Size: 30 x 21 1/8 inches; Medium: Unembelished Giclee Print on Canvas. Paper Type: High Quality Artist Grade 350 Gsm, Acid-free, Archival Canvas in excellent condition.

Synopsis

In the 19th century the British Royal Navy saw the Mediterranean as a vital sea route between Britain and India, under constant threat from the navies of France and Italy. The impressive force they concentrated there to protect these sea lanes made the British Mediterranean Fleet one of the most powerful in the world. On 22 June 1893, when the collision happened with another battleship the bulk of the fleet, were on their annual summer exercises off Tripoli in Lebanon.
In that tragic accident, Victoria quickly sank killing 358 crew members, including the commander of the British Fleet, Vice-Admiral Sir George Tryon, and only 357 were rescued.
Victoria capsized just 13 minutes after the collision, rotating to starboard with a terrible crash as her boats and anything free fell to the side and as water entering through the funnels caused explosions when it reached the boilers. With her keel uppermost, she slipped into the water bow first, propellers still rotating and threatening anyone near them. Most of the crew managed to abandon ship, although those in the engine room never received orders to leave their posts and drowned. The area around the wreck became a “widening circle of foaming bubbles, like a giant saucepan of boiling milk”, which the rescue boats did not dare enter. Onlookers could only watch as the number of live men in the water steadily diminished. Lieutenant Lorin, one of the survivors, stated: “All sorts of floating articles came up with tremendous force, and the surface of the water was one seething mass. We were whirled round and round, and half choked with water, and dashed about amongst the wreckage until half senseless.” Camperdown the battleship that collided with Victoria was also in a serious condition, with her ram nearly wrenched off. Hundreds of tons of water flooded into her bows and her foredeck went underwater. As with Victoria, the watertight doors had not been closed in time, allowing the ship to flood. After 90 minutes, divers managed to reach and close a bulkhead door so that the flooding could be contained. The ship returned to Tripoli at one quarter speed with seven compartments flooded.
The news of the accident caused a sensation and appalled the British public at a time when the Royal Navy occupied a prime position in the national consciousness. Illustrations by leading artists of the terrible accident were published in British and European publications including this one.