ERROR THAT COST NAVY 480 MEN

Sun (Auckland), Volume 1, Issue 38, 7 May 1927, Page 10

ERROR THAT COST NAVY 480 MEN

CAPSIZE OF THE CAPTAIN IS RECALLED BY SOLE SURVIVOR

A naval tracedy that horrid the world in 1870, in the days of ironclad ships, is recallJl by Mr. John Walker, of Street, Papakura, who is probabT the sole remaining survivor 2 the British ironclad, Captain, whiS overturned in the Bay of Biscay Built rather to quieten popular eh. our chan with the full approval 0 f Admiralty, which did not believe ■ the combination of masts and vart? a low freeboard, and high turrets -t Captain capsized in a gale and eairjrt her designer. Captain Cowper Col« as well as practically all her conn? ment, to a dreadful doom

IMPRISONED LIKE RATS The eighteen servicers, were Ukj, on the watch at midnight, wher , heavy squall striking the vessel, ffc, began to heel over. Captain Hun, Burgoyne, Y.C., her gallant commands rushed to the bridge, but was poW less to avert the disaster, and the siiij turned completely over. Most of d 500 officers and men were below, prisoned like rats, and had no hope of escape. The survivors, who got clear, mas. aged to clamber into a launch which floated free of the ship, and after» night of peril and hardship they mad, tile coast of Spain next morning. At the inquiry into the loss of the ship it was disclosed that the original design had not been followed by a, builders, so that the already low freeboard was further reduced. That this grave blunder was not discovered until too late accounts for one of the mod cruel tragedies of naval history, SEA LORD’S ERROR Among those who went down with the ship were Captain Burgoyne, its commander, and a young man named Childers, son of H. C. Childers the Civilian First Lord of the Admirals Against the advice of many competes experts, Mr. Chi ders had been a consistent advocate for the construction of the Captain, and it was a doubly cruel blow which finally convinced him of the error that had been made. Mr. Walker, now at Papakura, shared in the gifts and relief funds showered on the survivors, who each received among other mementoes, a Bible from Queen Victoria. Later on Mr. Walker served on H.M.S. Pearl, and finally settled in New Zealand, retaining virt memories of the fateful night when the Captain plunged to the bottom of the