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The Story of HMS Captain (cont) |
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The Times - the reporting of the news. The following is how The Times reported the breaking news and subsequent developments - click on dates where highlighted for more information. Wednesday 7th September 1870 - On this day, of all days, The Times reported that "Mr Childers, who has been at the Admiralty (except for a short time) since the prorogation, leaves town tomorrow, his medical advisers having ordered complete rest from work for three of four weeks." Saturday, 10th September, 1870 - The loss, which happened in the early hours of Wednesday September 7th, was first announced by the Admiralty on Friday September 9th, and published in next day's Times, Saturday September 10th 1870.
Monday 12th September, 1870 - reporting survivors, Queen Victoria's message, Admiral Milne's full report delivered to Portsmouth.
Quoting their own correspondent, he repeats, in a telegram dated the 9th, the total loss of all hands. By the 10th, however, he is reporting the arrival of eighteen survivors at Corcubion. This is followed by the first response by Queen Victoria to the Admiralty - "The Queen has heard of the dreadful catastrophe with deep sorrow, and wishes for all particulars. Her Majesty writes to Mr Childers." Two further telegrams to the Admiralty are also quoted, the first coming from Gibraltar - "The Captain, before parting company from the Prince Consort, discharged into her W. Wingatt, W. Bund, T. Hogarty, James Moore, Alexander Smith, Thomas Wise, Henry Williams, able seamen; and James Page, corporal of Marines." Mr S. Taylor, midshipman, was, we understand, not on board Captain, having exchanged with Mr Alfred Ripley, midshipman of the Royal Oak, and it is feared the latter officer must be among those lost. The second was from the Captain of HMS Bristol, at Corunna - "One warrant officer and seventeen seamen of the Captain landed at Corcubion on the night of the 7th inst." The Admiralty reported that HMS Inconstant had arrived at Devonport on the 10th with a report on the loss from Admiral Milne - click for full text of his report. At the same time, reports from individual ships in the fleet were passed on by Admiral Milne, showing the last time the other ships saw Captain, and the wreckage these ships picked up. This was followed by biographical details of five of those lost (Captain Burgoyne, Captain Cowper Phipps Coles, the Hon A.N.T. Baring, the Hon W.R. Herbert and Lord Lewis Gordon) - (click for text); and finally, with some duplication, report on the reaction around the country - (again, click for text). (The next item the Times published, having no doubt exhausted its supply of information on HMS Captain, was a letter complaining about the speed of a horse-drawn butcher's cart in Oxford Street.) Tuesday 13th September, 1870 - this issue was able to report the arrival of the survivors on board HMS Volage at Portsmouth the previous day (the 12th), whereupon the most senior, gunner James May was dispatched by train to the Admiralty in London. Three more obituaries were added - Captain Richard Sheepshanks, Lieutenant Charles Giffard and Navigating Sub-Lieutenant Arthur Gilbert Tregaskiss. First-hand reports were added from three survivors and from two officers from other ships in the fleet, none of which provides any new information from the story as detailed elsewhere in this website. One curious item is worth repeating, however -
Mayne is not on the St Paul's list of casualties; Hankin is. So, did Mayne survive? And how did the two of them get to safety? Wednesday 14th September 1870 - after summarising the "Full details of this great misfortune" and repeating the names of the survivors, the paper published three more first-hand accounts from survivors. They add little to the story we now know. Saturday 17th September 1870 - reports that the Channel Fleet had now arrived back at Portland, the previous Thursday. Also reported was the setting up on the previous Wednesday of The Fund for the Relief of the Widows and Families of the Officers and Crew of the late ship Captain, at the Royal Naval College, Portsmouth. This is covered in more detail in the separate "Relief Fund" reports. Monday 19th September 1870 - The Times reports a second message from Queen Victoria -
This was then followed by more obituaries, this time to those "whose mission it is to save", that is, the surgeons. Saturday 24th September - The Times reports the setting up of a naval Court the coming Tuesday (27th September), with the names of those taking part "for the trial of Mr May, gunner, and the seventeen seamen saved....The trial will be merely a pro forma matter.......and that a verdict of "honourable acquittal" will, as a matter of course, be recorded." The Monarch was expected hourly to arrive at Spithead from Spain, and the Agincourt and Minotaur were also to go there from Portland, as their officers were required to attend the Court Martial as witnesses. ________________ The linked anonymous private letter from an officer on board the Inconstant was published at the time, probably first in the Times, but this copy was published in the New Zealand paper, the North Otago Times on 28th October 1870. The letter offers a personal view of the disaster by an officer on another ship in the fleet ________________ Most of the reports after this date relate to the Court Martial, letters, and support for the relatives, all of which are covered elsewhere.
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HMS Captain
1870
