NARROW ESCAPE OF H.M.S. AGINCOURT.

Westport Times, Volume V, Issue 866, 26 September 1871, Page 3

NARROW ESCAPE OF H.M.S. AGINCOURT.

The following particulars of an accident which recently befell the Agincourt, one of the most powerful ships in the navy, is from the " Times " of the 30th July. The noble vessel was on her way to England.from Gibraltar, and on arrival an enquiry into the accident that had befallen her would be made:— As an excuse for the accident it is said that a current was running which carried the Agincourt upon the rock, without any one being aware of tho danger; but in spite of all currents

the Hercules—an ironclad, scarcely less bulky than the Agiucourt—kept close to the Pearl Rock for three days and ultimately succeeded in towing off the stranded vessel. The Hercules is a ship of 5,234 tons and 1,200 horsepower commanded by Lord Gilford, aud to the skill and courage he showed in keeping by 'and saving the Agincourt a tribute has been paid by every witness. When the immense mass of these vessels is considered and the powerful momentum produced by their propulsion, it will bo perceived what judgment and coolness are necessary for their management on the edge of a sunken rock, where the slightest false movetnentwould be fatal. At any moment of those three anxious days aud nights the Hercules might have shared the fate of the Agincourfc. At first it was attempted to drag off the vessel by main force as she stood. A chain cable was tried, but its weight swamped the boats that were engaged in parsing it from one ship to the other and there was an end of that expedient. Then trial was made of an 18-inch hemp cable, which had'been laid out between the two ships; but no sooner had the Hercules begun to move than the gigantic rope snapped like a thread without making the slightest impression on the Agincourt. Then it was resolved to lighten her as much as possible, and from the Sunday morning parties of men from all the ships, with further assistance from the shore, were engaged on this work. " Guns of six and 12|- tons were seen hauling from some of the yards and huge iron slides and carriages from others. Parties were at work shovelling the coal out through the ports into the lighters ; running the chain cables out through the hawse pipes and lowering the anchors down from their places." At last, on the Thursday, at high tide, the Hercules got into position for towing " a ship weighing 9,000 tons kept in the same spot in a strong current, close to another monster of 10,000 tons while huge chains, whose every link weighs morethan halfahuudredweight, are|hauled from one to the other." How the work was done, how the Agincourt the moment she got off came into collision with the Hercules, how both ships were for some time in clanger, the Agincourt being without the aid of her engines and the cables having fouled the screw of the Hercules—these things have been already described, and supply a record of skilful and courageous seamanship unsurpassed in the annals of the British Navy.