Democratic Sentinel, Volume 14, Number 44, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 28 November 1890 — HUNDREDSMEET DEATH. [ARTICLE]

HUNDREDSMEET DEATH.

FEARFUL DISASTER TO A BRITISH MAN-OF-WAR. Thn (raiser Serpent Founder* Off the Coast of Spain and of 216 People • n Board All but Three Perish In the Wave*—An Admiralty Official’s Heartless Conduct. I London dispatch, j The British torpedo cruiser Serpent, has foundered off the coast of Spain. Out of a total of 276 souls onboard only three were saved. The Serpent was a twin-screw vessel of 1,770 tons and 4,500 horse-power and carried six guns. It went on the rocks during a storm Monday night. A heavy mist prevailed at the time of the disaster. Owing to the violence of the storm it was impossible to send assistance from the shore. Tremendous seas swept the decks of the doomed vessel, carrying away group after group of the unfortunate men on board. The news of the wreck was conveyed to Corunna, a distance of sixty miles over mountain roads. The Serpent’s complement was,l7o officers and men. The others on board were going out to relieve men now on ships of the African station. The vessel was lost at a point twenty miles north of Cape Finisterre. * An official telegram from Corunna savs that the Serpent was wrecked off Cape Rucy, near the village of Camarinas. There were 276 persons aboard, of whom only three were saved. The bodies of three ladies have been washed ashore. The Governor has ordered the authorities at Camarinas to render every assistance in their power. The three persons saved from the Serpent are sailors, who swam ashore at Camarinas. They express the bolief that all the others on board were drowned, but only four bodies have been washed ashore as yet. There is no telegraph station at Camarinas. The Serpent was a third-class cruiser of the type of the Archer, of which the Concord, Yorktown and Bennington are practically copies, It was provided with whitehead torpedoes, tubes, and apparatus for firing. It is said by experts concerning this class of vessels that in the construction of the hull “economy of weight has been carried to excess. The plating is too thin for durability. The armament is overdone. In a seaway the heavy top weight causes loss of speed and throws an undue strain upon the light structure on which it is placed.” Of one of these cruisers it is stated that its speed “when meeting a strong head wind and- sea was reduced to live knots, as the vessel was being buried under water forward the forecastle, bending down three or fonr feet under the weight of water. ” The Serpent was built of steel, 1,770 tons displacement, 4,500 indicated horsepower, 14 feet 6 Inches draught of water, 225 feet length, 36 feet beam. It was built at Devonport, launched in 1887, cost (hull and machinery) £91,606. Its armament comprised six six-inch, fiveton breech-loading rifle guns, eight throepounder rapid-firing guns, and three machine gums. It sailed from Devonport, being put fn commission June 24 last, under command of Capt. H. L. Boss, ordered to the Cape and the west coast of Africa. Lord George Hamilton, First Lord of the Admiralty, on rising to speak at a Conservative banquet at Acton this evening, said he was sorry to- announce that just before he came there he received a telegram that H. M. S. Serpent was lost on the coast of Spain, and he feared there-had been groat loss of life. The Serpent, he said, was one of our best cruisers* and was a valuable- vessel, with excellent officers and crew. He could not tell the cause of the disaster. The announcement caused a sensation and it was evident that many of those present would have thought it proper to postpone the banquet, but, no- action being taken to-that end, the entertainment proceeded, and after the- guests had eaten and drank heartily,. Lord George Hamilton led off in tho toasts with an unusually jolly speech, his rollickinghumon provoking peal upon peat of laughter; Tho news of this affair soon reached the London clubs and excited much adverse criticism. It is considered that Lord conduct may cause scandal against himself and the Tories such ao was aroused against Mr.. Gladstone and his political adherents by the alleged presence off the Liberal Premier at a theater on. the evening off the day whon Gordon’s death, was announced; in the London newspapers.. The Duke of Edinburgh was attending a Patti concert at Plymouth, when thenews of the disaster reached that town, id-e was immediately informed; of the calamity,. and at once left the concert hall and hastened to the various newspaper officer in search of further details. After reading all- the dispatches that had been Received concerning the disaster hewent directly home without returning to the concert hadl. He expressed the utmost sorrow at the fate that had overtaken so many brave men. Commander Boss is said to have been to the habit of treating his men with undue severity. The Serpent started last Saturday on its maiden voyage. It was commissioned for service In Africa last Jane, but was detained by several mishaps to the machinery. It and its consorts were cordially disliked by the service. The Serpent has a bad record. It broke down more than once in the maneuvers of 1888. Lloyd’s agent at Corunna telegraphs: “It appears that the Serpent was running for shelter into one of the bays north of Finisterre, It Is not known whether it founded or grounded on the fearful reefs that are a continuation of the Galician Mountains. If it foundered nobody need be surprised but the Admiralty. If H grounded on the reefs it could not stand a minute’s battering in the heavy sea."