WRECK OF A WARSHIP.

Temuka Leader, Issue 2390, 2 August 1892, Page 3

WRECK OF A WARSHIP.

The Herald correspondent at Montevideo,Uruguay,cables the following : " A fearful disaster has overtaken the Brazilian warship Solimoes oft" iliis coast She was despatched from Rio Janeiro some days ago to act as a convoy to a flotilla which carried troops to aid in quelling the rebellion in the Brazilian State of Matto Grosso. The flotilla had come on ahead of the Solimoes, and was up the river awaiting her arrival, in order to proceed by way of Paraguay River to the scene of the revolt. At the same time that the flotilla left Rio a land force was sent by rail. It was to go to the end of the railroad route, and then march into Matto Grosso, where, after the infantry had been joined by the troops from the flotilla, the combined forces were to attack the capital of the rebellious State. The crew of the warship numbered 127 men. As she was fitted out for active service, it is probable that she did not carry any small boats. Owing to the dangerous nature of the low and sandy Uruguayan sea coast she had a pilot aboard. Just as the Solimoes was off Polonia Island, near Point Negra Castillos, she struck a rock violently, bow on. j The sea was very rough at the time. All the crew were under hatches except four sailors and the pilot. Two sailors acted as look-outs and the other two were at the wheel. Through an immense hole made in her hull the water rushed in so fast and furious that the vessel sank almost immediately, and of all of her crew only the four sailors %vho were on deck saved their lives. The pilot also escaped. One hundred and twenty three lives were lost. The men did not even get a chance to gain the deck but were drowned like rats in a hole. As the water poured in the victims seemed instantly to realise their danger, and made frantic but unavailing efforts to dash open the hatches. Their cries were heartrending. The scene of the disaster—Foloni? Island—is northeast of Cape Santa Maria, which is near the mouth of the Rio de la Plata. The Solimoes was a double monitor, built of iron in England and launched in 187 u. Her displacement was 9700 tons. She had a main battery of four lOin Whitworth guns. She had a double bottom, but there were few watertight compartments below the water-line, and when a hole was knocked in her hull she went down like a cracked iron pot. Captain Castrat, of the Solimoes, is among the drowned."