ROYAL ACCIDENTS AT SEA.

Dominion, Volume 5, Issue 1350, 30 January 1912, Page 6

ROYAL ACCIDENTS AT SEA.

L YACHT RUN DOWN,

with the recent stranding oi the Delhi with the Princess Royal on board, it has been remarked that hoyal personages have for long been immune trom the perils of shipwreck, £>nd too onlj; modern instance which soesms to liayo occurred to the searcher for precedents is the. case of Queen Victoria, who was 011 board the-Alberta'when a collision with a small private yacht took place. Queen . Viqtona .was, of course, in no danger" on .that occasion, but the accident attracted much attention, both because her'Majesty 'was involved in it and .because four lives were:lost on board' the yacht. In 'recalling this event, which took .place in August, 1875, one newspaper' mentioned that "the jury reprimanded . the ' captain of the Albetta." As a matter of fact, .the jury-—by which ■is meant'.the' jury' at Portsmouth—brought in a verdict of . manslaughter against both tho captain and the navigator of the Alberta. It was recognised at the time that this verdict merely represented the prevailing local excitement, and when tho case came up at the Assizes, the Grand Jury threw out tho bill. A Naval Court of Inquiry was held, and fully exonerated the captain and his officers.The,.captain in question was his Serene Highness the Prince of Lciningen, and the navigator was Staff Captain Welch, who had at that date been navigating the Royal yachts for twenty-seven years without accident. The real cause of the accident was very simple. The Alberta was on her way from Portsmouth to Cowes, and off 1 Stokes Bay began to overtake the schooner yacht Mistletoe. Those on board the Mistletoe, wishing to have a good look at the Queen, proceeded to edge down so that the Alberta should pass close to them. The superior officers of the Alberta were all on the bridge; and recognised what was happening; they were well used to such curiosity and to tho close shaves it entailed. Unfortunately on this occasion the man at the helm of the Mistletoe lost his nerve at the critical moment, and threw her right across the Alberta's bow, so as to render a collision inevitable. No other accident ir the least resembling this has since taken placo, but that is not to say that Royal, lives have not occasionally been placed in danger afloat. Probably the bestremembered .instance of that kind is the dismasting of the racing cutting Shamrock in the Solent a few years ago, when King Edward was on board. It was only by the luck of his position on deck at tho moment that his Majesty escaped from grave dange.r