EAISESTG- THE EtTRYDICE." 



to the catastrophe ; but the court considers that the upper half-ports having been open was. 

 justifiable and usual under the state of the wind and weather up to the time of the actual 

 occurrence of the storm." The finding of the court-martial mentioned the fact that the 

 captain was frequently on deck during the afternoon; and attributed blame to no one on 

 board. It considered the ship, which had had ten years' sea service, to have been thoroughly 

 stable. A large number of other authorities, however, thought very differently that she was 

 top-heavy, and that she was undoubtedly carrying too much sail. 



After exactly twenty-three weeks from the day of her foundering the Eurydice was, o 

 Sunday, the 1st of September, safely towed into Portsmouth harbour. " As an example of per- 

 severance and determination to succeed, the recovery of the ship is unique. The elements,, 

 which throughout the operations may truly be said to have fought against the efforts to float 

 her being successful, made a final attempt to render those endeavours abortive on the Thursday 

 night and Friday morning, with such effect that the Admiralty deemed it inexpedient that 

 further attempts should be made, and had even gone to the extent of ordering her to be- 

 taken to pieces where she lay. Rear- Admiral Foley, and those who had -so ably and per- 

 severingly worked with him, were, however, reluctant to abandon the attempt to recover 

 the ship, and he pledged himself that he would undertake to bring her into harbour. This 

 pledge was redeemed."* The divers throughout the operations could work only at slack- 

 tides and in very fine weather, the under-currents on the Isle of Wight coast being ex- 

 ceptionally strong. 



The Eurydice lay at first in seven fathoms and a half (forty -five feet) of water,, 

 and to this must be added eight or nine feet of mud into which the wreck was embedded. 

 Strong wire ropes were attached to the inner sides of the ports; the other ends of the- 

 ropes were made fast to the four floating hulls placed over and across the Eurydice, and 

 when everything was ready and the tide at its lowest ebb, the process of pinning down- 

 was commenced that is, the ropes were hauled "taut," and made fast to the lifting 

 vessels, so that as the tide gradually rose to its highest point the whole mass of lighters- 

 with the sunken vessel lifted as well. Then it was that the steam-tugs took up their 

 positions, and towed the ill-fated craft towards shallower water, till she was left on a bank 

 under the Culver cliff, with one side and her upper deck above the water at low tide. 

 Even yet the efforts to float her were interfered with. Frequently all would be ready for 

 lifting, when the sea would roughen, and everything have to be abandoned, the lighters- 

 returning to Portsmouth. It was raised partially in August, 1878, after four months' con- 

 tinuous labour. After lying for a few days under the Culver cliff, the Eurydice was again 

 sufficiently lifted to clear the bottom, and towed together with the lifting vessels to St. Helen's 

 Sands. When lifted finally, and towed to Portsmouth by the Grinder, she had two tugs on 1 

 her port side and one on her starboard, with their steam-pumps working, and constantly 

 pumping her hold. 



Brighton " London by the Sea-side " as it is often styled is to many one of the most 

 fascinating of the English watering-places. It is both popular and fashionable, the resort 



* United Service Gazette. 



