The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1898-03-15
SHIPS WRECKED N PORT.
VESSELS THAT HAVE MET THEIR
FATE IN PEACE
The Wreck Of the Royal, George Oh
SpIfhead-lapsisinx Of the Trafn-
ing shin EsryaSce-sudden Disap-
pearance Of the British Tarres
ship Captain With Every OMcef.

Every ere admits that It is dangerous TO
be a uIan-af-wars man in war tine. Even
In time Of peace. az great gun practice,
or while s2luf.ng. IL is a recognized fast
that accidents happen, and such accidents
dc not cause 50 much astonishfnent as
they do temporary pity. But X there IS
one place where vessel Is supposed pop
ularly to Be safe that is port. L; need
not be her home port; but. so long as
vessel is In port. in the minds Of the pas-
hc she is safe. yet as t7e recent disaster
10 tbs Maine shows. even port IS not al
ways safe. In fact. somA Of the great
naval disasters in history occurred in port.
Probably the greatest accident on record.
and certainly the NEST famous. was the
capsigiag Of the Royal George. line Of
battle ship of the British navy. r was
the flag snip CT Rear Admiral Richard
ksmpenfeldt. On August e. IsS2. as IL
lay of Spithead. at the mouth Of the
Thames. il was heeied. in order that
pipe might be repaired. Heeiing was .
simple process: one hroadside OF guns was
run from one side of the ship to the other,
that all the weight was or one side;
this laid the ship over far enough 10 lay
bare the end Of the pipe Keeling wasn't
absolutely safe. but the repairs were 50
simple that il wasn't worth while TO dock
the ship. So they heeled the Royal George.
The ship had not been put gu. OF com
Hfi-SAois, anu All neE Oi0ceFs ana
crew were aboard. Besides. the friends OF
many OF the slOps company were on
board. men, women and children. inc,ud-
ing large number OF jews. 4 land breeze
sprang up. the stays did not hold and
the great ship capsized. nearly Se persons
being drowned. The Royal George car
ried los guns and was one of the best YES
sells in the royal navy.
On June q 1859. the steamship Eastern
Nss.s1,r 1s7 f,,. nff G,sft
from india. with 800 officers and men on
board. most Of whom were invalhls. That
night she was burned, but provide ntially
only eight persons lost their lives. On
December 60 1915. Just three days before
Christmas. III. NJ, s. Goliath. used as a
training -. ship. lay in the Thames with
about 500 officers. men and boys most of
the boys being rescued from the silins Of
London. A lamp upset on the oil room
floor; but again fortune was on the side
OF man, and only twelve persons were
burned 10 death.
Sunday. March "a 1875 was an nnpieas
ant day In parts OF England. There was
snow storm. which is always unpleasant In
England. and then there came thunder
and purple lightning. ami. 10 top OF. a
furious squail ragged for a short time. Just
before the squall II. VI. s sailing fr!gate
Eurydice. used az a training ship. sailed
abo,.t Go men and boys on boasd, and
came In with a good breeze most Of her
sails drawing and her ports open. The
boys Were crowiIng the decks happy TO
see England again after Il long voyage
from the Bsrmu3as. or Dunnose head
near Nentnor. that snow squall struck her
and she capsized. Nentnor is a watering
place. w,nter we'll as summer, and right
before the eyes OF hundreds of persons
unable TO help. the old frigate went down
Hardly anyone was saved. Capt Hars.
Lieut. Tabor tie executive officer, and
nearly every other person on board was
drowned almost within reach OF land al
the entrance Of the harbor for which they
had hoped.
Forty-tive years ago. Capt. Cowper
Coles Of the British navy. invented what
he called a turret ship. a vessel 10 carry
few guns but those Of large calihre in
movable towers on the deck Ericsson had
the same idea. and carried +, out IN his
Monitor. but Capt Coles was not a BILE 10
enhodv his plans IN ship untr nearly
fifteen years had passed. Finally The lords
commissioners for executing the orics Of
Lord High Admiral accepted the cartaiu's
plans and Fl. NJ s. Captain was the re-
suit II vas full rlgged iron ship ar
rpared with auxiliary steam power High
hulwarks everywhere. intended to be le.
Down when the vessel was cleared for
action. uncoverlng the two turrets
The shin was launched IN 1859 and had
troubie from the first Finally she seemed
- find heTSeif'' and Joined the channel
fleet on September :. 1870 commanded
hv Cant. Hugh Burgoyne. she MS sailing
through the BAY % Biscay She carried
IA company Of 4ss persons and Gait. Coles
and Mr. (.hilder< 4 son ~ the frs. lord
~ the admiralty. who were passengers.
made the total number on board taa A.
le:i5 a n a sQuan spraug ur apd struck
the tOp-heavy ship TIL. hUlwssks were
down tire shin keeie1 over and never
righ;ed OF the ss9 persons en- board only
eighteen escaped. and when the court
martial SAT 20 try some one for nsgli-
Cence IN losing 1fe vessel me Only per-
son they could trv was James May. the
gunner. Every officer was lost
TIE Captain was rot In haroor: hat she
might IA well have been: she was alone
there was no danger ~ collision her erl-
nutrition didn't explode. Seemingly she
was * safe 4 ship well could 30. She
ard the Eurysliee and the Royal George
were beaten down by no great sioruS II
was "a though the finger Of Providence
had pointed a. those three ships and AT
nothing else.
Not quite ,hree years after the Euryilce
capsiEed. there vas boat race on the
Thames un in Canada The day was
Queen Victovia's birthday. May "a. i>sl.
The day was clear. IL was . holiday aud
the race Was exciting. ga the STEAMBOATS,
accompanying tire racers were crowded
TEa Victoria had on her decks every s1ui
she could carry: bat every body behaved
well ana therH eas 40 trouble and 70
d2nSer-ur;ii ar exciting part of a race
caused ths crosa 10 rush 10 one Ssde -
The boat, Then saa c1ps.z"d She had
=" persons on board. and more than no
6ied. The suddeuncss of this disaster
was appalling 4 traveller driving In a
carriage szw the crowded Victoria steam
lGg after TIE racing AHcats he road ran
behind a iow hIil cutting of ali yiew %
tee river for z hundred Yards ar 80. When
the driver had passed ing hIar and again
sax the river the Victoria had ragsize.i