SOME FAMOUS SHIPWRECKS.

NZ Truth, Issue 93, 30 March 1907, Page 7

SOME FAMOUS SHIPWRECKS.

BURNING OF THE FRIGATE QUEEN CHARLOTTE.

St. Patrick's Day, 1800.

The Fearful Fate of 700 Scotch Seamen.

" "Britannia rules the waves!" • Oh, vain and impious bOasti! Go, mark, presumptuous slaves, Where He, Who sinks or saves,* Strews the sand with /"countless graves ; : /',,. ""'"' Round .your, coast — Thomas Sheridan. As stated m a previous- issue the terrible losses of life aboard ,tne Royal George and tne. Captain were surpassed m the case, of the Victory, the St. George, and. the Defence. Of the first, Horace WalpOle Wrote to Sir Horace Mann :—'"Arl-ington-street, October 1, •_1744 1 .«-Y6U; 1 will- see m the papers, too, that the Victory^ pur finest ship, is lost, with Sir John Balcben "and 900 men." The' "Gentlemen's Magazine" of 1744 gave but a meagre notice to this disastrous , shipwreck, because most likely there were NO SURVIVORS to give details^ "His . Majesty's j ship, the FaulsAnd,','it says, '"and", the sloop Fl'v, Captains Grenville and Lloyd, were 'Sent on a cruise round the islaiidj., of Alderney and Guernsey, to get intelligence of the." Victory, and met With several pieces i of a wreck, and part of a carved wood stern, - which they judg-. { Ed to belong to the said ship, and found "by the, people, f of "'Aldtirney that they heard the firing of near one hundred guns 'Consecutively between the ■ "4th afld the sth. The remark was madje m the London "Eveninfl: ?ost " that, as Admiral' Vervon, had represented some defect m the building 'and managing of the. ; royal ship's (for which' some think he was postponed), it was hoped that, the loss of the ship .Would cause ah inquiry into/ the jWorst of grievances to a maritime" powers" ■ ■' .. *. . ■.*.'.. ■■••".■,-,.. ■' The St. George and the Defence were lost towards the end of l«ll. The British fleet m the Baltic had, iduring the entire month of ; November, met i a succession of gales, snowstorm, sleet, and wreck. The month of December brought, no lull m the reign of tempest. N&j| all its horrors were aggravated, and the Storm * King seemed to" ride on ' the wings of Death over every scat. It was m the German Ocean that his fury was specially extended* , and, of all the ' days m the year, he selected fox* his' -most violent doings the day before Christmas Day. Neither peace nor goodwill did he bring to the British Fleet m that region. The Hero and several other vessels were ; stranded and Wrecked, 1 to the destruction of ' EVERY SOUL' ON BOARD. The St. George Was a fine lineof battleship of 98 guns, and her consort, the Defence, Counted 74 'gdms. They, were proceeding homewards -•: Onv the fatal 24th December,' > when, caught by the tempest, they were both stranded on the western' coast, of North Jutlaad. The Defence Was, in.half an hour, literally torn to fragments, five, sadlors and a marine, of all her gallant company*, alonjb escaping on ' princes of wreck., To the j St. George, the mercy of rapid destruction "was not • vouchsafed. ■ An,] attempt to avoid -the'jate of the Defence, by letting s * go the anchor, failed, and she also, took the ground, B»at after boat was washed ;away before it could be launched, At length twenty men got Into one, m the hope of reaching shore ; it was, even, .at the ship.'s side, upset, and every . man drowned . Eleven of .the crew -eventually were cast asftore up-; on pieces of wreck, and their report was that the admiral, captain,, and at least 600 of the crew, were lying dead ;in ■•'. different parts of the . frigate! A few ?■ were left alive,' arid' the terrified J^laiiders, unable to render any alpSistahce, heard their, pitiful cries wrai their /voldes were, silent mjdeith:-, The ;wreck of the above .three vessels involved the loss im the Navy of *\ at least 24Q0,. lives. ■• ■"..• >■• -. ■■_■.■ - ■ ■..-■■.

It .was a busy time for the British fleet m. the Mediterranean m the ■'spring I'-.1 '- . of 1800, although some historians do not think that the Navy just then did much worth recording. The ships, nevertheless, were kept m constant activity ,, for «. . THE FAMCHJS BONAPARTE^ was making himself felt- thrrrij;hout Europe, and men's, minds were filled with uneasiness. Lord Keith was Cpjnmander-i.n-Ch.ief of the : Fleet, "and his flag was -hoisted. on board titic Queen Charlotte, a ship (like the iljlfated Royal George) >>f .110 g.wu&She was launched t two years after the disastrous ending of the -Royal George,; arid was ■ intended to <<. be worthy , of her. unfortunate predepessor* Great things were expected, &or it also was said of ,;her th&t f.he TV¥»Sr the fastest sailer, that ,. up to> that time, had hoisted the warrior cross. There were -many, fine frigates cruising off the coast of Italy m the March of 1800, bUt ndne hibre comely to the eye, or likely to/m ake a Mod account of the, enemy, : than the Queen Charlotte.. * Not even, the Foudroyant, carrying; an admiral who, Ayas destined so on to make the world : ring with has fame— Horatio Nelson.;. On the .Ist of June, iXTM-t \jfheh the French ; fleet" were, defeated off Brfetagne, it, was the: Queen Charlotte who bore Lord Howe's triumphant flap 'to .victpry. >/••■.■.■ ■" . " The .17th. of March, ISOO,. -found ;., TEtE QUEEN; CHARLOTTE: . under easy .sail" between; t|ie , liitte island of Gorgona and Leghorn; Day was breaking whenV-a cry— never to be heart on land *' or., fsea ,. without terror,, the . cry of ""Fire. : '! !.y*iie- , sounded throughput' the shipC '. The alarm Was taken up "by a hundred throats, and the sleepers, rudely awakeried; tumbled, pell-mell out of their berths, eager to. know the extent of their peril. lii the space of a few. minutes the sailors were makins; their way from the * lower decks, arid .swarming up the, coin painion-. ways. '...', „ . ■ '.'■■.'•■ ' * '■■■•. ■""' - '-■'■ It was too true. Some loose hay, used for the life: stock on board, had. caught, -through the dropping into it of a slow match kept on half-nleck for the • purpose of ■ firing . ■■signals..' Ljteraliy, the flames spread like wildfire. It, began m, a gceat blaze, arid found ready at hand plenty of ma tter to feed upon . Ths carpenter, ., who was a very important officer on. board a mart-o'-wor, wjbe.n battleships were innocent either or' iron casing or engines, was one of the earliest to" hasten a . on depk;. -Before he was clear of the foreladder, however, the conflagration > was spread^ing withliightning^ike speed. '.:.' : ■ . •• i ■' •' • « ."■' ■•' " , The . whole of the tialMeck '-■ was ■ soon wrapped m flame. The fire. was encrPaohing upon the. bulkhead of the admiral's cabin -\ it was running up the mainmast) and it had taken fierce hold of the broad mainsail. In yam the seamen tried to, bring the canvas down ; the flames^ its if de^ termined to finish what they had be-' gun, beat them baok whenever . they attempted to approach the ropes, and; defied them still further by greedily, licking and .devouring the shrauds. Volumes of fire bust through the portholes, and up the hatchways, .•. /'"!.'■ ■':-■■ ;.' ■■•■•• '■•:'■«■ Danger like this is the great test pf courage, and the men of the Queen Charlotte, weighed, m ; the . balance, w^re; not found wanting. The aift was soon separated from; the fore part of the. ship by '•■ A GULF OF FIRE, which could not be bridged over. Lieutenant Dundas and the carpenter rallied the men, who were chiefly crowded iri'the fore part. Thete was even a worse evil than the fire. , In the - lower parts of' the ship there were immense quantities of shells, grenades, mortar cartridges and other ammunition destined for) the ,seige of Genoa. The flames might be got under, although it seenied impossible. . Once let a. spark touch the contents of the magazine, and all would be oyer ! i The practical ', mind, of John Braid, the carpenter, was. the first to realise this new danger. He applied to ' Lieutenant Dundas for assistance to drown .the lower! part of the ship, and, secure all hatches communicating with it. The lieutenant, perceiving the critical nature of this duty, himself undertook it, with . as many of ; the crew as he could in-;, duee, to volunteer to accompany him. They descended to where the fire was roaring, and, amid a stifling) atmosnhere of smoke, uncertain whether ffieir very movements might not .percipitate the' disasteritheysoughtitp. avert, spread themselves' right: and left. One se-t of men closed the lower deck ports,' .another set plugged the. scuppers, while a third body, by every means that could be thought of, checked , the flames yith a supply of water. -■-■•■ * . ' * i . •*' \ .'■•.- Toiling against fearful odds— now hoping that all would end well* now despairing, but calm— these brave fellows, whose ' very names are unknown, thus stood to their post till 9 o'clock, or thereabouts. But what' chance was there m a timber ship full of combustible, materials ? Everything the fire touched encouraged it ! At the hour just named Mr,- Dundas and his fellow workers were startled at the heavy "guns crashing through the burning decks overhead. It was a warning tp which they dared not TURN A DEAF EAR. Each gun as it fell through said, as plainly as if it spoke the words, " You have done your best, but the fire is stronger than you, and the last moment of your stay on this lower deck has arrived." By clambering out of a porthole j the men gained the forecastle, and there they added their exertions tp

• Wiose of a band of some 150 men, who werr, with their imperfect appliances throwing water as far aft as possible, being stimulated thereto, by the shouts and cries which, at intervals, penetrated the thick curtain of fire and smoke hanging between the two ends of the vessel. The uncertainty agitating his mind as to his friends m the officers' cabin, decided Mr Dundas to do a daring act. He ran along the jibboom, leaped headlong into the sea, and swam until pickod up by an American boat approaching the. burning frigate. The boats of the ship.lt was soon apparent could not contain a quarter of the people craving for deliverance. Amongst so great a number of persons, it • would not he human to expect perfect resignation, or unanimous fortitude. One often hears the despair of men, placed m a situation of this description, denounced as cowardly. It is easy to say that When one is snugly ensconced on the verandah enjoying an evening smoke, or- strolling along the moonlight sands accompanied by one's best girl. Sometimes, however, there is a despair which is not to be confounded ~ WITH MERE TERROR. The " people crowding the decks of the Queen Charlotte exhibited this despair m a remarkable degree. Numbers of soldiers resolved not tp. Wait for death, but, to seek it at once. Every now and then the re- j port, of ,a ; pistol would be heard ; j it marked the falling of a ma n ? who had taken his, own life. Bereft of their senses, many leaped into the ■ flames raging m the hold ; others were, seen to run themselves through with their bayonets. " •■ • • How the two or three hundred who escaped were saved we 1 have no full means of knowing. ,The boats took sohie away, and others found themselves on dry land, thanking heaven fd'r a deliverance, which they themselves could scarcely explain. The sailors?, %ere a model orew, chiefly , Scotch seamen of the ' first class, arid devotedly attached to their Scotch admiral, who, fortunately for himself j.j was on shpre while his attached men were being destroyed. On--iy 142 men and twenty officers survived, v ' . ■ . ■ " . • ■ ; • • ■ • Five women, preferring the risks of the sea to those of fire, supported themselves for four hours on a floating piece of plant ; then, seeing no assistance at hand, they simidtatieously released their hold, and sahk v m company. A non-commis-sioned officer, having with much difficulty gained the deck with his wife and child, w as confronted with a cruel alternative— he might save himself, but not tioth wife, and child. Snatching the wailing babe from her arms, he T>ade her farewell and plunged into the sea. For * two hours he , kept afloat, grasping with one hand a 'fragment of spar, while, with the other he held the gird's - ! hesd •above water. By-and-by , if boat came to his , assistance, and picked him up. He clasped to his breait his little one, now doubly precious ; the exposure, \ however, had ■ been too great, ' and the child died m two hours. ,-■■•■ • « The boats at a distance at length sa^ ; the end of the Queen Charlotte. She had burnt almost to the water's edge, when she blew up With ah explosion like thunder, covering ■■.'the;' |sea. wjbifli frasm^nl*.- .^Upwards or 700 lives were lost by drowning or by lire. -,-•'.• As far as Britain is concerned, the DAYS OF WOODEN SHIPS are gone, never ■to return. Steel and steam now make the dangers of the sea ins-igniificant by , comparison with the' old days, when wooden battleships were but floating . tinder. ' Even at the present : time there is far more casualties aboard the cheaply built and run sailing vessels than on steamships- m proportion to the number of crew carried. Last year, out of 23 British ships missing all hands, 18 of them were sailing vessels; leaving but five steamers, which by comparison with the large number' of steamers, afloat tp the fewer craft dependent upon canvas for their motive power, is very small. ■•