This article includes a list ofgeneral references,butit lacks sufficient correspondinginline citations.(March 2011) |
HMSEurydicewas a 26-gunRoyal Navycorvettewhich was the victim of one of Britain's worst peacetime naval disasters when she sank in 1878.
 HMSEurydice,painted by William Howard Yorke, Liverpool 1871
| |
| History | |
|---|---|
 United Kingdom | |
| Name | HMSEurydice |
| Namesake | The nymphEurydice,wife ofOrpheus |
| Ordered | 27 August 1841 |
| Builder | Portsmouth Dockyard |
| Cost | £16,137, plus £9,312 for fitting out |
| Laid down | April 1842 |
| Launched | 16 May 1843 |
| Completed | 1 September 1843 |
| Commissioned | 27 June 1843 |
| Recommissioned |
|
| Fate |
|
| General characteristics | |
| Type | Corvette |
| Tons burthen | 91081/94bm[1] |
| Length | 141 ft 2 in (43.03 m) (gundeck)[1] 117 ft 9.75 in (35.9093 m) (keel) |
| Beam | 38 ft 10 in (11.84 m) |
| Sail plan | Full-rigged ship |
| Complement | 190[1] |
| Armament |
|
Origins ofEurydice
editDesigned by Admiral the Hon.George Elliot,the secondEurydicewas a very fast 26-gun frigate designed with a very shallowdraughtto operate in shallow waters. She originally saw service on the North American and West Indies station between 1843 and 1846 under the command of her first captain,George Augustus Elliot(the eldest son of her designer).[citation needed]In July 1845, she was driven ashore near the Moro,Havana,Cuba.Her guns were taken off to lighten her before she was refloated.[2][3]Under CaptainTalavera Vernon Anson,her second commission between 1846 and 1850 was spent on the South African ( "Cape of Good Hope" ) station. Her third commission, under CaptainErasmus Ommanney(between 1854 and 1855) and then CaptainJohn Walter Tarleton(1855 to 1857) saw her first sent briefly to theWhite Seaduring theCrimean Warand then to the North American and West Indies station again. TheEurydicesaw no further seagoing service in the next twenty years; she was converted into a stationarytraining shipin 1861. In 1877, she was refitted at Portsmouth and byJohn WhiteatCowesfor seagoing service as a training ship.
Loss ofEurydice
edit
After being recommissioned under the command of CaptainMarcus Augustus Stanley Hare,Eurydicesailed fromPortsmouthon a three-month tour of theNorth America and West Indies Station,which had its headquarters atBermuda,on 13 November 1877. On 6 March 1878, she began her return voyage from theRoyal Naval DockyardinBermudafor Portsmouth. After a very fast passage across theAtlantic,[4]on 24 March 1878,[5]Eurydicewas caught in a heavy snow storm off theDunnose headland[6]at theIsle of Wight,capsized and sank inSandown Bay.[7]
A weather report inThe Midland Naturalistexplained:[8]
The violent but brief atmospheric disturbance which was the cause of this catastrophe appears to have advanced from the N.W., and reached the north of England about ten a.m. Taking a south-easterly course, snow began to fall at Leicester about 1:45, and was followed by a strong gusty wind, but in an hour all was over. [...] The situation of the Eurydice—but a short distance to the S.E. of high cliffs, behind which chalk downs rise to a height of 800 or 900 feet, will sufficiently explain the way in which the squall took the vessel by surprise. The squall advancing from the N. W., the vessel was screened from it until it burst down the steep slope of the land in full fury.
Only two of the ship's 319 crew and trainees survived; most of those who were not carried down with the ship died of exposure in the freezing waters. Captain Hare, a devout Christian, after giving the order to every man to save himself, clasped his hands in prayer and went down with his ship.[4]One of the witnesses to the disaster was toddlerWinston Churchill,who was living atVentnorwith his family at the time.[9]The wreck was refloated later that same year but had been so badly damaged during her submersion that she was then subsequently broken up. Her ship's bell is preserved inSt. Paul's Church, Gatten, Shanklin. There is a memorial in the churchyard atChrist Church,The Broadway,Sandownand another atShanklinCemetery in Lake where seven crew members are buried. The ship's anchor is set into a memorial at Clayhall Cemetery,Gosport. Two of her crew, David Bennett and Alfred Barnes, are buried in Rottingdean St Margaret's churchyard when bodies were washed ashore nearby. There are four in the grave, but only two of the men could be identified.
Prelude to a second disaster
edit
An inquiry found that the vessel had sunk through stress of weather and that her officers and crew were blameless for her loss. There was some adverse comment on the suitability ofEurydiceas a training ship because of her extreme design, which was known to lack stability. However, she was immediately replaced by another 26-gun frigate of identical tonnage but slightly less radical hull-lines, HMSJuno.Junowas renamedHMSAtalantaand made two successful voyages between England and the West Indies before also disappearing at sea on her crossing the North Atlantic from Bermuda in 1880 with the loss of 281 lives; the ship is believed to have been lost in a storm.[10][11]Later British seagoing training ships were smaller purpose-builtbrigs.[citation needed]
In literature
editThe Loss of the Eurydiceis a major poem byGerard Manley Hopkins.
Ghost ship
editThe phantomEurydicehas been sighted frequently by sailors over the years since her sinking, and she is said to hauntDunnose,a cape on the Isle of Wight that lies west ofShanklin,close to the village ofLuccombeat the southwesterly end ofSandown Bay.Most notably, on 17 October 1998,Prince Edwardof the United Kingdom reportedly saw the three-masted ship off the Isle of Wight while filming for the television seriesCrown and Country,and the film crew claimed to have captured its image on film.[12]There is also a story from Commander F. Lipscomb of a Royal Navy submarine which took evasive action to avoid the ship, only for it to disappear.[13]
References
edit- ^abcWinfield, R.; Lyon, D. (2004).The Sail and Steam Navy List: All the Ships of the Royal Navy 1815–1889.London: Chatham Publishing.ISBN978-1-86176-032-6.OCLC52620555.p.115
- ^"Ship News".The Times.No. 19005. London. 18 August 1845. col D, p. 9.
- ^"Shipping Intelligence".The Morning Chronicle.No. 23653. London. 18 August 1845.
- ^abAgnes Weston: My Life among the Bluejackets, James Nisbett: London, 1909. Page 123
- ^West, Jenny (1973).The Windmills of Kent.London: Charles Skilton Ltd. p. 51.ISBN0284-98534-1.
- ^"The Loss of HMSEurydice".The Graphic. 30 March 1878.Retrieved19 December2021.
- ^"The Raising of the HMSEurydice".The Graphic. 10 August 1878.Retrieved19 December2021.
- ^"The Weather of March".The Midland Naturalist.1:135. 1878.
- ^Churchill, Winston (1930).My Early Life.New York: Touchstone. p.6.ISBN0-684-82345-4.
- ^Raine, David Francis (1 January 1997).Solved!: The Greatest Sea Mystery of All.Bermuda: Pompano Publications.ISBN9780921962151.
- ^Hainey, Raymond (9 February 2011)."Solving a mystery of military blunder".The Royal Gazette, city of Hamilton, Pembroke, Bermuda.Bermuda.Retrieved27 July2021.
- ^Harding, John (2004).Sailing's Strangest Moments: Extraordinary But True Tales from Over 900 Years of Sailing.Franz Steiner Verlag. p. 92.ISBN1861057458
- ^J.C Medland. "Shipwrecks of the Wight". Coach House Publications ltd, 2004
Sources
edit- David Lyon,The Sailing Navy List, All the Ships of the Royal Navy Built, Purchased and Captured 1688–1860
- The Times,various dates 1878.
External links
edit
Media related toHMS Eurydice (1843)at Wikimedia Commons- Isle Of Wight Shipwrecks: Eurydice
- Memorials in St. Ann's Church, Portsmouthfor HMS Eurydice's crew and passengers.
