TRAGEDIES OF THE SEA.

NZ Truth, Issue 115, 31 August 1907, Page 7

TRAGEDIES OF THE SEA.

THE SPIRIT OF THE OCEAN

Batters the Start Rocks m a Gale.

Ramming of the Grosser Kurfurst— An Ironclad Founders

with 269 Men.

No sound from the church's passing | bell ■ Was echoed along the pathless deep,; fFhe hearts that were far away to ' ' tell . : Where the mariner lies m his lasting sleep. But many a sigh, and many a tear, Shall be breathed and shed m, the hours to come, c When the widow and fatherless shall hear ' How he died, far, far from his hap- ■ py home. , . —Finn. The Royal Albert" medal was founded on March 7, 1866 ; and the first Australian to be decorated with it was Fireman Piei'ce, for his bravery m saving from certain death a number of persons, recently. But the first man m the world that was given the medal was Samuel Popplestone, of Stuart Farm, Devon, who, at the peril of his life, went down the Start rocks with a rope and' s^ved the survivors of the ship Spirit of the Ocean. With the advent of steam vessels, the danger of ocean travelling, h,as been minimised. It matters little to a steamer whether she is on a lee : shore while there is coal m her bunkers ; but A WINDJAMMER'S ONLY CHANCE — which is none at all if a gale of wind is blowing — is to drop her anchors to prevent her being blown ashore. The Spirit of the Ocean was one of the Nova Scotia packets, and at the time she was wrecked had twentyfour passengers on board, m addition to her crew of eighteen. She left the London docks on the 19th March, 1866, with a cargo valued at £60,000. Four clays afterwards she was caught m a terrific gale, arid was . lost m Start Bay, ' The Start is one of the most pic- , turesque headlands that jut into the English Channel. Although it yields m grandeur to the Prawle and the Bolt Head and Tail close by, its graceful outline, rugged rocks aglow with color, and romantdc caves and .precipices, washed by the summer sea. form one of those pleasant pictures that never fade from the memory. And when m the winter and early spring the furious billows lash up against it and send the spray showering up m glittering masses, lit for an instant by some fitful ray from between the storm clouds, the scene 5s as wild as any on the WILD COAST OF DEVON. Beating through this bay, on her way to shelter at Dartmouth, the Spirit of the Ocean was seen on that stormy Friday afternoon. The sea was running m huge hills, and at every gust of the gale the wave-crests were beaten flat down by the strength of the blast. With most of her canvas torn, and the stray tatters Htreaminsr m the wind, the good ship mod? but 'slow progress, and drifted bodily towards the shore. She weathered the Peat-tree Rgcks, and seem-.

Ed to be m safety ; but m a few minutes the gale seized her, and slowly and surely she .was driven to her doom on the Prawles., She struck at twenty minutes to 7, and before 7 ■ o'clock she had been shattered to pieces. She broke m two," the fore part turned over KEEL UPWARDS, the stern slipped back into the sea, and all the passengers on - the poop were swept away.. Of those aft only one man was ; saved— the mate. The. spot where she had come ashore was at the foot of a precipice about a mile from the lighthouse. The nearest coastguard station was a mile and a half away, the nearest town about twelve miles. The nearest habitation was Start Farmhouse, about half a mile" from the cliff. Fortunately the farmer had seen the Ship, and watched her strike. He ran home, procured' a long rope,' and let himself- down the precipice to the res- ! cue. As he touched the rock he was washed off into the sea, 'but he clung to the rope, and the returning wave brought him back again. Single-handed, with -the rope round him, he worked iris utmost to SAVE WHOM HE COULD from the wreck. The mate was washed past, and -he seized him. Then a sailor was found struggling •m the water then another clinging to the rock, then another. That was all. Four salved out of forty-two. The night had closed, m, the storm raged on, and the timbers of • the lost Spirit crashed oh to the cliffside to the , right and left of the little group clustering round the rope which ran up into the darknest. Bight o'clock, nine o'clock ' came, and no help. .' At ten o'clock—three long hours after the vessel >, broke vp — the rope shook. Help had come, the coastguardsmen had found them at last, and one by one the five men were hauled aloft. Popplestone took the four men home With him to his farm, and gave them food f>n.r] shelter. They had had a marvellous escape. The site of the wreck is sitill pointed out, and a more, hopeless , spot for succor, to reach a shipwrecked man it would be difficult to conceive. The reason of the disaster was a simple one. The ship was overpowered by the wind and literally BLOWN ON TO THE ROCKS. Captain Cary was making for the nearest port to wait until the tempest passed by, but before he could reach it the Spirit of the. Ocean met her doom. . ■ ' ' _ On the 14th of May following, the Queen sent for Samuel Popplestone, and with her own hands pinned to his breast the Albert Medal which he had so worthily won. * * * A terrible collision, whereby 269 lives were lost, took place m the English Channel, m broad daylight, on May.. 29^ iHl^ The Grosser. Kur-

j fiu-ot, a German ironciad, sailed from ' Wilhelmshavcn for Plymouth, m company with the Konig Wilhelm, flagship, and the Preussen. The day was beautifully fine, and the progress of the German vessels down the Channel was watched with interest by numbers of persons on the Folkestone Lees and elsewhere. It was about 10 o'clock m the morning when Dover was passed. From the shore the three ships appeared to be m line, but with a short distance between them ; as a fact, however, the Preussen was furthest from the shore and astern of her companions, while the 'Grosser Kurfurst.was nearest to the shore and leading, the Konig Wilhelm '.being m the middle. A light wind from south-west was blowing at' tke time. A NORWEGIAN BARQUE was noticed beating off the shore, which was distant about five miles. In order to make sure of clearing her, the Grosser Kurfurst ported her helm a little, her example being followed by the Konig Wilhelm. The Norwegian having got clear, the ironclads wouM naturally resume their course, baffc, unfortunately, the steering apparatus of the flagship (which had been previously found defective) refused to act, and the vessel's head failed to come round. The danger of a collision was at once evident, and everything that tame would permit seems to have been done to avert it. The Grosser Kurfurst went full speed ahead, while the engines of the Konig Wilhelm were at once reversed, but owing to the enormous weight of vessels of this class it is impossible to stop them very speedily. In a few minute's THE MISCHIEF WAS DONE. The Grosser Kurfurst, failing to get across the bows of her consort, was struck on the port -quarter abaft the mizzen-mast, and completely smashed m by the "ram" of the Konig Wilhelm. There wa's no use •trying 1 to close the water-tight compartments, and no time to lower the boats. Captain Monte is described as giving his orders with the utmost promptitude and coolness 1 , but m seven or eight minutes the huge mass of iron sank amid a cloud of steam from the exploding boilers. People on shore who had been watching the three ships rubbed their eyes and looked again, ONLY TWO WERE VISIBLE. Fortunately the accident occurred m a situation where numbers of fish-ing-*boats were within easy reach. These, together with the boats lowered from the Konig Wilhelm, rendered all the assistance possible. The fishing lugger Emily picked up twen-ty-seven out of the hundreds of human beings that, m a moment, were struggling m the water. The Susannah rescued eighteen, the Six Brothers seventeen. A steam tug put out from Folkestone as soon as possible, and numbers of other craft, including several life-boats, /q|uickly made for the scene of the disaster. Needless to. say. all these arrived too late. Only those close at hand could render effectual assistance. We may be thankful that, m oneway or another, 218 lives were s a vod, the total on board having been 487. The captain was picked up insensible, but was brought round by restoratives ; on the other hand three men who were taken out of the water alive subsequently SANK FROM EXHAUSTION. As for the Konig Wilhelm, so tremendous was the force of the collision that she herself sustained considerable damage. Indeed, b ( ut for the promptitude of one of the officers, who rushed below and closed the foremost water-tight bulkhead, she also probably have foundered. As it was, the weight of water that had rushed m sank her bows several feet below the stern. In, this disabled condition she proceeded m the course of the afternoon to Portsmouth. This un toward catastrophe. excited the greatest sympathy throughout the world, and m Folkestone especially a painful interest was long sustained. The first three bodies that were recovered were buried m the cemetery with military honors, a large number of the residents taking part m the procession. Subsequently no less than thirteen bodies were conveyed together to , THE, SAME RESTING-PLACE, each coffin being placed on a gun carriage drawn by four horses. Other funerals of two and three at a time were more quietly conducted, while the remains of Ihc senior lieutenant Sehwerin were conveyed to Germany. After a time a suitable monument was erected by the German Government to the poor fellows who had met with a fate so untimely, and who now lie, close together, far from their fatherland, m the well-kept cemetery, hard by which the hurrying "continental trains" to Folkestone and Dover pass day after day.