66 THE SEA. 



One of the officers of the Vanguard, in a letter to a friend, graphically described 

 the scene at and after the collision. After having lunched, he entered the ward-room, 

 where he encountered the surgeon, Dr. Fisher, who was reading a newspaper. "After 

 remarking on the thickness of the fog, Fisher went to look out of one of the ports, 

 and immediately cried out, ' God help us ! here is a ship right into us ! ' We rushed 

 on deck, and at that moment the Iron Duke struck us with fearful force, spars and 

 blocks falling about, and causing great danger to us on deck. The Iron Duke then 

 dropped astern, and was lost sight of in the fog. The water came into the engine-room 

 in tons, stopping the engines, putting the fires out, and nearly drowning the engineers 

 and stokers. . . . The ship was now reported sinking fast, although all the water- 

 tight compartments had been closed. But in consequence of the shock, o'ome of the 

 water-tight doors leaked fearfully, letting water into the other parts of the ship. 

 Minute-guns were being fired, and the boats were got out. ... At this moment 

 the Iron Duke appeared, lowering her boats and sending them as fast as possible. The 

 sight of her cheered us up, as we had been frightened that she would not find us 

 in the fog, in spite of the guns. The scene on deck can only be realised by those 

 who have witnessed a similar calamity. The booming of the minute-guns, the noise 

 of the immense volume of steam rushing out of the escape-funnel, and the orders of the 

 captain, were strangely mingled, while a voice from a boat reported how fast she was 

 sinking." 



"When the vessel went down, the deck of the Iron Duke was crowded with men 

 watching the finale of the catastrophe. When she was about to sink, she heeled gradually 

 over until the whole of her enormous size to the keel was above water. Then she 

 gradually sank, righting herself as she went down, stern first, the water being 

 blown from hawse-holes in huge spouts by the force of the air rushing out of the ship. 

 She then disappeared from view. The men were much saddened to see their home go 

 down, carrying everything they possessed. They had been paid that morning, and a 

 large number of them lost their little accumulated earnings. These were, of course, after- 

 wards allowed them by the Admiralty. 



The Vanguard and the Iron Duke were two of a class of broadside ironclads, built 

 with a view to general and not special utility in warfare. Their thickest armour was 

 eight inches, a mere strip, 100 feet long by three high, and much of the visible part 

 of them was unarmoured altogether, while below it varied from six inches to as low 

 as three-eighths of an inch. It was only the latter thickness where the point of 

 the Iron Duke's ram entered. Their advocates boasted that they could pass through 

 the Suez Canal, and go anywhere. 



Every reader will remember the stormy discussion which ensued, in which not merely 

 the ironclad question, but the court-martial which followed and the Admiralty decision 

 which followed that were severely handled. Nor could there be much wonder at all this, 

 for a vessel which had cost the nation over a quarter of a million of pounds sterling, 

 equipment and property on board which had cost as much more,* was lost for ever, 



* The total estimated loss was 550,000. 





