The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1904-05-19
WARSHIPS AT AUCTION.
Clearance Sale of Antique Vessels
of the British Navy.
From the London Telegraph.


From the London Telegraph
The day is fast passing away when
it could be said that the intelligent
visitor to any British naval port might
see the whole story of the development
of British men-of-war synopsized in
anchor in the stream. For many years
the anchorages were numbered up with
venerable wooden ships, picturesque to
the artist, but absolutely useless. Why
cumbereth these the water? the naval
reformer asked. 1t was not until the
advent of hundreds of new ships rem
dered every buoy and every inch of
wharfage of value that the Admiralty
began their series of clearance sales"
Now the faithful servants of a for
mer day are being knocked down by
the auctioneer to the highest bidder.
Though not yet included in the list of
ships in the navy list marked For
Sale" the days are numbered of pos
sibly one, of the most famous vessels
which has borne the British colors in
the past hundred years. Under the
shadow of the Forth Bridge lies the
Caledonia, an old wooden relic of Mel
sons navy. She was formerly known
as the Impregnable, but in the eigh-
ClSS, WH6n SHe WAS ABOUT 10 De oSIlL
from the West of England waters to
Scotland, her story was hidden under
the name Caledonia, and a modern
ship inherited her glorious honors and
the bell of the San Jose, one of Mel
sons prizes. The Caledonia is a
replica of the Victory and was begun
at Chatham in 1902, but she was not
ready for service until 1910. Soon aft
erward she had the flag of Admiral
"
to watch the French preparations for
the "pistol-shot" at the heart of Eng
land which Napoleon planned. She re-
manned observing events off the
Scheldt and Texel for some time, and
when the great schemer was forced to
abdicate it was this ship, now lying so
placidly in the Firth of Forth, which
conveyed to this country the allied
sovereigns, the King of Prussia and
the Emperor of Russia. Thus it came
about that the Impregnable was the
center of the great peace rejoicings,
and she proudly carried the emblem of
the Duke of Clarence, then Lord High
Admiral of the Fleet, the last before
that office was placed ''in commission"
The Impregnable was visited by every
one of note who went to Spithead for
the review, and the Car Alexander
sat down to dinner at one of the
IuSSSeS Oh Liz
When the report got about that Ma
poleon had escaped the Impregnabe
went to sea once more; she was with
Lord EXmouth when he suppressed AIu-
rats rising in Southern italy, and later
on she was with the same great ad-
miral, flying his flag, at the lombard
ment of Algiers, when over 200 of her
officers and men were killed and
wounded and her hull was struck by
no fewer than 230 shots. This veteran,
however, has become weather-worn
and the timbers weak. In time-and
that not very distant-she will no doubt
help to make cheerful fires at Christ
mas time, for there are no logs to
compare with the wood Of these CEN
tury-old warriors.
The last day of the Caledonia is not
yet, but meantime the process of clear
ing out relics of early times is pro-
ceeding. The Admiralty are to hold a
clearance sale of old men-of-war next
month, when fifteen British ships are
catalogued to come under the ham,
mer. British subjects only will, of
course, be admitted to Chatham dock
yard for the occasion, and the ships
also, of course, have to be torn to
pieces within the United Kingdom"
1t is, nevertheless, almost certain that
they will, as usual, fall into the hands
of some foreign firms. 1t is a strange
coincidence that foreigners should be
able to make shipbreaking and ship
raising pay better than Englshmen
For the great sale next month the au-
thorities have gathered together some
of the choicest ''soiled goods" in their
possession, and in the course of the
next fortnight intending purchasers
will be wandering about the dock
yards at Portsmouth, Chatham, Sheer
ness and Davenport, inspecting the
prospective bargains.
One of the men-of-war is a vessel
which has been a good deal in the
public eye of late years--the BelIeisle
She is described as IAN obsolete bat
tleship of 4717 tons, with armor plat
ing from four to twelve inches thick