Naval Mishaps

We have a good navy, and we do not appreciate it. As a matter of fact, casualties to our uow armorclads and cruisers have not beer particularly frequent when iheir size and their irumber are considered. lu ihis country every trivial misohuce is caught up and exploited by thá scnsational newspapers. but nothing is said of similar accidenta in foreign navies. Barring the destruction of Admiral Kimberly's fleet by the Samoan hurricaue in 1889, which no skill or foresight coald have prevented, our naval service for many years has been remarkably free from really serious disasters. There is nothing iu our records to compare with the capsizing of the British frigate Captain with half a thousand men ín 1870, or the fatal collision of the British ironclads Vanguard and Iron Duke in 1875, or that of the German ironclad Kaiser Wilhelm and Grosser Kurfurst the year following, when 300 men perished, or the loss of the British training ships Eurydice and Atlanta in 1878 and 1880 with 600 officers, sailors and apprentice boys, or the sinking of the British flagship Victoria, with Admiral Tryon, 22 officers and 330 sailors, by collision with the Camperdown on June 22, 1898, in the Mediterranean, er the wreek of the Spanish cruiser Eeina Regente, on Maren 10, 1895, with 420 officers and seamen. The list of minor accidents to foreign naval vessels in the past few years would be too long to enumérate. But the stranding of the British ironclads Howe and Auson, the flagship Amphion and the cruiser Sultan were far more grave affairs than any such accidenta which have occurred to any of our own heavy vessels within this period. We have had our fair share of troubles,