A COSTLY TARGET.

King Country Chronicle, Volume VII, Issue 539, 5 February 1913, Page 7

A COSTLY TARGET.

For some years an old wooden hulk named the "Howden," lay in the roadstead at Jamestown, St. Helena. Latterly, she had done duty as a quarantine station ; but, during the Boer war, she was found insufficiently commodious, and " a station was therefore established on shore, the old hulk being abandoned altogether. For some time she lay idle, the authorities being • unable either to sell her or to put her to practical use. It was eventually decided, however, to utilise her as a target for some new batteries of 6in. guris which had been built on the cliffs. One fine morning, accordingly, she was towed some three or four miles out to sea by a tug, and there cast adrift. As soon as the tug was clear, the batteries opened fire. The garrison artillerymen, however, made but indifferent practice, and thereupon H.'M. gunboat "Dwarf," which was steaming in the offing, opened fire with her 4.7'5. She dropped. shell after shell on the '"Howden's" decks, and finally, one bursting in the vessel's interior, sank her. As target practice, it was excellent. There was a sequel, however, The authorities, a few hours later, were astounded by the information that cable communication with Cape Colony was interrupted. To cut the story short, a cable repair-ship had to be summoned from the West Coast of Africa, some 1,000 miles away, and after weeks of continuous grappling, the cable was at length picked up. It was then found that the old hulk had sunk on the exact spot where the cable layi, and, unfortunately, where it crossed a slight depression in the bed of the ocean. The weight of the hmlk had consequently snapped it in two. This - little affair cost the Imperial Government no less a sum than £5,000.