The Montgomery advertiser., 1909-01-07
HL-FATED
 WAS SIBYL First True Story of Its
 Sinking. TOLD BY cHISoLM IN CITY Was Here En Route from Savannah
 to Mobile. Left EssIIsh Navy shortly After sink !. ing of Famous Cruiser sn west African Coast-ThriIIing
 Nayrative.
 
TOLD BY cHIsoLM IN CITY

sinking of the British cruiser Sibyl, which was lost on the West African coast in 1898. is available for publica- tion.
 The English Admiralty Department. through it's great influence, censored every report of the accident and the story was for years known to none but the crew of the iil-fated vessel and the Admiralty. It. was hushed, 1t is ssaid, because of the close relationship between one of the high officials of the Admiralty and the captain of the war ship, Sir Gerald Russell, who through powerful influence. escaped court-mar- tial and was only lightly examined by d court of inquiry.
 Wednesday James Chisolm, who was a sailor on the Sibyl when she was lost was in Montgomery. passing through on his way to Mobile. He left the English navy shortly after his experience on the Sibyl and entered the merchant marine service. few days ago he was left in Savannah, Ga, by his ship and Is going through to Mo- bile where he has friends. He told the following story .of the wreck of the warship to representative or The Ad- vertlser:
 We had been on the West African, station for some months, working up and down the coast and occasionally stopping for target practice and. to work with torpedoes. This station Is an heirloom of the navy and is still kept up. partially through sentiment. Zanzibar used to be the base because of 1t being the headquarters for the slave trade, but since that business was abolished there is little or nothing for & ship to do there. Because of the bet ter facilities for target practice. the base has been moved from Zanzibar to Lambert's Point, further south. so 1t would not take so long to go around Madagascar. Lamberts Point, at best. has not much of an entrance to It's har- bor, but the roadstead inside Is good. The entrance Is between two long stretches of rock and except in good weather 1t Is not pleasant place to try to enter at night. We afterward proved that.
 Omin0us stiIIness.
 T don't remember what month it was, but 1t was hot as 1t could be and had been for some time. We were slowly working our way southward from the northern end of the station when. we got our first hint of trouble. Not a breath was blowing and in the oily swell of the Indian Ocean we wal lowed our way, the spars and rigging creaking and whining in an incessant complaint. It was hot until the. air .wae Rumfny andseveryone knew there would be blow of some kind. Tues- day night 1t came. I was with; the port watch and did net see the start. hut along about Q bells we heeled over with lurch and in just about two sec onds every man was on deck. What A night 1t wasl Black, gray black, and the yelling wind tearing and snarlinG tt every obstruction.
 we could see a bit about us see the great black waves with their crests blown off, crashing Jumpily toward us, blacker than the night and the white spray above them dazzling white In the electric light glare from the ship. We headed due east and ran with the wind for hours, thinking it would be q short storm, but by morning it was worSs than before and We decided to stem 1t. The boat was put about and went at the seas head-on. Running with them and over them had not been so very bad. but when we turned to face them the Sibyi seemed to rear up like a frightened horse. At times 1t seemed a third of her length was out of water and the screws nearly flew to pieces when they raced out of water don't know whether 1t grew worse or seemed to because of our changed po- sition, but the suggested thought to put about and run again was aban- doned
 All day Wednesday we fought the seas on, stemming tn em and slowly lunging toward the African coast The captain had decided to try for the lee of Madagascar At it, we kept under full steam. Then we found the coal getting low and knew we did not have enough to hold on at the back of the island. so we kept on in for a try at Zanzibar or Lambert's Point. We rounded the end of Madagascar and might have been able to make the Zan- zibar Harbor. but for some reason the Admiralty afterward discussed passed it and kept on for Lambert's Point.
 Wind Stacked.
 "Wednesday night and part of Thurs day we hung in Madagascar Strait for it seemed the wind was stacking a bit but toward evening with the light in sight 1t started up again and we headed for the entrance to the harbor. The Admiralty discussed that too.
 With night approaching We. were just off the entrance and started in, and there is where we stayed. The wind and tide were both against us and the heavy seas increased the tide flow until 1t was being damned out or the funnel-like harbor entrance like mill race. This unusual current was not on my chart and no allowance was made for it. In the fury of the gale, with this concentrated force against us. the ship was caught like chip and swung to the starboard shore, The inevitable was the result, Racing over big roller we landed on the rocks, striking samidships. The force of the blow threw everyone flat and we looked to go in tow and sink where we were. But the vessel stuck on the rock that had pierced her. With every sea she pounded forward until she smashed in her bow plates. The eom- partments helped a lot, but 1t took every pump going at full capacity to hold our own.
 Gums Stripped.
 "In an effort to get her clear and try for, shore, the eight four-tnch guns were upshipped and taken over to the port side and the six-tnch guns, one forward and one aft. were also brought amidship at the port side. The weight raised her slightly where she was stuck and freed her, bow. She swung around half way and damned across the line of rocks. The twist tore open the hole where. she first Init and the water poured in in such quantity that the pumps were useless. However. the rocks that had wrecked her, now proved the salvation of some of the crew, for she held her position after settling under aft. She sank rapidly and as the bow lifted many lost hold and went overheard, to be dashed to