Daily globe. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1878-1884, 1882-09-10
Tf,e loss of the :. Royaa George.,,

In a letter which Miss Martineau once
showed me, from relative of hers, long
dead, addressed to her.sreat-niece from
Southsea, near Portsl Rth, and dated
August 9, 1882, the occurred this
singular passage M
"The day is calm and pleasant, and IS
I sit at the open window, the great YES
sci in the otfing, betwixt me and the
Fair Island (the Isle of Wight used to
be SO called) ''seems to sway. not a
hand-breadth, nor to futtera single pen
nant." Then, in a trembling hand, but
still the same, was added GA dreadful
thing has happened. When I had writ
ten that beginning of my letter, Dor
othy, I looked again southwark the
sea was SIS waveless as before, and the
Fair Island sparkled in the SUN, but be-
twixt us and it 1 saw no trace of the great
three-decker. I thought my brain had
gone wrong, and rang the bell for Ag-
nes but when she too could see moth
ing of the ship, terrible apprehension
took hold of me and when the alarm
guns from the fort began to thunder, I
knew she had gone down. I hear near
1000 men were aboard of her.
This was the famous "wreck of the
Royal George" nmmortalized by the
verse Of Cowper. She was ship Of 100
guns, carrying brass 24-pounders on her
main deck, brass 32-pounders on her
middle deck and iron 32-pounders on
her lower deck. Her lanterns were so
large that the men used to enter them
to clean them. She had six months
provisions on board, and many tons of
shot. The blue flag of "brave Kemp
enfelt'' was flying at her mizzen, and in
two days she was to leave Spithead to
join the feet in the Mediterranean.
So sudden and unexpected catastro-
phe was never before heard OF in nauti-
crl annals but the cause of it is COM
macy andfool-hardines of the Lieutenant
of the watch. These caused the death of
some 800 human beings. It is not nee
essaIy to mention his name indeed, the
sailor from whose personal narrative I
compile the story, and who had prob
ably just joined the ship, did not know
his name, though Of course it could be
discovered easily enough. "He was, If
I remember right" he says, "the third
Lieutenant, a good-sized man between
thirty and forty" Fortunately for him
self, perhaps, he was drowned with the
rest.
The accident arose through the heel
ing over of the ship. It was necessary
to lay her on her side to get at the water
cock, situated In that part of the hold
called the well, In order to replace it by
a new one. The operation was begun at
O'o 1r,f hn no oh OF
that time was "fuli of Jews, women and
people selling all sorts of things" as
was usual on the eve of long voyage.
The last lighter, with rum on board, had
just come alongside, and was dashed to
the larboard side of the vessel, and the
men were piped to clear her, and stow
the rum IN the hold Though the water
was almost level with the portfolios
through which the Iarboard guns were
run ont, no danger seemed at first to
have been apprehended. The sea dashed
in with every wave, and disturbed the
mice ID the lower deck, and the mer
amused themselves with hunting them
in the water 'FThere was rare
game going o." are the words of the
narrator.
BY . o'clock the weight of the rum
barrels and of the sea water brought the
larboard portfolios still lower, and the
carpenter applied to the Third Lieuten-
ant to give orders to right ship, as she
could not bear it" But the Lieutenant
gave him a very short answer. The
Captain-Capt. Waghorn-was on board,
and also the Admiral but Admirals and
Captains are not consulted in such mat
teIs. The lives of those at sea, as OF
those on land, are mainly In the hands
of Subordinates. In very short time
the carpenter repeated his warning, and
the Lieutenant answered, "Sir, if YOU
can manage the ship better than I can,
you had better take command" In
minute or two afterward, it is true, this
fool-hardy officer ordered the drummer
to be called to beat to right ship, but it
was then too late. There was no time
to beat his drum, or even time to get it.
"Let us try," said our sailor to the
Lieutenant of his gun, "to bouse our
gun without waiting for the drum, as it
will help to right the ship" They
pushed the gun, but it ran back on
them, and they could not start it.
"Then I cried, Ned, the ship is sink
ing, jump out at the portfolio = He
did SO. but believe was drowned, for [
never saw him again. I followed him.
saw the portfolios as full of heads as
they could cram, all trying to get out"
What pictured Imagine all those
poor fellows struggling to escape through
space not large enough for one-tenth
of them, up an incline as steep as the
peaked roof of house, and with hun
CRY sea rushing in behind them Above
all. think of the poor women! Our sail
or, holding on to the best-bower anchor,
which hung above the port, seizes hold
of one and drags her out, but at that
moment the draught of air from between
decks, caused by the sinking of the ship,
blows him off his feet. Then the huge
mass goes down, and draws him down
with it He tries to swim, but cannot,
though ! plunged as hard as I could
with both hands and feet but when the
ship touched bottom, the water boiled
up good deal, and I felt that I could
swim, and began to raise" So, even If
vessel with hundred guns goes down
and takes one with her, there is some
use, you see, IN having learned to swim.
When he comes to the surface he hears
what sound at such a moment i
the cannons ashore firing their signals
OF distress, but he can see nothing. His