Page:The Development of Navies During the Last Half-Century.djvu/272

 leaving Gibraltar, had been remarkably fine, and the admiral had taken advantage of the smooth water to launch his boat from the 'Minotaur' flagship and inspect the 'Captain.' He did not approve of her, although at that time, because she had made one or two cruises without capsizing, she was supposed to have settled the question beyond dispute as to what should be the type of the British war vessel in the future. There was no particularly bad weather that night; the sea was certainly not exceptionally heavy, nor the wind anything like a real gale, but in an ordinary squall the 'Captain' turned slowly over and 500 precious lives were lost. The 'Inconstant' was the next ship to her, and remarked the disappearance of her lights, but owing to the squall the squadron was more or less scattered, and but little attention was paid to the circumstance. When daylight came next morning the sea was smooth, but there were no signs of the 'Captain,' and at first no alarm was felt about her. The admiral, however, made a general signal, 'Spread in search of "Captain,"' and it was not long before one of her boats was picked up; still nobody suspected the dreadful truth. But later in the day a table known to have formed part of Captain Burgoyne’s cabin furniture was found floating, and then there was no room for doubt. Nothing but the capsizing of the 'Captain' could have caused that table to be floating in the Bay of Biscay. A signal was then made for the 'Inconstant' to get up steam for full speed and proceed to England with the terrible news. She had a light fair wind, and from a point just off Corcubion to