New Orleans Republican. [volume] (New Orleans, La) 1867-1878, 1870-09-15
THE IRON.CLAD DISASTER.
Loss Of the Captain.

LOSS OF the CaptaIus
The telegraph has informed us Of the loss
Of the Captain, and as matter OF general
interest, we copy the following from the
New York World:
The sinking of the iron-clad Captain off
the Spanish coast on Thursday morning last,
with all on board, is calamity such as has
not befallen the British navy since the
Royal George, with Kempenfeldt and twice
five hundred men. went down at her anchors
at Spithead. At night the vessel rode the
waves the finest war ship, perhaps, that
ever sailed the sea. At dawn her consort
swept the horizon in vain for the least trace
of her. Only later in the day some stray
spars and small boats that the great deep
had civen up attested her dismal fate. In
the face of so terrible a disaster as this-a
disaster which not only swallows up the
most superb specimen of naval architecture
ever known. but carries down with it five
hundred gallant English sailOrs-it may
seem harsh to dwoll on mere points Of tech
nical precision; and yet in the interests of
humanity it is proper that the built Of the
Captain should be touched on that the reve-
laton Of its now lanentably well-proven
defects may help to avert such dreadful
casualties in the future.
In it's build, its plan, its armament, the
Captain was, up to the hour it fOundered, to
all human insight simply perfection 1t was
a huge ship of 4272 tons burden armed with
a battery of six guns-300 pouuders if we
are not mistaken-whch had in their trials
penetrated every obstacle; and in order that
its defensive armament might equal its
offensive, the ship was clad in mail of
eight inch wrought iron. Moved at great
speed by engines of nine hundred horse
power, manned with picked crew of 500
men, and stcaming out under the banner OF
~ S,,,.,v %-,,y, ~
coast. no wonder the pride of England was
stirred by so magnificent a witness that she
still was Captain of the glory of the sea.
By any adversary of human cOntrivance the
great ship would probably have been ire
sistible: but the wind rose and in storm
that many wooden whaler would
have laughed at, the iron levia-
than went down. Under the stress
of sudden squall, the staunchest iron
clad ever put i'll commission, sinks as
swiftly as one of her own shot, and by so
sinking demonstrates that the limit OF naval
armoring has been fatally reached. Like
the Admiral Earl of Sandwich, she was car
ried down by her arInor of proof Ranging
from eight inches in the most exposed por-
ton of her hull. to seven, four and three
inches as the exposure lesSened, the weight
OF her protection became her destruction;
and in contemplating that destruction 1t
would be well for the British Admiralty.
and for that matter, naval constructors
everywhere, to take instant pause. With
cight-inch armor the Captain snccumbed to
a squail and yet there are now in the Eng
lish dock-yar.ls the lnvincible, Iron Duke.
Swiftsure, Triumph and Vanguard, all to
have a like maximum plating, with 4 six
inch armOr as minimum, double the Cap
tain's minimum the Hercules and Sultan to
have nine-inch armor the HOtspur to have
eleven-inch; and the GlUtton to have the mon
strous thickness of one foot With the eY
idence afforded by the terrible fate of the
vessel which has just foundered that the
armor limit is overstepped for safety at
eight inches. no matter what the calcula-
tions may say about sufficient buoyancy I'M
der that or greater thicknesses, it would
surely be criminal for the naval authorities
of Christendom not to arrest the further
construction OF vessels so heavily plated as
to be but mere man-traps in reality. how
eve. imposing or efficient to the fancy or
the eve. The sea will not sustain fabrics
that with the offensive also possess the de
fensive strength of forts, and the sooner
the effort to realize that impossiblity is
| abandoned the better for life and art. Ma
val architecture must recognize the facts of
nature: and such disasters as that of the
Captain-a disaster originating obviously
from system, and not like the loss OF the
Royal George in an abnormal circumstance
of earelessness-must cease to appal hu-
| Five hundred men dragged downtown
in an instant OF time, in an iron box-is a
terrific commentary on over-armoring. 1t is
| simply awful to reflect on what must have
| been the circumstances of this frishtful
| casualty. One lurch. and all must have
! been over. Perhaps but single wave was
| shipped and under that weight of water
| the ship, already burdened to within hair 5
! breadth OF her resisting power, went down
! like lead. No rocket was shot. no gun fired
| not so much as one boat was cleared When
we consider how brief a time is required on
! a man-of-waT FOR either OF these operations,
/ we can dimly realize the heart-reIrding sud
denness with which the finest vessel in the
world disappeared forever. At hi giit says
| Admiral Mines simply pathetic dispatch
reported in our special telegram from Lon
don. the Captain lay near us AT dawn
she was missing