228 



THE SEA. 



water. Yet where is the officer or the man let him be the best seaman in the world who* 

 can say, ' Such would not have been the Eury 'dice's fate had I commanded her ? ' The fact 

 is, the disaster, truly lamentable as it is, might have happened to an}- seaman. With a 

 fair wind, smooth water, and within a short distance of her anchorage, running along 

 too close under the high land of the Isle of Wight to notice the hurricane-like squall 1 

 rushing down upon her in time to prepare for it, the ship was literally forced under- 

 water, the accumulating weight of which eventually capsized her beyond recovery.. 

 Adverse comments have been made on the ports being open; but with a fair wind,, 



H.M.S. "ET;RYDICE" ON HER BEAM-ENDS JTST AFTER THE SQUALL. 



smooth water, and Spithead close by, what danger could possibly be apparent, to cause- 

 them to be closed after a sea- voyage so nearly ended? Had the Enrydice met with the 

 same squall at sea she would have weathered it." * 



The court-martial which assembled on the 27th of August, 1878, on board the Duke of 

 Wellington flagship, under the presidency of Admiral Fanshawe, C.B., Commander-in- 

 Chief at Portsmouth, reported that the ship had foundered from pressure of wind upon, 

 her sails during a sudden and exceptionally dense snowstorm, which overtook her when 

 its approach was partially hidden by the proximity of the ship to high land. " Some of 

 the upper half-ports on the main-deck were open at the time, which materially conduced! 



* United Service Gazette. 



