Gloucester County Democrat., 1898-03-03
DISASTERS 70 BATTLE SHIPS.

DISASTERS TO BATTLE SHIPS.
Under the above caption the New York
Herald last week printed the following
article which will be of especial interest at
this time:-
There have been only six cases of catas-
trophies which in any way parallel the
destruction of the Maine. Three Of these
have occurred in the English Navy, one in
the German Navy, one in the Spanish
Navy and one in the United States Navy.
The United States man-of-war Missouri,
while lying at Gibraltar in 1885, was
totally wrecked by the explosion of her
magazine.
A case famous in naval history is that of
the British ship Doterel. In 1887 she was
lying at anchor off Punta Arenas, in the
Straits of Magellan. An explosion wiped
the ship from the face of the waters. All
but few of her crew perished. This was
a case of magazine explosion. though it
may have originated in the coal bunkers or
boilers.
The British ship Captain. an iron armored
turret, $500 tons, foundered at sea in 1871.
She was attached to the China fleet, and
had already made two cruises.
In one of these she faced a heavy gale
and weathered it successfully. On Sept.
6, 1871, she made third trip to the China
squadron, and while near Cape Finisterre,
went down in a gale in the night. The
weather was so thick that the rest of the
squadron, did not know of the loss of the
Captain until morning. The loss was 500
officers and men.
CREW SAVED
The Vanguard, belonging to the English
Channel squadron, was rammed bv the
Iron Duke in a fog on September l, 1875
The Iron Duke at the time was steaming at
about seven knots and struck the Vanguard,
steaming about six knots, below her armor
Just abaft the mainmast on the fore quarter
abreast of the engine room. A large hole
about twenty five feet square was torn in
her bottom, through which the water came
in torrent.
Immediately after the collision the water
tight doors were closed. The engine-room,
fire room and passages quickly filled with
water One of the engineers forced open
the boiler valves and allowed the steam to
escape, thereby averting an explosion. The
Vanguard did not sink until an hour after
the collision.
m6dulluO buc 1IOA OUkC cbOOQ ny ACA
consort and the men were transferred to
her with perfect order. The Vanguard
carried crew Of 450 men.
While German squadron of three iron
clads-the Koenig Wilhelm, the Grosser
Kurfust and the Preussen-were on a
cruise from Wilhelmsbaven to Portsmouth,
England. in 1878. the Koenig Wilhelm ran
into the Grosser Kurfurst striking her be-
tween the main and the mizzen masts.
The Kurfurst lurched to starboard, the
water pouring through down in the fire
room, flooding the furnaces, while the steam
escaped with great violence. An attempt
was made by the captain of the Kurfurst to
run her into shallow water, but five min
utes after the time of the collision she sank
in fifteen fathoms of water.
OF her crew of 497, 2l6 were picked up,
of whom three afterward died of exhaus-
ton. Twenty-three officers were saved
and six droW ned.
VICrORIA-CAMPERDow DISASTER.
While proceeding with the fleet from
Beyrout to Tripoli, the British battleship
Victoria was rammed by the Camperdown.
The Victoria was single turreted battle
ship of the first t-class. The total number
of officers and crew was $50. The Camper
down struck the Victoria very nearly at
right angles just forward of the turret
Ten minutes after the collision the Victo-
ria gave tremendous reel to starboard and
sank, bow first.
Although the other vessels of the feet
rendered every assistance, 321 officers and
men were lost.
The Reina Regente foundered in a storm
in March, 1895, while proceeding from
Spain to Algiers, No trace of her has been
discovered. This vessel was an arm0red
cruiser familiar to the Australian type OF
the English Navy.
There have been several catastrophes
among the cruiser class, in which there
was heavy loss of life. Among these were
the loss of the japanese cruiser Elebi at
sea French floating battery the Arogante,
foundered, and the British have lost two
gunboats, the Wasp and the Severn, at sea.
Explosions of both guns and boilers have
occurred at different times on the British
ship Thunderer.
There have been several cases on United
States vessels were spontaneous combus-
tion in the coal bunkers has ignited the
magazines protected by them. Fires in
the yicinities Of the magazines have oc
CURED on the New York and the Cincin-
natl. The Indiana has been on fire seven
times and the Wilmington five.
In the case of the Cincinnati she was at
anchor at Key West. The coal bunkers
had chalred the wooden box in which the
fve-inch rapid fire ammunition was slowed
in the magazine, and if the smoke coming
from the magazine had not indicated this
danoer there MIGHT have heen q disaster
similar to that of the Maine.