THE SINKING OF THE VICTORIA.

Star (Christchurch), 30 September 1893, Page 2

THE SINKING OF THE VICTORIA.

AN ANECDOTE. ' Admiral Sir Geoffrey Hornby's comments on the Yiotoria disaster (writes a correspondent of the St James* Budget) recall to me a little incident in his own earner. Perhaps I may be allowed space to tell in my own way, for it affords a remarkable illustration of the mental and moral qualities that are necessary to make a naval officer in modern times. I was standing one morning a dozen years or more ago on the cliff at Follftes tone watching a detachment of the channel fleet as it steamed westward through the strait, the ironclad monsters motmen- ; tarily shifting their relative positions in obedience to signals from the leading vessel. By my side stood a stranger also scanning the manoeuvres with a glass, ' and evidently taking a professional interest in what was going on. Presently I ventured a casual remark; and as it was not repelled with' the proverbial British hauteur, I had the temerity to observe, "Surely, sir, the risk of going through such evolutions in narrow and crowded wateta like this can hardly be justifiable." I was met by the stereotyped reply, "Well, you see, if you don't accustom mon to handling their ships nnder awkward circumstances in cool blood, how can you expect them to be equal to emergencies in the confusion and excitement of an action ? However," went on my unknown ! expositor, "I confess I never like the job myßelf, but you soon find out ' in difficult, manoeuvring what sort of stuff a man is made or. I have had. a ; much more profound respect for Admiral ■ 1 Hornby since I was the witness of w^ it might have been a serious catastrophe a few years ago just a few mileß off here." ] Of course, a sailor should never be baulked '- of his yarn, and so I filled my pipe and 1 prepared to be a listener. " Tou remember i when the Shah came over in 1873. Admiral : Hornby commanded the squadron that was ' sent out to escort him from Ostend to Dover. He hoisted his flag on board the ! Agincourt, and I joined her too for the '. cruiae. Everything had gone off splen- i didly, and the Protector of the Universe had just been _afely landed at the Admiralty Pier, when the ironclads in double line steamed past the entrance to * the harbour and answered the eal ute from . the guns of Dover Castle. A orowd of . smaller craft had pres_ed into the roads in , . the wake of the Vigilant that carried the 3 hope of Persia ; but one of these, a steamer _ \ crammed .with sightseers, somehow or , another was belated, could not squeeze ite j way under the lee of the pier, and as the Agincourt a wept up, blazing away with ( blank cartridge, lay jußt across her bows, apparently helpless. It looked bb though { nothing could save her from being cut in , two, for the distance was too small for the ( big ship to answer her helm, and it was doubtful whether the paoket could 3 contrive to dodge the shock in. -the t wash and swirl of bo many ve.sels. ( The navigating lieutenant looked ] blue and hesitated for an instant what j 1 order to give, when Hornby called out, . 'For Heaven's sake keep her at full ] speed!' We rushed into the bows, our hearts in our 'mouths, expecting to witness £ a disaster, when the little cockboat just contrived to get her head round and grazed past our starboard side with j ab o .It a foot to spare. As soon as the excite- j ment had subsided I said to the Admiral . ' May I be so bold bb to ask why you forbade the slackening of the speed just > as the accident aeemed inevitable?' , * Certainly,' he answered. ' I fully realised j what' might happen, but reversing our j engines could hardly have averted the j mischief, -and had we reduced our pace by . a mere faction' the Northumberland, a * few cables? length behind us, might very t likely have run into our stern. Painful s as it might havo been to sink the little • steamer, it would have been far worse to lose one, oir possibly tnro, of Her Majesty ' 31 f

Bhips.' This explanation left me with' the conviction, first, that Hornby was right f hext, that he was a man equal to the stress of any responsibility." At the end of the story there was a pause, and then a shade of surprise, not to say incredulity, spread over the narrator's face tre I quietly remarked, *'I am muoh obliged to you for th-owing au interesting and instructive light upon what 1 have always regarded a> the most unpleasant experience of my whole life. The fact is, I was on the paddlebox of that steamer just kicking off my boots iv preparation for a swim, and I could have touched the bows of the Asincourt with my walking-stick." The stranger look e d incredulous ; but tny statement waa true, and, what is more, nnless my memory fails me, the name of the passenger vessel was tbe Viotoria.