The Wichita daily eagle., 1904-04-19
SOME GUN DISASTERS
Looks Like Poor SeamanShip
at Port Arthur.
BUT THERE ARE OTHERS
Our Navy Has Suffered from
Several Explosion.

New York. April 1S-It looks like sorry
seamanship when a Russian battleship'
is sunk at the entrance 20 the Russian
port where the vessel had been stationed
for months, and the loss of a powerful
fighting machine, with 100 men or more,
including an able and sorely needed ada
miraI, is caused by Russian mine. But
the great disaster which has befallen
the Russian navy is not so extraordinary
as might be supposed at first thought.
Nations stronger at sea than Russia and
more skilled in maritime affairs have suf-
fered serious losses to warships from
causes quite as hard 10 reconcile with
prudence and good management.
June % 1893, the British Mediterranean
feet was maneUvering off the coast of
Tripoli. The sea was smooth and the
weather fair. Vice Admiral Tryon was
in command, on the battleship Victoria.
The flagship headed one column, and the
other, parallel with the first, was led
by the ironclad Camperdown, under the
command of Rear Admiral Markham.
The two columns were ordered, by sig
nals from the Victoria, to turn inward
towards each other and reverse their
general direction, again in parallel col
umns. but much near together. The space
was not sufficient. it proved. for carrying
out the vice admirals orders without
danger, and the Victoria was rammed and
sunk by the Camperdown. About 430
men perished including Admiral Tryon.
faI viz lJx- t,oI1
sponsible for the disaster.
On May 81 1878. the German ironclad
steamship Grosser urfuerst ran into and
sank her consort, the koenig Wilhelm,
in the English Channel. \ small squad
ron of German warships was moving in
two columns, when both had to change
their course somewhat TO permit sailing
vessel to cross their bows. nnisunder-
standing of orders followed, and a ship
which was then one of the best in the
German navy was destroyed, with the
loss of about 300 lives.
In 1875 the British warship Vanguard
was sunk by another vessel of the Brit
ish navy. when there seemed no good
reason for such a loss. but fortunately
no lives were sacrificed 1t was possible
to take off the crew before the vessel
sunk
In 1895, the Spanish navy suffered the
loss of a gunboat and a cruiser under
conditions by no means hatterng to
Spanish pride. The sloop gunbOat San
chez Barcaizetegui was sunk by a coli
sio min Cuban waters. and Admiral Pare
jo perished with about thirty-five men.
That happened September 19. On March
IL the cruiser RENE Resente, new and
powerful ship, supposed to have speed
OF twenty knots an hour. foundered off
the Spanish coast and 30 men were lost.
These are especially notable instances
o. the loss of naval vessels in modern
times. under conditions which made the
disasters seem unnecessary, and, in some
cacses, les sexcusable than the blowing
up of Admiral Makaroff flagship by
Russian mine. Many other accidents have
taken place on lighting vessels of the
latest types which might have resulted
very seriously under slightly different
conditions. one of the most curious was
the sinking of the American battleship
Texas at her dock i'm the Brooklyn navy
Yard November s. 1896 by a defective
metal apparently not properly tested. and
one British ship, at least was badly dam
aged by an explosion in the magazine,
which is believed TO have been caused by
the chemical action of paints and var
nishes.
The most momentous disaster to any
modern warshp was the blowing up of
the united States battleship Maine in
Havana harbor. on the evening of Feb
ruary L. 1898. 1t led to war With Spain
and changed the map Of the world The
Spanish authorities insisted that the ter
rible affair was an accident. but the ex-
haustive investigation made by a com
mission of naval experts, acting for the
United States government, ended in
unanimous and positive report that the
sevel was blown up by a mine, from
without. and a great crime had been
commission. The result is history. OF
the Maines crew 266 men were killed.
Many others were wounded
The long story OF wrecks at sea nat
urally contains Il great number of disas-
ters to warships, many Of them being
marked by extremely heavy loss OF life
The crews are large and when they sue
cumb TO the fury Of storms or are de-
stroyed on reefs. the death list is likely
TO be very long. Whe nthe British IRON
clad Captain floundered i'm the Bay Of
Biscay, in $50. the victims numbered A.
and the loss of the British training ship
Eurydice. off Ventnor. in 1873. cost $500
lives. But the most celebrated wreck OF
naval vessel. as To the number Of men
and boys sacrificed under extraordinary
conditions, was the sudden sinking of the
British 'lire-of-battle ship. Royal George.
I'm Portsmouth harbor in 17S3. About 900
persons rerished of the water front of
a thriving town in their own country.
The terrible losses sustained by the
British navy IN $50 when the Queen Char
lotte burned oq Leghorn. Italy. and 200
me nperished. and in ISL when the st.
George. ship of 9S guns. and the De-
fense. Of a guns. were wrecked on the
coast Of Jutland. and j. 100 lives were lost
were notable for the great waste OF hu-
man life. but in other respects they did
not rank with the tragedy Of the Royal
George as one OF the astonishing naval
disasters which are hard for landsmen to
reconcile with Sood seamanship.
MARRIED FoRTYY-FVE MINUTES.