WRECKS AND RESCUES 269 



Viking Bank. This bank is much frequented by Scotch 

 steam-trawlers, especially those from Aberdeen, and 

 lying as it does, almost midway between the Shetland 

 Islands and the coast of Norway, some very bad and 

 bitter weather is often experienced even in the height of 

 summer. 



It was upon the Outer Dowsing Sands that the 

 destroyer Cobra was lost in September 1901. The 

 Cobra was designed and built at Armstrong's works at 

 Elswick, and after an exhaustive survey by the Admiralty 

 officials she was bought by the Government. The 

 vessel being reported ready for delivery, a navigating 

 party was sent to Newcastle and left that port with her 

 at 5 p.m. on the i7th for Portsmouth. The Cobra was 

 commanded by Lieutenant Bosworth Smith, who had 

 served some time on fisheries protection duty and was 

 well acquainted with the North Sea. She carried two 

 officers and forty-eight warrant officers and men. On 

 the voyage down the North Sea she met with bad 

 weather, and, at 7.30 on the morning of the i8th, broke 

 her back near the Outer Dowsing Lightship, and was 

 lost with most of her crew, the only survivors being 

 Chief Engineer Percey and eleven petty officers and 

 men. A singular feature of the disaster was that one of 

 these survivors, a second-class domestic who had volun- 

 teered to go with the navigating party, had never before 

 been to sea. The survivors were picked up from the 

 dinghy by a P. & O. cargo boat. The court-martial, 

 which was held on board H.M.S. Victory, found that the 

 Cobra " did not touch the ground nor meet with any 

 obstruction, nor was her loss due to any error of naviga- 

 tion ; but is attributed to the structural weakness of the 



