The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1897-12-07


From the New York Sun.
His sword was in his sheath,
His fingers held the. pen,
When Kempenfelt went down
With twice four hundred men
The old skipper repeated the lines from
Cowper's poem in tone that indicated a
pronounced lack of reverence for the poet
Then he remarked;
Il believe there never has been a poet
who has known much about a ship OF
the sea. There is one Rudyard Kipling
who has the merit of never being absurd
and he appears 10 have made some study
of the sailorman. AS for Cowper, 1 don't
believe he knew port from starboard. and
he certainly did not inform himself about
the number of persons who were drowned
by the sinking of the Royal George. Cow
per simply-weI, I'll say he simply took
a poets license in dealing with that sub
ject.
II suppose I'll have to shatter a British
idol when | tell the truth about the ROYAL
George. She was a line-of-battle ship of
100 guns, and in the summer of 1882 had
just returned from cruise and was leak
ing. 1t was impolitic, of course to dock
the vessel at Portsmouth for repairs, as the
crew, many of whom were impressed men.
could not be kept by her so near the town.
The ship was careened in the roadstead
II was a hazardous proceeding, even
though the water was almost as smooth
as glass.
when the ship was keeled until her low
er deck ports nearly touched the water,
a summer squat struck her She carried
q the time the tallest masts and souar-
est yards of any ship in the British navy.
The lower deck ports being open, she soon
filed, and down she went. Twelve hun
dred souls We're aboard of her, and every
person who was between decks were
drowned. Nine hundred lives were lost.
Boats from other vessels lying in the road
stead rescued those who were on the up
per decks
The first news of the disaster reached
the admiralty office in London on Aug,
20, 1852, and was published the next day
in the Gentleman's Magazine. This ac-
count gave the loss of life as four hun
dred of her crew and at least as many
women and children. The poet does not
say anything about the luckless women
who were on board in the ships cabin and
between decks. The ship sunk in the mid
ole of the day. and it was eight minutes
according to some accounts before she
disappeared. 1t appears to me that if the
crew had been in fit condition some of
the utty Seamen wives and $50 women
from Portsmouth, who were not the wives
of anybody, might have been saved. On
KempenfelCs monument the loss is put at
800 souls. | -.
My boy, these sailors wives and the
women who were with them were cour-
ageous souls, and deserved well of the
poet. Kipling would not hesitate to ceIe-
brate them, think. They had proved
themselves worthy to have, verses writ
ten about them. / recall that in one of
Rodneys sea fights with the French the
admiral noticed a sailors wife assisting
the men at one of the guns on the main
deck. Her husband had been wounded and
carried below. and she had taken his place
In answer to the admirars hurried expos
tulaion in regard to the dangers to which
she was exposed, she answered: And sure
your honor, do you think that | am afraid
of a Frenchmanr After the action the
admiral reprimanded her for having COM
mitted breach of orders by being aboard
Of the ship at such time, but he gave
her ten guineas, which took the edge off
the censure.
I'm the tough combat between the
French and English fleets of Ushant in
1884 the French who fought gallantly,
were badly beaten. Lord Howe command
ed the English fleet. and all England went
wild over his success. 1t was a fight of
ship TO ship and man to man. History
is not garrulous about the part the wo-
men played in the famous battle, but wo-
men were aboard some of the ships and
fought with the most determined vaor
at the guns. Lord Howe received thanks
OF parliament, a sword, and was made a
knight of the garter for his victory