Sadly must all readers look back upon the morning of Friday, May the 31st, 1878, when the _Grosser Kurfürst_ went down off Sandgate, so near to land that the people on shore felt certain that the commander would be able to beach her before she had time to sink, unhappily an entirely erroneous supposition. Very shortly before this ever‐to‐be‐lamented catastrophe occurred, the German squadron, in command of Admiral Von Batsch, was sailing with a light easterly wind blowing down Channel with all the pomp and pardonable display of a force so numerically small yet so grandly powerful. The sea was perfectly smooth, the weather fine, and there seemed no more reason for anticipating the impending danger than if they had been lying at anchor in the sunlit harbour of Bremen. The squadron consisted of three vessels, sailing in two columns—the _König Wilhelm_, carrying the admiral’s flag, and the _Preussen_ forming the port division, the _Grosser Kurfürst_ forming the starboard, and less than two ships’ lengths apart from the admiral; indeed, it is said that scarcely one length intervened. “In this formation the German squadron came across two sailing vessels hauled to the wind,” says the writer of the article from which we quote, “on the port tack, and consequently standing right across the bows of both divisions. The _Grosser Kurfürst_ had first to give way, which she did at the proper time and strictly in accordance with the rule of the road, porting her helm and passing under the stern of the first of these two sailing ships. But the _König Wilhelm_, which it must be borne in mind was close to the _Grosser Kurfürst_ at this time, and steering a course parallel to her, endeavoured at first to cross the bows of the sailing vessel, but finding she had no room for this manœuvre, rapidly changed her plan, and, putting her helm hard a‐port, also stood under the stern of the sailing vessel. In the meanwhile the _Grosser Kurfürst_ had resumed her original course, and thus was lying right across the bows of the _König Wilhelm_, as she came under the stern of the sailing barque almost at right angles to the original course.... The captain of the _Grosser Kurfürst_, Graf Von Montz, seeing the terrible proximity of the _König Wilhelm_, immediately put his vessel at full speed, hoping to cross her bows, but the space would not allow it. He then gave the order to port his helm, hoping to lay his ship parallel to the course of the _König Wilhelm_, but unfortunately for this also there was neither time nor space.” All might have gone well up to this point, however, as it appears the _König Wilhelm_ was in charge of an “able and experienced officer;” he had given the order to port the helm to steer clear of the sailing vessel, and then ordered the helm to be “immediately steadied,” intending to range up alongside the _Grosser Kurfürst_; but the helmsman had become bewildered, and instead of steadying put the helm still more port. The