Rensselaer Republican, Volume 23, Number 12, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 20 November 1890 — WAR VESSEL FOUNDERED. [ARTICLE]

WAR VESSEL FOUNDERED.

Two Haadrod and IWij Marines Find. Watery Graves. I The British warship Serpent was lost at a point twenty miles north of Cape Finis-: terre, Spain, on the 12th. Out Of a total of 250 persons on board only three were saved. The Serpent went on the rooks' during a storm on 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. The 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 170 officers and men. (The others on board were going out to relieve men now on ships on the As rifcan station. ■Hie Serpent was a swift, light cruiser, one of eight commenced during the administration of Lord Northbrook. She was launched in 1887. 1 The Duke of Edinburgh was attending a Patti concert at Plymouth when the news of the disaster reached that town. Hej was immediately informed of the calamity' and at once left the concert haJOLand hastened to the various newspaper offices in search of further details. After reading all the dispatches that had been received concerning the disaster he went directly home without returning to the concert hall. He expressed the utmost sorrow at the fate that had overtaken so many brave men. The newspaper offices at Plymouth were besieged by crowds of people anxious to hear further news of the disaster. Among these were the sobbing wives and daugh ters of many of the lost seamen. It is stated that many of the crew of the Serpent, before the vessel started on what proved to be her last voyage, expressed the fear that some misfortune would befall the ship. • The admirality has telegraphed to the British consul at Corunna asking for des tails of the disaster' The queen has sent a similar message to the duke of Edinburgh. The Serpent was built after the ideas of Admiral Cooper Key, who insisted upon an immense horse power, which, according to previous notions, was out of all proportion to her displacement. She could maintain a speed of seventeen knots an hour. Lord Brassey, in his navsl annual, adversely criticised the vessel. He said that economy of weight had been carried to excess in the construction of the ship, that her plating was too thin and that her armament was over done. “In a seaway,” he said, “her heavy top-weight would be a detriment to ;her speed and would unduly strain the hull.” The vessel was 225 feet long while she had a draught of only fourteen and a half feet. The Lloyd agent at Corunna telegraphs: “It appears the Serpent was running for shelter in one of the bays north of Finisterre. It is not known whether she foundfiered or grounded on the fearful reefs that are continuations ot the Galician mountains. If she foundered, nobody need be surprised but the admirality. If she grounded on the reefs she could not stand a minute's battering in a heavy sea.