TOSS OF THE "KENT." 67 



it was in vain that the then First Lord of the Admiralty* told us, in somewhat flippant 

 tones, that we ought to be rather satisfied than otherwise with the occurrence. It was not 

 iiltogether satisfactory to learn from Mr. Reed, the principal designer of both ships, that 

 ironclads were in more danger in times of peace than in times of war.f In the former 

 they were residences for several hundred sailors, and many of the water-tight doors could 

 aiot be kept closed without inconvenience ; in the latter they were fortresses, when the 

 doors would be closed for safety. The court-martial, constituted of leading naval 

 Authorities and officers, imputed blame for the high rate of speed sustained in a fog; the 

 public naturally inquired why a high rate of speed was necessary at all at the time, but 

 their lordships declined to consider this as in any way contributing to the disaster. The 

 Court expressed its opinion pretty strongly upon the conduct of the officers of the Iron 

 Duke, which did the mischief, and also indirectly blamed the admiral in command of the 

 squadron, but the Admiralty could find nothing wrong in either case, simply visiting their 

 wrath on the unfortunate lieutenant on deck at the time. So, to make a long and very 

 unpleasant story short, the loss of the Vanguard brought about a considerable loss of 

 faith in some of our legally constituted naval authorities. \ 



CHAPTER V. 



PERILS OF THE SAILOR'S LIFE (continued). 



The Value of Discipline The Loss of the Kent Fire on Board The Ship Waterlogged Death in Two Forms A Sail 

 in Sight Transference of Six Hundred Passengers to a small Brig Splendid Discipline of the Soldiers Imper- 

 turbable Coolness of the Captain Loss of the Birkenhead Literally Broken in Two Noble Conduct of the Military 

 A contrary Example Wreck of the Medusa Run on a Sand-bank Panic on Board Raft constructed Insubordi- 

 nation and Selfishness One Hundred and Fifty Souls Abandoned Drunkenness and Mutiny on the Raft Riota 

 and Murders Reduced to Thirty Persons The stronger part Massacre the others Fifteen Left Rescued at Last 

 Another Contrast Wreck of the Alccste Admirable Conduct of the Crew The Ironclad Movement The Battle 

 of the Guns. 



IT is impossible to read the account of any great disaster at sea, without being strongly 

 impressed with the enormous value of maintaining in the hour of peril the same strict 

 .discipline which, under ordinary circumstances, is the rule of a vessel. Few more striking 



* Mr. Ward Hunt said publicly that, " If the Iron Duke had sent an enemy's ship to the bottom, we 

 should have called her one of the most formidable ships of war in the world, and all that she has done is 

 actually what she was intended to do, except, of course, that the ship she struck was unfortunately our own 

 property, and not that of the enemy." 



f Mr. Reed wrote to the Times to the effect that there would, undoubtedly, be a " greater measure of safety 

 -during a naval engagement than on ordinary occasions," and explained that " the ruling consideration which has 

 been aimed at in these ships has been so to divide them into compartments, that, when all the water-tight 

 doors and valves are arranged as they would be on going into action, the breach by a ram of one compart- 

 ment only should not suffice to sink the ship." 



J Sir Henry James, Attorney- General to the previous Government, spoke publicly on the subject in the 

 plainest terms. He said: "One would have thought that if there were a court-martial on the vessel which 

 is lost, the officers of the vessel which caused that loss would not go scot free." The Admiralty was blamed 

 for not having sent the decision of the Court back to it for reconsideration, instead of which they broke a rule 

 of naval etiquette, and seemed anxious to quash inquiry. 



