The midland journal. (Rising Sun, Md.) 1885-1947, 1906-01-26

An EXPLOSION Of the PoWoer magazine Sausee
the Vessel to Sink In Three Minutes Was
EscortDg the Cruiser Barroso, on Which
Was the Brazilian Minister Of Marine and
His Staff.
Rio Janeiro, Brazil, (By Cable. The
Brazilian turret ship Aquidaban sunk at
Port Jacarepagua, south of Rio Janeiro,
at Io.45 P. NJ, as result OF an explo-
sion of the powder magazine.
Four rear admirals persisted.
The dead number 2I2 and the injured
SO. Ninety-eight of those aboard were
saved.
The Aquidaban had been used for the
accommodation of a number of super
numerary officers and men attached to
the fotilla escorting the cruiser Barroso.
The Barroso had on board the Minis
ter Of Marine and his staff, who were
inspecting the sites proposed for new
arsenal
The following members of the commits
sion which left the arsenal on board the
Aquidaban, accompanying the Minister
of Marine, were killed or drowned:
Rear Admiral Rodrigo Jose Da Rocha,
Rear Admiral Francisco Calheiros Da
Graca, Rear Admiral Joao Candida Bra
I'll and Captain Alves de Larrigo.
Two commanders, two German pho
tographers and one reporter also were
drowned
In three minutes after the explosion
occurred the Aquidaban sank.
The cruiser Barroso has arrived here
with the injured.
The Aquidaban was a steel sheathed
battleship of 1880 tons. She was $50
feet long and 81 feet beam, and had a
speed of 10 knots. She was built in
England in 1885, at a cost of $I,75o,ooo,
and reconstructed in Stettin, Germany,
in 1895. Her armament consisted OF
four 8-inch, four 4-inch and 10 1-inch
rapid fire guns, with five torpedo tubes.
Her complement was 388 men.
Her armor consisted of belt seven
feet wide, and from seven to eleven
inches thick. The turrets and redoubt
were encased in Io-inch plates.
The Aquidaban was one of the foreign
battlesips that took part in the MEM
orable demonstration in New York har-
Dor IN 1893 in honor of the Worlds
Columbian Exposition at Chicago, when
the three Spanish caravels, representing
Columbus ships, were brought from
Cadiz.
The battleship was the flagship of Ad-
miral Mello, who led the great Brazilian
naval mutiny and held control of the
harbor of Rio de Janeiro for some days
during 1893
The Brazilian fleet in the port of Rio
de Janeiro revoked on the night of Sep
TENDER 5, 1893, captured number of
miral Custodio Jose de Mello was COM
nander-in-c chief. The warships were
provided with vast stores of arms, am
munition, provisions and coal One OBJ
ject in view was to have absolute control
of the bays of Guanabara and Nicheroy
and the. roadstead
On the 9th the fleet attempted to make
an arrangement with Governor Porciun-
cula, of the State of Rio de Janeiro, and
also with the commander of Fort Santa
Cruz, but failed Then the land on the
side where Armacao and Nictheroy are
was pitilessly shelled every day from
the 9TH to the 18th, inclusive The insur-
gents fire was holly returned from the
shore, and every attempt to land was
repulsed On September IS the rebel
feet attacked the loyal forts. The Aqui-
daban was in the midst of the battle and
shifted constantly to avoid balls from the
forts and shelled the Nictheroy forts.
The Aquidaban was heavily armored.
She was struck in several places.
Mello inaugurated the rebellion in Bra
I'll because of alleged dissatisfaction with
the Peixoto government. Peixoto was
vice president of the republic under Pres
ident Fonseca, who was the first incum-
bent after the fall of the monarchy under
Dom Pedro. Fonseca was forced &c. re-
tbs ~ faY2r 9f 5sixetS, During Fon-
seca's tenure of office there were Sporadic
instructions in Rio Grande de Sui and
other provinces and general feeling of
(. unrest Mello claimed that Peixoto was
even more arbitrary and unrepublican
than Fonseca, and as he had the navy
with him he had no difficulty in in
augurating rebellion.
Peixoto's loss of his fleet was a SER
ious drawback, for while the government
forces on land were ordinarily able to
cope with the land forces of the insur-
gent there was no way to prevent the in
surgent feet from bombarding the city.
The only thing that prevented the rebel
admiral from vigorously cannonading Rio
was the presence of number of foreign
war vessels in the harbor and the fear
of possible combinations.