The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1870-09-13
Tho Terrible Disaster at Sea-The
British Iron-Clad Captain Is Sunk
at Sea with. Five Hundred Men on
EtoarS- IbeScrspttOn of the Vessel.

1 at sea WIFI rive 4AuuuKCa HASA on
Board-DescriptiOn Of the Vessel.
LONDON, September &c P. A.-The re-
| port of the loss Of the English iron-plated
steamer Captain. which was circulated late
his afternoon, is fully confirmed at LloydS.
| The disaster occurred off Finisterre, France.
All on board, 500 in number, persisted.
Captain Cowper Coles, Lord Northbrook,
| and a son of Mir. Childers, First Lord OF
the Admiralty, were among the lost.
FURTHER PARTICULARS OF THE Loss-THE
ApMIRALTy TELEGRAM.
LoSpoN, September 81 nm enabled to
send YOU the Admiralty telegram just re-
ceiyed from Admiral Sir Andrew Milan,
on board her Maiesty's ship the Lord War
den, off Cape Finisterer, i'll Gallcla. The
dispatch is dated the 1th of September,
comes by way of Lisbon, and is as follows /:
To the Lords Of the admiralty:
very much regret to have to send you
the painful intelligence that her Malesty's
shin Captain must have foundered curing
the night close to this ship. At , O'Clock
this morning a sudden gale came up from
| the southeast with 4 very heavy sea. AT
dayDreak this morning the Captain was
| missing. This afternoon we found one OF
her boats adrift and several of her spars
floating. I fear that all on board have
| miserably perished-in number, 500 souls.
The %Inconstant will sail this afternoon with
q full report. Further intelligence will be
communicated when received
"AIExASDER MILAN"
DIMENSIONS AND ARMAMENT OF II VESSEL
THE FATAL DEFECTS.
One Of the largest and most powerfully
| armed ships of the British navy has just
zone down with all her complement of 900
| men. Apart from any other explanation,
| we are entitled to suppose that the Captain
! has sunk of Fintsterre because OF certain
| defects in her construction, which compe-
| tent Judges pronounced fatal-defects when
| have lately formed the subject of an acrlmo-
| NOUS newspaper controversy between her
| builders, Laird Brothers, of Birkenhead ana
| the chief constructor of the British navy,
=. J. Rccd. Captain Coles, the designer OF
| his and of the other British war-ships con-
| >tructed on the turret principle, has gone
| down along with the latest and most unlor-
| ;unate evidence Of his skill.
The history of the Captain is briefly this
In April, 1866, the Admiralty decided to
| give Captain Coles the opportunity OF re-
| ducing to practice his W views OF what a
sea.coins turret cruiser should be-" The
| conditions under which she was designed
| and built were these
THAT provision should be made for the
| efl1CleQL pf0tSCtlOl VI LUG Vial paws VI 'hS
| ship from heavy shot.
For the health and comfort of q crew
| sufficient in number not only to work the
guns but to work the ship with ease, and
to keep her in the order required for an ef-
| ticient ship-ot-war. ,
"That she should have sufficient speed, and
that she should possess the sea-golnS quail
ties Of n good cruiser"
The result was IA vessel regarding whom
| her builders furnish the following figures
"Tonnage, 4,272 displacement, tons.
/, $3.50 area of midship section, feet, l,lS5
nominal horsepower, 800 indicated morse
power, $3.50 &; speed, knots, IA, 23o."
She was fully plated-her arlnor being,
on the important parts, eight inches thick.
She carried in her turrets tour twenty
fye.ton gun capable OF throwing 600.
uonnd shot. For bow and stern tire she
| carried single seven.ineh guns forward and
aft, She was heavily masted, in addition to
her great engine power and her par OF
screws. and it was claimed that while or
her trial cruise she could tack "under sal
on a circle around supposed antagonist"
az handily as one of the old style OF wooden
f~rigates. The same observer described mel
mode of attack as follows:
clears her ensmy's decks at the same time
by the continuous fire from the breech-
leaders of her small-arm men, who are
snuely sheltered behind the hammock
breastworks surrounding the upper deck
| above the turrets and in the tops. In every
part OF this treble. sided arrangement of mer
in the turrets, men on the upper deck as
sail trimmers, and men ON the upper deck
and in the tops as small-arm men, there L
no confusion" ,
r.. l.. us:$.o, Tho TnTfnIn uynE nrn-
nounced d failure by the chle$spractlcal au'
thority of the British navy. The most con.
elusive facts against her were that she had
been made eight hundred to nine hundred
tons too heavy, and that thus she floatec
two feet deeper than was intended. The
Messrs. Laird did not attempt to deny the
miscalculation of weight-gross as 1t must
appear to any one conversant with naVa
architecture-but attempted to shield them
selves under the actual results she haL
achieved in point of speed and manoeuvring
They adduced the testimony of an Admiral
to the following effect
"The Captain is a most Formidable snip,
and could, l believe, by her superior arma'
meua, destroy all the broadside ships OF Till
squadron In detail. " : She Is yer!
easy in q seaway, and can use her guns il
any sea In which an action is likely to b'
fought. q = She can be cleared for &C
| ton in five minutes. = The arrange
ments for battle are very good.
There is much comfort and decomposition
ON board officers and ships company art
we'll berthed."
MIR. Reed brings the report Of anotheI
admiral in rebuttal, and, in view OF TIT
Captains actual fate, it reads very mucl
like a prophecy
"The weak point In the Captain seem
to be the absence Of direct fore and aft lire
particularly ahead. a vessel armed as tn,
! Captain cannot advance end-on IN lin