HMS Captain 1870         

The Story of HMS Captain (cont)

How The Times reported the news and the reactions

In 1870, The Times was filling half of its news pages with the progress of the Franco-Prussian war, and the occupation of Paris. The sinking of the Captain was not squeezed out, however, and over many months provided a good and balanced news story, with letters of all opinions, and some reasoned editorials. 

Particularly noticeable to 21st century eyes, however, is the complete absence of photographs, and no matter how important the news, it would be the best part of a century before The Times allowed news stories onto the front page, retaining its preference for "small ads".

There are probably several hundred mentions of the Captain in reports and letters in the twelve months following the disaster, some of them quirky, some repetitive (for example, the almost daily report from the Relief Fund managers of the contributions received), and an attempt has been made to whittle these down to a reasonable number of those of particular interest.

Apart from the mention of the initial setting up of the Court Martial,  the daily reports from this have not been included, it being felt that Arthur Hawkey's summarising of the proceedings in his book adequately covers this.

Articles have been collected together under the following three headings - 

News reports - how The Times reported the events

Comment - letters and editorials relating to the disaster

(Note that as time passed, cuttings from other newspapers became available, especially the London Guardian and the North Otago Times (New Zealand), and where these offer additional or previously overlooked information, they have been added.