Shipwrecks in 100 Objects: Stories of Survival, Tragedy, Innovation and Courage by Simon Wills

Author:Simon Wills [Wills, Simon]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781526792211
Publisher: Frontline Books
Published: 2022-09-15T21:00:00+00:00

Samuel Plimsoll.

48

Anchor of HMS Eurydice

Remnant of a ship which mysteriously sank in 1878, but which is still said to haunt the area

In 1878 the Royal Navy’s cutting-edge ships had steel hulls and were powered by steam engines. In this respect the 35-year-old Eurydice was a vessel from a former era – a ship with a wooden hull and powered by sails. However, the navy clung tenaciously to the belief that its servicemen needed to understand how to work a sailing ship, despite the fact that such vessels were clearly obsolete. Eurydice had been a top-of-the-range frigate in its heyday and was kept going to train young recruits.

In spring 1878 it was heading back home to Portsmouth from Bermuda. On 22 March, off the Isle of Wight, Eurydice was charging ahead in a strong wind under full sail when it was suddenly engulfed in an intense snowstorm that seemed to come from nowhere. For reasons never satisfactorily explained, the ship unexpectedly toppled over and began sinking. There were only two survivors to tell the tale. Teenager Sydney Fletcher rushed up on deck and leapt overboard clutching a lifebuoy when he heard the order ‘All hands for themselves.’ Barely had he entered the water than the ship sank, drawing him down beneath the icy waves, but the lifebuoy raised him up again. The other survivor, Benjamin Cuddiford, was a first-rate swimmer and many of his drowning messmates called out to him for help. Initially, he tried to aid them but with four men clinging to him, he was obliged to kick them off in order to save himself.

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