WRECK OF THE BRITISH TROOPSHIP CLYDE—EXCITING SCENES.

Evening Post, Volume XVII, Issue XVII, 24 May 1879, Page 1

WRECK OF THE BRITISH TROOPSHIP CLYDE — EXCITING SCENES.

The Clyde left the dockß of Cape Town on Wednesday afternoon, about half-past 4, taking with her the troops which she had brought from England, consisting of 15 officers and 534 volunteers, being drafts from other regiments in England to make up the strength of the 24th Regiment, the l whole under the command of Colonel Davis, of the Grenadier Guards. As she steamed out of docks, friendly parting cheers, given with- English heartiness, passed between the soldiers and a large crowd of spectators on the pier, those who exchanged the farewell token little dreaming perhaps J;hat their ship was fated for anything like a wreck, and that their tons upon tons of ammunition was destined, not for the breasts of the enemy, but for the quiet bottom of the ocean. After being just about twelve hours from port, as it appeared from the information brought to Simon's Town, she was enveloped in a fog, and as the officer on duty fully supposed, quite clear of the coast, when suddenly rocks and breakers loomed up out of the fog before her. They were but a few lengths from the breakers. "■ he best, and, in fact, the only rational thing to do, was to reverse the engines, and this was fortunately done on the instant. She was then going at from ten to eleven knots an hour, and the situation must have been full of terror to all who were aware of the danger ahead. The waters were churned by the reversed propeller with all possible force, but before way was stopped a grinding sound was heard under the bows, and extended amidships, when she stuck fast upon what was believed to be a bar of sand. The men on board behaved coolly, and steps were taken to land them at once. They were put ashore in boats on what .turned out to be the mainland, the ship having struck about a mile inside Dyer's Island. The Clyde had seven life-boats, and the whole of these were let down and ready for use in the space of ten minutes. And the behaviour of the troops showed even more conspicuously, if possible, that coolness and order which are so commendable in moments of trial and danger. While haste was exhibited in preparing for the emergency, there was no sign of panic, and orders were properly and calmly carriedout. This is especially to the credit of the troops, as composed of men nearly all of whom are young in years, and many young in service. They were then, of course, all asleep, and only had time to leap out of their berths, with their sea suits of serge, and get on deck with their rifles. Water began almost immediately to flow into the fore compartments, and the leakage afterwards increased with the time she remained on the rock. About 140 men were got down into boats alongside, and, about 5 o'clock, began to pull to shore. The men assisted the crew in this work • and many of them, being familiar with the sea, did good work. There was a moderate swell inshore, but not enough to prevent the boats pulling in close enough to land without much inconvenience. This was done about daylight, and while most of the detachment landed, enough remained in the boats to man them, and many worked at the oars till all had been safely brought ashore, some blistered hands being the consequence of the exertion. When the first boatloads were landed, the men at once set about to form some sort of shelter. There were plenty of bushes growing along the shore, and with these they began to improvise a village of huts. The green leaves formed a tolerably good shelter from the weather, which fortunately was clear all the time, and by nightfall there were two encampments along the beach, and all the huts were finished. Fires were made, and with meat tins and some pans cooking was car* ried on,?and the men who waded up to their middles in the surf to assist the succeeding boatloads to land were enabled to dry themselves, AU but twenty-seven

men, with Colonel Davis and Captain Luckhurst, who were last to leave the Bhip, were safely landed by noon. And now took place an incident which, had it not been for the captain's presence of mind, might have resulted in some serious caeuality. The ship, which would appear to have drifted either with the tide or the action of the slight waves, worked loose from her original ground, and having, in the meantime, leaked considerably and become heavier, began to Blip into deeper water, and made a sridden shoot from 20ft. into 43ft. An anchor was quickly thrown out and held, and thus her progress into still deeper water was stopped. She was now altogether afloat, however, and with a chance of her tremendously heavy cargo soon sinking her by increasing the leakage, and, with all the boats on shore, the situation was critical. The captain advised the men to take to the rigging for security, and from here handkerchiefs were waved and pistols fired as signals to the shore ; but it was some time before the situation could be understood. About 1 o'clock the boats arrived, and the last loads were taken off and landed in good order at 2 o'clock. During the early part of the landing some of the men on board expedited events by building a raft, and three or * four got upon her* but she went to pieces, we believe, and the men returned to the ' ship. One man got down a cattle box and ' paddled away on that, and, it is said, reached shore in safety. Another raft was constructed, and a load of biscuits put upon her, but shegot.a,way, and her cargo waa probably spoiled If it reached shore. As the afternoon passed, the Clyde sank deeper and deeper in the water, shifting her position completely a couple of times, ■ and in the evening was only 3ft or 4ft out of water. Somewhere about midnight she went down altogether, and in the morning only the top half of her funnel was to be seen. Of her cargo, nothing whatever was saved. Being a Governutont transport, there was no manifest of cargo in possession of any of the officers, nor'of the military, except a general inventory of thfe number of cases, but it is known that she had-On board the largest and most valuable cargo of military stores probably ever brought out to South Africa. There were 1,500,000 rounds of Martini-Henry cartridges, with powder, making up about 200 tons. There was also a large quantity of Gatling gunammunition, and, whether true or not, it is said that there were four Gatling guns with it. Besides these there was a quantity of tent equipments, pistol ammunition, clothiog intended for the other troops in Natal, and a considerable quantity oJP commissariat supplies, making altogether between 800 and 900 tons.