238 THE SEA. 



memory of the eventful fight is kept green by the name of Hastings, and Battle Abbey, in 

 its immediate neighbourhood. 



Sadly must all readers look back upon the morning of Friday, May the 31st, 1878, 

 when the Grosser Kurfurst went down off Sandgate, so near to land that the people 

 on shore felt certain that the commander would be able to beach her before she had time 

 to sink, unhappily an entirely erroneous supposition. Very shortly before this ever- to- 

 be-lamented catastrophe occurred, the German squadron, in command of Admiral Von 

 Batsch, was sailing with a light easterly wind blowing down Channel with all the pomp 

 and pardonable display of a force so numerically small yet so grandly powerful. The sea 

 was perfectly smooth, the weather fine, and there seemed no more reason for anticipating the 

 impending danger than if they had been lying at anchor in the sunlit harbour of Bremen. 



The squadron consisted of three vessels, sailing in two columns the Konig Wilhelm, 

 carrying the admiral's flag, and the Preussen forming the port division, the Grosser Knrfurst 

 forming the starboard, and less than two ships' lengths apart from the admiral; indeed, it 

 is said that scarcely one length intervened. 



"In this formation the German squadron came across two sailing vessels hauled to 

 the wind/' says the writer of the article from which we quote, "on the port tack, and 

 consequently standing right across the bows of both divisions. The Grosser Kurfurst 

 had first to give way, which she did at the proper time and strictly in accordance with the 

 rule of the road, porting her helm and passing under the stern of the first of these two 

 sailing ships. But the Konig Wilhelm, which it must be borne in mind was close to the 

 Grosser Kurfurst at this time, and steering a course parallel to her, endeavoured at first 

 to cross the bows of the sailing vessel, but finding she had no room for this manoeuvre, 

 rapidly changed her plan, and, putting her helm hard a-port, also stood under the stern of 

 the sailing vessel. In the meanwhile the Grosser Kurfurst had resumed her original 

 course, and thus was lying right across the bows of the Konig Wilhelm, as she came under 

 the stern of the sailing barque almost at right angles to the original course. . . . The 

 captain of the Grosser Kurfurst, Graf Von Montz, seeing the terrible proximity of the 

 Konig Wilhelm) immediately put his vessel at full speed, hoping to cross her bows, but 

 the space would not allow it. He then gave the order to port his helm, hoping to lay his 

 ship parallel to the course of the Konig Wilhelm, but unfortunately for this also there was 

 neither time nor space." All might have gone well up to this point, however, as it appears 

 the Konig Wilhelm was in charge of an " able and experienced officer ; " he had given the 

 order to port the helm to steer clear of the sailing vessel, and then ordered the helm to 

 be " immediately steadied," intending to range up alongside the Grosser Kurfurst ; but the 

 helmsman had become bewildered, and instead of steadying put the helm still more port. The 

 Konig Wilhelm was put at full speed astern, and the fatal crash could not be avoided. All 

 now was confusion on both vessels. 



The Konig Wilhelm carried away everything from the point where she struck the 

 Grosser Kurfurst to the stern, " ripping off the armour plating like the skin of an 

 orange." The bowsprit of the Konig Wilhelm fouled the rigging of the ill-starred ship 

 and brought down the mizzen top-gallant-mast on the quarter-deck, and the quarter boats 

 were swept away "like strips of paper/' 



