H.M.S. Captain (1869)
In September 1870 H.M.S. Captain, a masted turret ship launched a mere year previously, floundered in a gale off Cape Finisterre on the west coast of Spain. Prior to being launched, concerns had been raised about the design, in particular the low freeboard, the high centre of gravity, and the heaviness of the vessel. All of these would be further worsened during construction which lacked supervision due to illness of the vessel's designer, Captain Cowper Phipps Coles. In particular the Chief Constructor of the Admiralty, Edward James Reed, raised particular concerns over the stability of the vessel but these were over-ruled during the seemingly successful sea trials in spring of 1870. On 6-7 September 1870, H.M.S. Captain was sailing off the west coast of Spain in force six winds and a storm considered 'unexceptional' when, despite desperate attempts to prevent it, the vessel capsized and rapidly sank with the loss of 473 lives including that of her designer, Captain Coles, and her commander, Hugh T. Burgoyne. Only eighteen members of the crew would survive. The sinking would count as probably one of the Royal Navy's greatest peacetime losses.[1]
In the aftermath of the sinking, a court-martial and inquiry would be held on board at Portsmouth and presided over by Admiral Sir James Hope.
The Captain affair became a long-lived naval controversy, and immediate steps were taken to improve the stability of warships built for the Royal Navy, this leading to the appointment The subsequent court-martial and inquiry would lead to the creation of the Committee on Designs of Ship of War.
Further Information
Hawkey, Arthur. Black night off Finisterre: the tragic tale of an early British ironclad. Shrewsbury: Airlife Publishing, 1999.
Sources
http://www.cityofart.net/bship/captain.htm
Footnotes
