Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1893-06-25
OTHER BRITISH NAVAL DISASTERS.
A Long List IN Which saiiormen and Ships
Were Lost.

The record of war vessels lost by wreck
npe and IN times Of peace ~ dou Dtless
/ longer aud more disastrous than that OF
/ the bat.le-ships which have been sunk IN
action. Neptune has DESTROYED more war
/ ships than Mars. For tho loss OF
many o noble ship and Its brave crew
/ human carelessness. a. seems 10 be the case
with the Victoria. alone Is responsible.
/ From the records OF the British navy can
| be compiled long list OF vessels which
have fallen victims to the elements, or u
| bad seamanshlp, or to both combined.
/ Looking down tho centuries. some
wrecks stand on conspicuOusly from
having been made famous in song OF story:
The list OF these rs not short Oue even II
confined to large vessels, says the New
York SIN.
Going back less than 200 years one
meets with almost the worst wreck. or
rather wrecks, If all IN tho loss Of four
vessels OF Sir Cloudesiey Shovels squad
ron of the Sicily islands. In the Adml-
rails ship. the ASSOCIATION, seventy guns,
more than 800 men Wcro lost. including
many persons Of quality. as people OF
rank and birth were called in those days.
There were but few survivors from the
other three ships. lh!s dreadful disaster
occurred on October %. 1901. SIR CIoudes-
ley's monument IN estmlnster Abbey
has served TO keep 1t in remembrance.
All on board persisted when tho Victory,
100 guns, sank near tue lsie or Aiderney
on October 5. 174i The Thunder. seventy
four guns Stirling Castle, sixty-fOur: De-
fance. slxty-four, and twelve smaller
ships were lost i'll the same storm III the
West Indies III 1850.
More than 60J persons went down with
Grave X empenteldt - int the loyal George,
man-of-war, 1913 guns, Oh Spithead on
August -. 1872. While the vessel was
kecled over 10 repair a pipe sudden gust
of wind washed the sea into Der ports ana
she sank. Cowper has perhaps lmmor-
talized the disaster.
Three hundred and sixty lives were los.
when the Nlnotaur. seventy-tOur guns,
was wrecked on the llaak bank December
%. 1910.
The most dire disaster Of oil. since the
ships Of the Spanish Armada wero lost on
the shores of the tight little Islands they
had come to subdue was when the st.
George. ~ guns; Defence, "A, and the
Hero stranded on the coast OF Jutland on
December u. 1911. Admiral Reynolds an 4
the crews. numbering 2 900 IN all. persisted,
with the exception OF eighteen seameh.
The Birkenhead although tr0op-shlp,
and not "a man-O i-war. deserves mention
here from the memorable scene that wai
witnessed when she was lost of Simon ;
BAY. South Africa, on January I, lsJ2.
! be troops with whom she was laden were
drawn up on deck while tho women and
children were hurried to the boats. They
presented arts to death when she went
down, not man leaving the ranks TO IN
dulse N fruItlcsS struggle for existence.
OF the G3S persons on board but lS4 were
saved, and they were only saved by the
self-sacrifice of the rest.
The first of the modern English IRON
clad~ to come to grief through wreck was
81. -fsr.. oh
tlnisterre shortly after midnight on Sep
TENDER :, 1870. Only eighteen of the 49D
persons on board were saved. Among
those who persisted were the Captain,
Hugh BurEOyne, Captain Cowper Coles,
the designer OF the lrOnclad. and not a
few notable naval officers. The vessel
capsized aud went down IN three minutes.
Her sinking was attributed to too low free
board. heavy topwelght, masts and hurrl-
cane deck. She cost G440,0o0.
il. VI. :. Vanguard, doubls-screw IRON
clad Of 3.774 tons, was struck by the ram
of the Iron Dukr in a fog and sunk oil tho
coast of Wicklow on September ], 1873.
The crew, 400 in number. were saved.
Captain Dawklus, of the Vanguard, was
dismissed the service, and L1eutenant
Evans, Of the Iron Duke. was removed
from his command.
The frlgate Eurydice, traIning-ship,
sank in a squall off the Isle of Wight on
March a. 1873. and 800 men persisted.
A disaster similar III many respects TO
that Of Thursday occurred in the English
Channel of Dover. on May 81. 1878. Ger
man vessels. however. not British, were its
victims. In O smooth sea on clear dav,
the haIser Wilhelm ran INTO the Grosser
Kurfurst, sinking her SO speedily that 300
of her crew were lost. The Grosser Kur-
furst had slowed up and the Kaiser Will
helm struck in trying to pass her.