Sinking of the British Battle Ship Victoria -- June 22, 2018

Washington Star, 23-June-1893

125 years ago today, on 22-June-1893, the Royal Navy's Mediterranean Squadron was performing exercises near Tripoli when the battleship HMS Camperdown rammed and sank the battleship HMS Victoria.  Blame fell on Admiral Sir George Tryon, who had given unclear orders to the ships under his command.  358 men died, including Admiral Tryon.  Victoria's XO (Executive Officer) was John Jellicoe, who later commanded the British fleet at the Battle of Jutland.  

HUNDREDS PERISH.

Sinking of the British Battle Ship Victoria.

STRUCK BY THE CAMPERDOWN'S RAM. 

Lamentable Disaster in the Eastern Mediterranean. 

LOSS OF TWENTY-ONE OFFICERS. 

The Vessel Sank in Fifteen Minutes After the Collision. 

SECOND MISHAP TO THE VICTORIA. 

Report by Admiral Markham of the Trafalgar. 

THE QUEEN HEARS THE NEWS. 

London, June 23. -- A most terrible calamity has befallen the British battle ship Victoria, flagship of the Mediterranean squadron, and hundreds of lives have been lost.

The Victoria, which flew the flag of Vice Admiral Sir George Tryon, K. C. B., was run into this afternoon by the British battle ship Camperdown, also belonging to the Mediterranean squadron, and under the command of Captain Charles Johnstone.  The Victoria had an enormous hole made in her side, through which the water poured in torrents. 

The immense hull of the Victoria at once began to settle, and before those on board of her could cast loose their small boats she went to the bottom, carrying down with her nearly all on board.  Some of the officers and crew managed to get out of the suction caused by the sinking vessel and were rescued.  Among those lost is Vice Admiral Tryon. 

FOUR HUNDRED DROWNED.

The first reports of the disaster stated that about 200 men had been drowned, but later dispatches show that the loss of life was far greater, not less than 400 of the officers and crew of the Victoria having gone down with the ship. 

Rear Admiral Albert H. Markham of the Trafalgar, the flagship of the rear admiral in the Mediterranean, has telegraphed to the admiralty from Tripoli, Syria, under the date of today, as follows:

"I regret to report that while maneuvering off Tripoli this afternoon the Victoria and Camperdown collided.  The Victoria sank in fifteen minutes in eighteen fathoms of water.  She lies bottom uppermost.  The Camperdown's ram struck the Victoria forward of the turret on the starboard side.  Twenty-one officers were drowned. Two hundred and fifty-five men were saved.  The injury to the Camperdown has not yet been fully ascertained, but it is serious and will necessitate her going on dock for repairs.  I propose to send the survivours to Malta."

SCENE OF THE DISASTER.

The scene of the calamity was near Tripoli, a seaport town on the eastern Mediterranean, fifty miles northeast of Beyroot, Syria (Beirut, Lebanon - JT), and a comparatively short distance from the Island of Cyprus.  

The eastern Mediterranean has proved a most unfortunate cruising ground for the Victoria, for it was in this part of the sea that she met with her serious accident in January, 1892. 

THE OFFICERS OF THE VICTORIA.

According to the navy list the principal officers of the Victoria were: Vice Admiral Sir George Tryon; captain, Maurice A. Bourke; commander, -- Fellicome; chaplain, Rev. Samuel S. Morris; fleet surgeon, Thomas Bolster; fleet paymaster, Valentine D. J. Rickcord; fleet engineer, Felix Foreman.

The complement of officers and crew of the Victoria comprised 600 men.

The list of officers drowned include, besides Vice Admiral Tryon, Chaplain Morris, Lieut. Munro, Fleet Paymaster Rickcord, Fleet Engineer Foreman, Engineer Harding, Assistant Engineers Deadman, Hatherly and Seaton, Gunner Hommel, Boatswain Barnard, Carpenter Beall, Midshipmen Ingliss, Grieve, Fawkes, Lanyon, Henley, Gambier and Scarlett, Cadet Stooks and Clerks Allen and Savage. 

A change had recently been made in the commander attached to the Victoria, Charles L. Ottley having been detached and succeeded by Commander Fellicome, who was saved, as were also Capt. Maurice A. Bourke and fifteen other officers. 

ANOTHER MISHAP TO THE VICTORIA.

In January of last year the Victoria ran aground off the Greek coast near Platta and she was only floated off after an immense amount of labor and large expense.  It was said that the accident was due to carelessness. 

A boat's crew from the Victoria was sent to mark with a buoy a shoal, the existence of which was known to the Victoria's officers.  The shoal is a narrow one and extends out from the Greek shore.  The boat's crew was instructed to proceed along the shoal from the shore until ten fathoms of water was reached and then to mark the spot with a buoy. 

When within a hundred yards of the end the boat got off the shoal, and as the next soundings showed ten fathoms of water the buoy was anchored.  The Victoria then came along at a good rate of speed at right angles to the shoal to take a position for torpedo practice, and, passing well outside the buoy, struck the shoal and remained fast.  Mr. Maurice Bourke, captain of the Victoria and a son of the late Earl of Mayo, who is the youngest post captain in the British navy, was held responsible for the accident and was severely reprimanded by a court martial. 

THE WRECKED VESSEL.

The Victoria was a twin screw battle ship of 10,470 tons and 14,000 horse power.  She mounted fifteen guns.

The Camperdown is also a first-class twin screw battle ship.  She is of 10,600 tons and 11,500 horse power and carries ten guns.

Admiral Sir George Tryon was commander-in-chief of the Mediterranean station.  He was made a vice admiral August 20, 1891.

TRYING TO SAVE THE SHIP.

As soon as the officers of the Victoria saw that there was danger of their ship foundering orders were given to close the collision bulkheads in order to keep the water in the compartment into which the Camperdown had shoved her ram.  The sailors tried to obey the order, but the ship was making water too fast to allow of closing the bulkheads, and while the men were still trying to shut them the vessel, with her immense guns and heavy top hamper, turned over and carried them down. 

IN LONDON.

As soon as the news of the disaster became known in London the Duke of Edinburgh, who was lately promoted to the position of admiral of the fleet, visited the admiralty and conferred with the officials there.

A meeting of the admiralty board was held and a telegram of instructions was sent to Rear Admiral Markham.

The news of the calamity has caused the most intense excitement, not only among those who had friends on board the ill-fated ship, but among all classes of the population. The admiralty office in Whitehall is besieged by relatives and friends of the officers and crew, reporters seeking further details of the disaster and throngs of people attracted by curiosity. So dense was the throng in the vicinity that the admiralty officials were compelled to summon the police to restrain the crowd. No information has been received at the admiralty since the receipt of Admiral Markham's first official telegram, which is above repeated.

The Victoria was a single-turret ship carrying two 110-ton guns mounted in a forward turret coated with eighteen inches of compound armor, one 10-inch 29-ton gun firing aft, and a broadside auxiliary armament of twelve 6-inch 5-ton guns. Of artillery of smaller nature she carried twenty-one quick-firing and eight machine guns. Her maximum speed was 16.17 knots. She could stow 1,200 tons of coal in her bunkers, and her radius of action at ten knots' speed with her full complement of coal was estimated at 7,000 knots. Her armor in the belt and bulkheads consisted of compound armor from sixteen to eighteen inches in thickness. She was built at Elswick.

NEWS SENT TO THE QUEEN.

All official telegrams in regard to the loss of the ship will be sent at once to the queen at Windsor Castle. As soon as her majesty received Rear Admiral Markham's dispatch, which was immediately forwarded to her, she gave orders for the postponement of the state ball, that was to have taken place at Buckingham Palace tonight.

Mr. Gladstone was greatly shocked when he was informed of the sinking of the Victoria and the great loss of life that had attended the foundering of the vessel.

The prime minister informed the house of commons of the accident and paid a most glowing tribute to the worth of Vice Admiral Tryon, who, he said, was one of the ablest and most esteemed offices in the service of her majesty.

Mr. Gladstone said that there were 611 officers, seamen and boys and 107 marines on board the ship. It was feared that the total of 718 souls 430 had been lost. He was sure that the deepest sympathy of the house would be felt for the brave men who found an early grave in the service of their country, and that it would be extended to their relatives and friends.

The Right Hon. Lord George Hamilton, formerly first lord of the admiralty, indorsed everything that Mr. Gladstone had said and expressed the deepest regret for the calamity that had befallen the country in the loss of so many brave officers and men.

In the house of lords Earl Spencer, first lord of the admiralty, referred to the disaster in terms similar to those employed by Mr. Gladstone in the house of commons.

Among those saved is the Right Honorable Lord Richard Gillford, Vice Admiral Tryon's flag lieutenant and eldest son and heir of the Earl of Clanwilliam.

Details of the accident are meager, and are received in a straggling manner, owing to the remoteness of Tripoli.

THE NEWS IN THIS CITY.

The news of the sinking of her royal majesty's ship Victoria has caused a profound sensation at the Navy Department here. No marine disaster, accompanied by such heavy loss of life, has been known in this country for many years, the nearest i kind probably being the loss of the United States steamship Huron off Nag's Head about fifteen years ago. Such great disasters are fortunately rare in naval history, although the British navy has known of them, as in the case of the sinking of the Vanguard by the Iron Duke off the Irish coast and the Germans have had a bitter experience in the case of the Grosser Kurfurst, a magnificent ironclad, which was in collision and sank when attempting to enter Spithead. People who saw the beautiful and stately Blake, flagship of the British squadron at the naval review, thought that she was a great ship, but she was of secondary importance when compared with the ill-fated Victoria, which has just gone down, for while the Blake was a large armored cruiser the Victoria was a full-fledged battle ship nearly 1,600 tons larger than the Blake. She bore about the same relation to the Blake that our new battle ships Indiana and Oregon do to the armored cruiser New York. Indeed the Victoria was of about the same dimensions as the Indiana, but being of newer design is a more formidable craft than the English ship, which had her sister in the Sanspareil.

THE LOST VESSEL.

The Victoria was built by Sir William Armstrong at the celebrated Elswick works, and in appearance she was a typical fighting machine, as unlike the ordinary conception of a ship as possible. She was rather low in the water, having eleven feet freeboard, and the forward deck being to give sweep to the great turret guns, she had something of the appearance of a monitor forward. After of her turret she carried a plain superstructure, heavily protected by the compound armor, in which was placed the secondary battery, and on the top and rear of this superstructure was the ten-inch gun in its barbette.

Her dimensions and features were as follows: Armored ship Victoria. 10,470 tons, 14,000 horse power, 340 feet long, 70 feet beam, built at Newcastle, completed in 1890; hull cost 612,522 pounds; machinery 112,335 pounds; turret and barbette, compound armor; two 111-ton guns in forward turret and one 10-inch mounted in a barbette aft; the turret and barbette had 18 inches of compound armor. Her listed speed was 16.75 knots. She had one lofty military mast of steel carrying gun platforms.

VICE ADMIRAL SIR GEORGE TRYON.

Sir George Tryon, the vice admiral, who went down in this flagship, is one of the best known British naval officers. Commander Chadwick, now in charge of the naval intelligence office here, was well acquainted with him during his residence in London as United States naval attache, and he speaks in terms of high praise of the admiral's character and ability as a naval officer. He was a man of vast experience, his service beginning in the days before steam was a prominent feature in various phases of development that were marked by the substitution of steam for sail power; of iron for wooden hulls; of steel for iron; of turrets for broadsides, and of armor for thin sheathing. He was a man who had earned the highest honors within the gift of the British nation. His name first appears in the naval list away back in the days of the Crimean war, where he served in the naval brigade before Sebastopol, during the winter of 1853-54 in the trenches, where he was wounded. He was present at all of the operations before Sebastopol and at the capture of Kinburn. He received medals for distinction and was specially mentioned in dispatches for services as director of transports during the Abyssinian war in 1868. He was private secretary to the first lord of the admiralty from 1871-74, received various orders of knighthood and received the approval of the government for the manner in which he discharged his duties on the coast of Tunis and in the (can't read - JT) commission of inquiry in 1881. He became acting permanent secretary of the admiralty in 1882 and permanent secretary the following year. In 1884 he became commander-in-chief on the Australian station and after a brief attempt at a parliamentary career was made admiral superintendent of naval reserves in 1888. He commanded one of the opposing fleets in the naval maneuvers in 1888-89-91 and was made commander-in-chief of the Mediterranean forces August 20, 1891.

CAUSE OF THE COLLISION.

In the absence of details of the catastrophe naval officers are loath to express opinions as where the fault lies. The Victoria, in her construction, embodied every safeguard known up to the recent date of her completion for the protection of the life of her officers and crew. She was a compartment ship and was supposed to be unsinkable in any ordinary collision. Probably that would have been the case had the blow been straight on the bow or stern, for the result then would have been the filling of not more than one compartment. But a blow on the side, and probably a diagonal blow at that, would doubtless rip open several of the compartments and those remaining intact would not have sufficient buoyancy to float the ship. The Camperdown, which dealt this fatal blow, was about the same size as the Victoria and the ship has never been built that would withstand the impact of ten thousand tons of shell moving at any ordinary speed. The Camperdown herself resembles the U.S.S. Charleston in general appearance, though she is twice as large. She has a central superstructure, but her decks, fore and aft, are entirely clear save two barbettes carrying heavy guns, and her sides are clad in impenetrable armor. Naval officers here feel that one result of this catastrophe will be to emphasize in a striking manner the terrible efficiency of the ram as a weapon of naval offense, for although there was no intention of using it offensively in this case, when it is presumed the ships were engaged in simple maneuvers, its availability in time of war has been amply demonstrated.

THE BRITISH LEGATION AT NEWPORT.

A STAR reporter called at the British Legation this morning to learn any particulars in regard to the victims of the disaster or the vessel that went down. He was informed by an attendant that Sir Julian Pauncefote and all the members of the legation were now in Newport, where a residence has been arranged for the season. A communication by mail and messenger is maintained between this city and the summer legation, so that all business is carried on as usual.

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NAVAL OFFICERS' VIEWS.

What May Have Caused the Disaster and the Lesson to be Learned.

The terrible accident off Tripoli was almost the sole topic of conversation among naval officers today. News of it reached the Navy Department early in the day, and was quickly spread to all its offices. There are several officers now on duty here who are acquainted with the officers of the British ship Victoria, and they are naturally distressed at their awful misfortune.

According to the information at hand the officers at the department, who discussed the matter with a STAR reporter, were of opinion that the accident resulted from attempting dangerous evolutions at close quarters.

WHAT MAY HAVE HAPPENED.

"There may have been some mistake on the part of the helmsman," said one high officer who seemed to be regarded as an authority by his brother officers, "or else an accident occurred to the steering gear.

"All steering gear," he continued, "is liable to give out at the most inopportune moment. It is therefor more than probable that this occurred from an accident to that apparatus."

"Have there ever been any accidents of this kind in our navy?" asked the reporter.

NO ACCIDENT OF THIS KIND IN OUR NAVY.

"None that I know of. You know we never have any naval maneuvers at sea on a large scale. The recent naval review was probably the largest aggregation of naval vessels we have ever had in this country, and there were no special maneuvers on that occasion to endanger the ships. Squadron maneuvers, you know, are just like the maneuvers of of a regiment or a brigade. We have to change the formation and direction of the ships composing the squadron, and to insure their safety from collision it is imperatively necessary to accurately regulate the speed and direction of each ship, as they sometimes, of course, get into close quarters. Why, sometimes they maneuver only 600 feet apart, and to keep these heavy bodies safe under such circumstances necessitates very careful handling. There are several elements to be carefully observed. The three most important are speed, distance and the action of the helm. The helm must be certain and prompt. If it fails in its action there is danger at all times to ships cruising in company, whether maneuvering or simply making a passage in column."

SUCH ACCIDENTS VERY RARE.

"Such accidents as the present are extremely rare," said another officer. "Supposing speed, the action of the helm and other matters of this sort to be all they should be, the safety of the ship depends simply on the skill and judgement of her commander. An incompetent officer is, of course, and element of great danger, and even the judgement of the most skillful may fail at times, unless it is supported by constant practice in fleet evolutions. It is for this reason that it has become the practice among nations with large fleets to keep up constant squadron exercises. This is the case particularly with the great squadrons of England and France in the Mediterranean. They usually consist of about twenty ships, which are handled with marvelous ability and precision. The risk of accidents sometimes must be taken in order to educate the captains in handling their ships in battle.

NO SURPRISE THAT THE VICTORIA SANK.

"It is no surprise that the Victoria sank. Nothing could resist the destructive effects of a ram like the Camperdown, which undoubtedly tore through a number of compartments. Any one compartment of the Victoria could have filled without sinking the ship, but with several damaged, as was probably the case, she could not remain afloat. It is easy to believe that several were penetrated when you consider the impact of a mass of 11,000 tons, like the Camperdown, moving at the velocity of eight or ten knots, which is the usual maneuvering speed. Striking an object fairly it becomes almost irresistible, and no vessel could possibly survive the force of such a blow.

ONE LESSON TO BE DRAWN.

There is one lesson to be drawn from this most deplorable accident. That is the necessity for the constant training and the keeping in a state of high efficiency of all officers liable to have command of ships. The responsibility of an officer so placed cannot be exaggerated."

COMMANDER CHADWICK'S VIEWS.

Commander Chadwick of the United States navy was personally well acquainted with Admiral Tryon, who was lost with the British flagship Victoria. He said to a STAR reporter that there was no finer officer in the British navy than Admiral Tryon. He was a man of skill and experience, with a remarkably fine record. He was a very fine-looking man, measuring about six feet three inches and weighing about 300 pounds. He was no the sort of man to lose a ship through want of skill or promptness of action, but possessed rare courage and ability.

Commander Chadwick said that the fact that the Victoria was sent to bottom so quickly by the collision did not argue any defect in the theory of the construction of heavy war vessels of the modern type. It was not, he said, supposed for a moment that two vessels of such weight could come together in direct collision without one of them going down. These vessels cannot stand ramming, but in actual battle it would be next to impossible for one of those vessels to ram another. Ordinarily they could keep out of each other's way, and, besides; the vessel attempting to run the other down would be subjected to such a fire from heavy guns as to make the attempt almost a certain failure. He was of the opinion that the Victoria must have lost her headway by some accident or that there was something the matter with the steam steering gear.

SIMILAR ACCIDENTS.

The most serious accidents of this kind on record are the cases of the British warship Vanguard and the German warship Grosser Kurfurst. The Vanguard was an armor-clad ship of 3,700 tones. She was sunk in the British channel, off the cost of Ireland, September 11, 1875, with great loss of life. She was cruising in company with the armor-clad cruiser Iron Duke of the British navy. A heavy fog arose and vessels changed their speed. The Vanguard, which was in front, slowed down and the Iron Duke, in the read, increased her speed. There was some mistake in the signals or they could not be seen in the fog. The result was a collision and the loss of the Vanguard, with over 200 lives.

The German warship was sunk off Spithead, England, May 31, 1878, in a collision with her companion ship Konig Wilhelm, and over 800 persons were drowned. The vessels were heavy ironclads and were maneuvering at the time. The Konig Wilhelm had a tonnage of 9,700 and the lost ship was about 2,000 tons lighter. The accident was due to the improper execution of an order for a change in squadron formation.

Washington Star, 23-June-1893