Daily globe. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1878-1884, 1882-09-10

But winter came, the Ter YES were dead:
The mother bird We "a st W ao
The nes. p fn,i =. Ay sight have fed =
Rose Terry Cooke IL ST. Nicholas.
Inc Hoss OF the Z" Royal George,
LII q lou ar which Miss Martineau once
showed -Ae, from relative of hers, long
aead, 'Addressed to her great-niece from
pour Asea, near Portsmouth, and dated
Au gust 9, 1882, there occurred this
Angular passage:
'The day is calm and pleasant, and as
sit at the open window, the great YES
sci in the offng, 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 trembling hand, but
still the same, was added GA dreadful
thing has happened. When had writ
ten that beginning of my letter, Dor
othy, 1 looked again southwark; the
sea was as waveless as before, and the
Fair Island sparkled in the sun, but be-
twixt us and it l saw no trace of the great
three-decker. I thought my brain had
gone wrong, and rang the bell for Ag-
mes 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. hear near
1000 men were aboard of her."
This was the famous "wreck of the
Royal George immortalized 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 fleet 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
mon enough. It arose from the obsti-
macy andfool-hardiness Of the Lieutenant
OF the watch. These caused the death of
some 800 human beings. It is not nee
essary to mention his name indeed, the
sailor from whose personal narrative 1
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, 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
8 o'clock in the morning. The ship at
that time was "full 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 hola. Though the water
was almost level with tie portfolios
through which the larboard guns we're
run out, no danger seemed at first to
have been apprehended. The sea dashed
IN with every wave, and disturbed the
mice In the lower deck, and the men
amused themselves with hunting them
in the water. "There was q rare
game going on" are the words of the
narrator.
By 9 o'clock the weight of the rum
barrels and of the sea water brought the
portfolios still lower, and the
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
ters. 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 can,
you had better take command" In a
minute or two afterward, it is true, this
-ool- hardy officer ordered the drummer
to be called to beat to right ship, but it
was then too late. There was no time |
% 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
hem, and they could not start it.
Then I cried, Ned, the ship is sink
ng, Jump out at the portfolio He
lid SO. but I believe was drowned, for L
levers saw him again. I followed him.
saw the portfolios as full of heads as
hey could cram, all trying to get out"
What picture! Imagine all those
'oorfellows struggling to escape through
space not large enough for one-tenth
# them, up an incline as steep as the
'eaked roof of house, and with q hun
ny sea rushing in behind them Above
Ii. think of the poor womenl Our sail
r, holding on to the best-bower anchor.
.h1ch hung above the port, seizes hold
one and drags her out, but at that
loment the draught of air from between I
ecks, caused by the sinking of the ship. l
lows him off his feet. Then the huge
lass goes down, and draws bim down