Rock Island daily Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1886-1893, 1893-06-24

ENGLAND MOURNS.
Four Hundred of Her Sailor De-
tenders Go Down.
EIGHTY FATHOM DEEP THEIR TOMB

The Battleship Victoria Sent to the Bottom
by the CamperdOwD-Sir George Tryon,
n Distinguished Naval Commander, One
of the Lost-A Disaster That Sets at
Naught the Ingenuity of Man and Gives
the Marine Architect Something to
Think About.
WASHINGTON, June 24-The loss at Tr-
poll in the Mediterranean of the British
battleship Victoria has set naval construc-
tors thinking again, not so much about
how toimake vessels unsinkable as how to
prevent accidents that still defy all mea
ures of protection. That a ship although
not of the latest type, still, fitted with
fore and aft and athwart-ship bulkheads
should have been run down while manOu-
vering, both vessels being at the time in
command of skilled officers and that before
there was time to rescue them 400 of the
700 on board should have found a grave in
the water are facts that may well set to
thinking those whose business it is to pro-
vide plans TO avoid just such calamities
How much damage was done to the vessel
which rammed the Nictoria-the Camper
down, another battleship-is not known at
this writing.
Many English Homes Bcrenved.
The disaster carries sorrow into many
English homes. The vessel had G.l souls
on board, a large number of whom were
"middies''-little fellows, many of them,
who were their mothers pets, their
fathers pride and the heroes of their sis
ters. Then she also carried down Wee
Admiral Try'on, a commander whose name
and services ranked as high in British
naval history as any man of his time. \
number of other officers went down with
their ship, standing by her to the last and
meeting death with that courage and
GOODNESS that is inherent in the sailors of
AngloSaxon blood. Such disasters are
happily rare, and the only one in the an
mails OF our own navy that at all ap-
proacheS this one was the loss OF the HUI
ron of Nags Head about fifteen years ago.
The Blake and the Victoria.
People who saw the beautiful and stately
Blake flagship OF the British squadron at
the naval review thought that she was
great ship, but she was of secondary inn
portance when compared with the ill-fated
Victoria. For while the Blake was a large
armored cruiser, the Victoria was a full
fielged battleship, nearly Loco tons larger
than the Blake. She bore about the same
relation TO the Blake that our own new
battleships, Indiana and Oregon, do to the
armored cruiser New York. Indeed, the
Victoria was about the same dimensions
as the Indiana but the latter being of
newer design is more formidable craft
than the English ship. The Victoria was
built by Sir William Armstrong at the
celebrated Elswick works, and in appear
auce she was typical fighting machine, as
unlike the ordinary conception of ship
possible.
Explaining the Disaster.
A telegram from London says that Lord
George Hamilton, who held "A high posi-
ton in the British naval office in the Con.
servative administration, says that with
out doubt the Camper,lown's ram had cut
away the plating on the Victoria outside
of several of her transverse bulkheads.
Had this not been the case, the bulkheads
could have been closed and the water kept
in one, or t..most two. compartments and
the vessel would still have fioated. But
with the plating torn off or cut away out
side of several of the bulkheads the inflow
of water would have been enormous and
there would have been no time, even if it
would have availed anything. to close the
bulkheads. He further said he thought
that with the plating torn off the water
must have entered the ship in n solid mass
and thus entering on one side caused the
vessel to capSize almost Immediately.
Built for Just Such Emergencies.
Hon Arthur Bower Forwood. a we'll
known British ship owner who was secre-
tary to the admiralty in the last admins
tration said that the Victoria had longi-
tudinal bulkhead running through her, be
sides ii number running athwart- ship. She
was thus divided into compartments on
each side of the longitudinal bulkhead,
without a communication between them.
In his opinion. what had occurred was this:
The Camperdown had struck the Victoria
a rapping blow glancing along the side
and opening out the plates above several
of the compartments. The water was then
admitted into number of the compart-
ments on one side of the ship, causing her
to capsiZe by its great weight.