A Scare on Board the Victory.

Evening Star, Issue 7403, 24 December 1887, Page 3

A Scare on Board the Victory.

Much alarm was caused at Portsmouth, on October 20, owing to the report that H.M.S. Victory, which has for many years occupied a prominent position in the harbor, and is a constant object of interest to visitors, had sprung a leak and was in imminent danger of sinking at her moorings. The ship is more than 122 years old, having been built at Chatham under the supervision of Mr Peake Knight, an ancestor of the late General Manager of the London, Brighton, and South Coast Railway. At ten o'clock on the morning of October 20 it was found that water had been coming in near the bow for several hours and that it had attained a depth in the hold of more than 15ft. The seamen and boys on board were powerless to stop the inrush, and immediately after the discovery, Mr Guard, the boatswain in charge, signalled to the flag-ship. Flag-captain Seymour and several officers at once went on board the Victory, which had gone down some distance at the "bows. A -working party of upwards of 200 bluejackets and marines were summoned from the flag-ship, and speedily manned the pumps. A diver was summoned from the Asia, and on examining the hull, he found a large hole on the port bow, 3ft beneath the water-line. In consequence of the rottenness of the timbers the copper Bbeathing had fallen off, carrying with it some of the wood, and thus occasioning the leak. The Government tug Camel, with several pumps, went alongside, and the work of pumping out the water was proceeded with for several hours. When the water had been reduced to the level of the aperture, a dockyard diver went down, but he could not discover any other leak. The hole wan plugged, after which the pumps continued to work. A party remained on board, and the Camel was ordered to keep in close company of the Victory during the night. October 21 was the 82nd anniversary of the Battle of Trafalgar. The divers found the ship to be so very leaky that Captain Seymour has applied to have her, docked. It is now nearly twenty years since the old vessel went into dock, and there is some fear as to her being too rotten to stand the strain. Consequently, the Admiral Superintendent has referred the question to the Admiralty for decision. The accident is attributed to the spring tides, which have lifted the ship so high as to cause a severe strain on her moorings, in consequence of which a portion of her timbers gave way. *