in 1860, that we must
have two distinct classes of ironclads, the sea-going
turret cruiser, with full sail power and full steam
and the turret-ship with full steam and auxiliary sail
power. A fleet of Captains could keep the sea, manoeuvre,
or go round the world without using a pound of coal; so
that, besides the saving of fuel, a great saving can also be
claimed for the fewer number of men. For instance, take
this present fleet of six ships (leaving the Captain out)—
their crews vary from 750 men to 605 (against the Captain's
500 men), making a total of 3,915 men ; whereas, to man
the same fleet, were they all Captains, would not only give us
a much more powerful fleet, but we should save 915 men.
Allowing this to be at the rate of £74 per head per
annum (see Lord C. Paget's statement in the House of
Commons), it would be a clear saving of £67,600 per
annum, or seven ships and three-fifths could be manned
with the same number of men instead of six ships.
" Looking at these facts without prejudice, and that one
of our best and most practical Admirals, Sir T. Symonds,
reports that ' The Captain could destroy all the broadside
ships of the squadron in detail,' to build any more broad-
side ironclads would be suicidal, and might be justly con-
sidered a wasteful expenditure of the public money ; while
the fact of this Administration having given the Captain
a fair trial, and proved to the country the great economy
of the turret system, can be written by the hand of
economy to eternity.
" I think Sir Hastings Yelverton deserves great credit for
his unfearingly putting the ships under canvas, when keeping
in station, and saving fuel ; and, it appears to me, so far as
I can see, that he is the right man in the right place. But
I see my way to establishing greater economies. We have
a good deal of drill, and the Admiral inspected us, or
rather came on board for one day to see us fire, and he
expressed himself much pleased, and said he should pay
us another visit. There is an excellent spirit in the ship,
and the fleet. I could not help joining in the excitement
when shifting topsails the other night, and in unhooking
the sail burton of the maintopsail got my leg jammed be-
tween it and the bridge. The doctor tells me I had a
narrow escape of losing my leg, and so it would appear from
the colour t- fit now, as it is black, raw, and yellow from
the knee down to the heel, and when I do move I hop
about like a crow on one leg. Remember me kindly to
Osborn, and excuse this hurried scrawl, but believe me
to be, with kindest regards to Mrs. 8.,
" Yours ver=y sincerely, •
COWPER P. COLEs.

"P. S.—August 16, 1870, Gibraltar. —At 10.20 a.m.
yesterday we arrived, and all came in very prettily under