TURRET SHIPS OF THE BARNABY ERA.] The _Victoria_ on completion became the flagship in the Mediterranean of Admiral Sir George Tryon. In the course of evolutions off the coast of Syria on June 22nd, 1893, she was rammed and sunk by the _Camperdown_. The disaster, which cost the lives of the Admiral and 321 officers and men, teaches no useful lesson, saving the danger of transverse bulkheads. Water-tight doors were shut too late. The sea entered. The ship gradually turned over, then suddenly “turned turtle” and capsized. The mystery of her loss has never been fully explained. Admiral Tryon gave an order for the fleet, then in two lines, to turn inboard sixteen points, while at six cables apart. This manœuvre, with turning circles as they were, was bound to create a collision. This was pointed out to Admiral Tryon, who, however, took no notice of the representations. It has since been assumed that he went suddenly mad. A more reasonable explanation is that he intended the ships to “jockey with their screws” (a manœuvre which he never employed as a rule), and forgot to mention the fact, though details of evidence in the court-martial hardly bear this out. The exact signal as made was:-- “Second division alter course in succession sixteen points to starboard, preserving the order of the Fleet.” “First division alter course in succession sixteen points to port, preserving the order of the Fleet.” This signal was capable of more than one interpretation. Along one of them each ship in the two squadrons might easily have rammed the other in succession, according to some interpretations. Using screws, both divisions might have closed in very closely but quite safely. Acting other than simultaneously they might anyway have effected the manœuvre without disaster. At eight cables (a distance which was suggested to the Admiral an hour before) it might have been done quite safely. There have been other explanations also. In the Fleet at the time everything was believed, except the “blunder” theory which has gone down to history. To this day that is accepted with reservation. But the rest is mystery. The _Camperdown_, in turning, crashed into the _Victoria_, striking her forward, curiously enough directly on a bulkhead, just as the _Vanguard_ was struck when she was rammed. It was not expected that the _Victoria_ would be sunk. Had the water-tight doors been closed during the manœuvre, instead of at the last moment, she would probably have remained afloat. As things were, it was impossible to close many at the time the order was given, but her low-freeboard also played a part. The sea invaded the door on the starboard side of the superstructure and thence got everywhere on that side of the ship. It was that which threw her over and capsized her, but the chance circumstance of the blow on the lateral bulkhead should not be forgotten. The _Victoria_ was struck just on one of the points where all the odds were against her being struck.