The New Orleans daily Democrat. [volume] (New Orleans, La.) 1877-1880, 1878-03-31
THE SINKING OF THE EURYDIOE.

| The English have been unusually unfoItll-
nate in the loss of war vessels latterly and
the frequent occurrence OF such accidents
would seem tosuggest that their naval service
| Is net as thorough as it should be. The naval
! training ship "Eurydce. that went down In a
squall the other day off the Isle of Wight. is
| the third British war ship that has been lost,
either through bad seamanship or defective
construction, within the past two years. In
each instance the sinking ship carried down
with her nearly every soul aboard. First,
| the Captain" a model tlrreted ironclad. that
was going torevolutionize naval architecture,
was upset by squat in the Bay of Biscay,
| and welt down with her entire crew Of some
500 men. A commission was appointed to in
vestigate the disaster. and reported that the
vessel was unseaworthy, her peculiar con-
| struction, In which every other consideration
was sacrificed In make her invulnerable, to-
tally uniting her for sea-going.
| The next on the list was the vanguard" a
magnificent war ship, which was sunk by Il
| collision In the Irish Channel. In this case q
| court of inquiry was also held and, the YER
dict being carelessness on the part of the
officers on duty, they were severely punished.
In the case of the "Eurydice" there is, as in
| that Of the Captain none left to punish and
all that an inquiry can do is to establish the
cause of the accident. This seems to be pretty
well established from the statements of the
seaman. Cuddiford. one of the only two sur
vivors of the disaster The "Eurydice," an
old-fashioned wooden vessel of some 900
tons, was commissioned at Portsmouth In
TT,i,t nsyy nd HIM
to the West Indies, whence she was returning
when lost. Her crew consisted, by the official
list, of 29s men, of whom nearly all we're
young men in training.
She was but few hours from her destina-
ton and every thread of canvas was spread
to speed her on. including sails which, It
seems are used only before light and steady
breeze. She was suddenly struck by squall,
that passed as quick as 1t came thrown
upon her beam and she went down in two
minutes.
Portsmouth dispatch says: "There Is no
doubt that the Eurydlce was carrying too
much sail. She had her lower and upper
studding sails set"
This is about all that is known of this fear
full disaster, which, it seems, resulted from
over confidence In q clear sky and Impotence
to reach anchor after long voyage pass
ing schooner rescued five men, of whom three
afterwards died, leaving but two survivors,
the sailor Cuddiford. and Sydney Fletcher,
boy. They say that at the time of the dsas-
ter all hands were mustered on deck for
prayers.
The loss of the vessel can scarcely be attrib-
uted to criminal negligence or bad seaman
ship. as the barometer would hardly have
given notice Of SO sudden squat, mere
passing gust of wind. 1t can merely be taken
as another illustration Of the dangers of the
sea and Of the necessity for constant watch
fitness and caution on the part of those who
are in charge of vessels. Scarce half an hour
before the Inflated "Eurydice' went down the
esplanade at Vintnor was crowded with
pleasure seekers, who were admring the gal
liant ship as she moved upon the waters in
grace and beauty like thing of life She
passed SO close to shore that her cordage
could be seen. A gust of wind. with binding
snow, came up suddenly and drove the pleas
ure seekers to cover, and the ship was hidden
from view. When the cloud raised she had
vanished. and the only record left of her is
the story of the two solitary survivors.