Waterbury evening Democrat., 1893-06-27
HOW The VICTORIA
WAS RAMMED
Full Details of the Disaster
to the Great English
Battleship.
ADMIRAL TRYON GAVE A SIGNAL
FOR DOUBLE FILE.

ADMIRAL TRYoN GAVE A SIGNAL
FOR DOUBLE FILE.
The Fleet of Five Vessels Was Standing
off Tripo1l When the Order Was Given
Markham of the Camperdown Hesita-
ted, Then Advanced--A Fatal Delay
The Flagship Struck in Front of the
Armored Bulkhead-Men Lost Life by
Drowning, ScaldinE, and From the
Screws of the Sinking Ship.
LONDON, June 27.-Advices from Tripoli
give the first details of the disaster to the
battleship Victoria, in which over 450
lives were lost.
About o'clock last Thursday afternoon
the English feet came in sight of Ell Nina,
the port and town Of Tripoli. 1t was
coming from the northeast and making
directly for the harbor.
The five big Observation-Disclosures, Cam
perdown, Edinburgh, Nile and Sans Pareil
were drawn up in full front. The Vic
toria was in the centre, the Camperdown
was on her left and the Edinburgh on her
right.
When they were within five miles of
nailed to turn and form in double line
This meant that the Victoria and Camper
down were to go ahead a little and de-
scribe turn-the Victoria turning to the
left and the Camperdow n turning to the
right-then they would advance side by
side in the direction from which they had
come, the others would swing into double
column order and advance two and two
behind the leaders.
The Order Difficult.
When the order was given the distance be-
tween the ships was less than two cables
length. The execution of the order was
easy enough for ships further away from
thecentre, but extremely difficult for the
Victoria and the Camperdown. In turning
their bows would pass within few faith
oms of each other even if the movement
was executed with the greatest precision.
This movement is rarely made and is
chiefly for the purpose of training the
ship commanders to move expeditiously
| away from shoaling waters.
Whether because Admiral Markham, of
the Camperdown, could not believe this
movement was to be tried when the ships
were so close together or because he
| thought Admiral Tryon had miscalculated
the distance he did not set about executing
| Admiral Tryon's order, but signal.ed that
he did not understand it.
The Victoria and the other vessels had
not hesitated. The Victoria began to turn
at once, as she still held to the signal
J Delay Fatal.
The Camperdown no longer hesitated,
Y but also began to turn. The brief delay,
however, had been fatal.
| The Victoria had nearly turned, and
the Camperdown, swinging around, bore
| down upon her.
Both admirals were quick to act. Ad-
miral Tryon swung the Victoria so as tc
receive at the smallest angle the blow
| which both officers saw was inevitable,
] and Admiral Markham did the same for
I CampeIdown, besides reversing her screws.
The tweIve-foot ram of the Camperdown
| struck the hull of the Victoria just in front
of the armored bulkhead and plunged into
the thin plates of her starboard side. The
| armor ends at the bulkhead, and the for
ward part of the Victoria above the water
line was mere cardboard to the great iron
wedge so nightly propelled.
There was smashing of wood and iron
plates, and the ram and eight feet of the
bow of the Camperdown crashed 30 feet
into the bowels of the Victoria.
The Camperdown was halted by tine
heavy armor of the Victoria, and as hel
| screws were reversed, Sne at once began LC
| back away.
The Vlctoria's bow was now pointed full
| towards the shore. Ii seems that Admira
Tryon did not realize the extent of the
| damage to the Victoria. AS no accident
of exactly this kind has happened before
ne could not know what the effect of the
hole in the compartment was to be.
He no doubt thought that as only one
compartment was damaged, the Others
would keep his ship afioat, SO when the
Camperdown and the other ships signalled
offers of boats he replied that he did no
need them.
Headed for Shore.
The Victoria began to forge straight fol-
It's shore under full steam. When thu
Ca mperdown's ram struck the Victoris
Admiral 1ryon, the navigating officer
two signal officers and the men at thu
wi eel were all upon the bridge, either il
full view or in the chart house.
The untangling and the getting under
full Roadway had taken some little time.
| About ten minutes after the blow, thu
| Victoria, having got something like two
miles nearer shore from the scene of the
collision, all at once leaned away over tc
starboard and with great roll and plunge
buried her bow beneath the calm surface
Z Of the ssa 1t was almost instantaneous
There was only a chance for few wild
| cries and the Victoria was almost hall
submerged, bow foremost, with her swift
ly revolving screws whirring clear of thu
water high in the air.
Those on deck were plunged immedi
ately into the water. The men forward
and below had no time to rush to the deck
but found themselves cropping for doors Of
rooms filled with water and compressed
air. There was a little more time TO
these in officers quarters They heard tn
shouts and warning cries and rushed t.
the almost perpendicular deck.
The huge hull was drawing i'll the water
: as it went down and several hundred mer
hurled suddenly into the water, full
dressed had to battle against the increas
ing suction.
A moment more and new peril more
horrible descended upon them. The grea
engine deep in the heart of the hull ant
inclosed in water-tight compartments wa
still throbbing at full speed and the grea
steel phlanges OF the twin screws wer