H.M.S. EURYDICE.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XIIL, Issue 99, 26 April 1878, Page 4

H.M.S. EURYDICE.

On the 28th March we published a cablegram stating that the training' fibip Eurydice, while returning from « training cruiee from the West ladies to

S P U ' 18 -m, capsized in a squall off Dunnose Isle, in the English Channel. The telegram further stated that the number lost was 300, including all the chief officers, and that at the time our message was despatched only two were known to have been saved. A gentleman residing in Brisbane has furnished the Brisbane Courier with information which serves to thow some light on the cause of the deplorable catastrophe. " Our informant," says the Courier, " served on board the ill*fated vessel during the Crimeau war, and subsequently on the West Indian station* The opinion prevailed on board the ship that the Eurydice was a prize captured during the last war between England and France, and that she certainly was not a British-built ship. Duriog the Crimean war and for some time after Bhe was a 26-gun frigate. She was of extremely light draught of water, and was rigged to carry a great amount of canvaßj the consequence being that while she cbuldj Uiider full press of Bail} overhaul any craft she ever encountered, she was extremely More than once while our informant served in her, she went over on her beam ends, but having on board one of the smartest crews in the British service she was quickly righted again. She has done some good work in her day in the suppression of the slave trade oft Cuba, as owing to these qualities of light draught and groat Bpeed she could sail in shallower water than other Vessels of the same tonnage, and could overtake even the fastest ofi a class of vessels built specially for ' running' their cargoes. Tho 26 guns on her lower deck Bteadied bar considerably when under full canvas, and it was the practice to add so much bailaet, as it were, on thess occasions by sending below all hands not actually wanted to work the ship. On the West Indian station the Eurydice was considered by the tars a ' lucky ship,' as while fever was raging on board all the other ships on the station she escaped scatheless. During the Crimean war she was under the command of Captain Tarleton, who subsequently became a great favorite with tho Royal Family at Oaborne House when the Eurydice lay off the Isle of Wight, and the time spent there had probably not a little to do with Captain Tarleton's promotion to a 4000-ton ship — the Euryaius — in which he took the Duke of Edinburgh round the world. Our informant remembers many parties on board the Eurydioe, at which members of the Royal Family were present, and it is a curious coincidence that she has perished in the same waters, and not far from the same spot, where she, years ago, was the object of so rauoh admiration and passed so much holiday time. It is conjectured that, according to the system of armament which has been adopted of late years, and iu order to fit her to carry as a training-ship so many as 400 souls, her 26 main-deck guns have been removed, and thuß lightening her very much, while four heavy guns have been placed on her upper deck, This would, of courss, tend to render her less mauageable ia bad weßtber, and a vessel ' cranky' at tho best of times, and when armed frigate-fashion, would, under the circumstances, be almost certain to capsize if struck by a heavy squall while under sail, and would probably be turned right over, and go down immediately. This is probably what has happened, and would account for the almost total loss of life which has rendered tho disaster the most terrible in British naval annals since the foundering of the Captain."