A most lamentable occurrence has clouded the week. H.M.S.
' Eurydice,' a 26-gun wooden sailing-frigate, of 921 tons dis- placement, was passing Dunnose, in the Isle of Wight, on Sunday afternoon, at half-past four. She was on her way to Spithead from the West Indies, and had on board more than £00 seamen, chiefly young men completing their training, and twelve officers, besides one or two military officers on passage home. The barometer had been falling for 24 hours, but the sky was bright, and the captain, Captain Marcus Hare, perhaps deceived by the calm under the cliffs, carried all sail, and the main deck being crowded, had all ports open. As the vessel passed Luccombe Chine, she was struck by a sudden squall of extraordinary power —the effect of it was felt in London—which brought on a blinding snowstorm, she heeled over, and in less than five minutes filled and sank. None of her officers or passengers were saved, two, who maintained themselves in the water, dying of cold and fatigue, and of the crew, only one man and a boy. The captain, though he had obviously neglected barometric warnings, was on deck, and gave orders to shorten sail, but there was no time. Nothing appears to have been defective in the ship, which will be raised intact, and the only theories offered to account for her loss are that she always carried rather too much sail,—she was noted in the Service for the unusual breadth of canvas she could spread, —and that the water-tanks used as ballast had not, when emptied on the voyage, been refilled. The horrible destruction of life was partly due to circumstances, half the men sinking as in a coffin, . and partly to the cold, which paralysed the few good swimmers.
