Heart-rending letter from survivor of HMS Victoria to be displayed in the Royal Naval Museum
The loss of HMS Victoria is perhaps one of the most famous Naval disasters in history. During close manoeuvres on a clear sunny afternoon on June 22nd, 1893, she collided with HMS Camperdown and sank off the coast of Tripoli, taking the lives of over 300 crewmen. 116 years later, a letter dated one ‘Sunday afternoon, 9th July [18]93’ has been bought at auction and will go on display at the Royal Naval Museum.
The letter is a first hand account of John Baggett, the Yeoman of Signals who survived the sinking of HMS Victoria when 361 men died. Written on paper that appears to be dated to 1890, it is a moving account of the event in reply to a letter from a previous shipmate ‘Butler’ who had expressed his sympathy and it includes a sketch of what he saw and where he was standing.
Baggett begins his letter explaining how anxiously the survivors are waiting for the orders to go home and then describes in detail the awful events of the day – “It put me in mind of a plough turning the soil as she came through the upper deck… I was longing to yell out as a warning to the messmates but of course they could not hear it at that distance”.
Admiral George Tryon who remained on the bridge as HMS Victoria sank is reputed to have said “It’s all my fault” and Baggett recalls as he “saw the Admiral facing bravely up to meet his doom”.
In a vivid portrayal of the sinking, he then describes how he himself got caught up in the debris and fought against drowning and survived against all the odds – “cries for help drowned everything.”
John Baggett’s moving account draws to a close as he tells his friend “I am rehearsing it again & am all of a shake so dear friend please excuse the writing, hand trembling, & again dear friend thanks for sympathy.”
Thanks to the research carried out by staff at the Royal Naval Museum we also know that John Baggett was born in Gloucestershire in 1866 and volunteered for the Royal Navy at the age of 15 in 1881. He was 37 at the time of the sinking, but was not put off because he re-enlisted for another 12 years in 1894. He was reimbursed £3 3s 8d for clothing lost in the sinking.
It seems appropriate for such a personal account to end up in Portsmouth Historic Dockyard as Admiral Tyron had earlier in his career been Executive Officer (second in command) of the revolutionary HMS Warrior from its first commission in 1861 to 1864. HMS Warrior is now based in the Historic Dockyard a few yards from where the letter will come to rest. Many of the crew of HMS Victoria also came from Portsmouth and there is a memorial in Victoria Park inscribed ‘TO THE OFFICERS AND MEN WHO LOST THEIR LIVES ONBOARD H.M.S. VICTORIA JUNE 22nd 1893. Erected by the survivors''. The memorial itself was originally erected in what was then the Town Square, but was removed to Victoria Park in 1903, at the request of the survivors, in order to offer it better protection.
Following this awful tragedy no further Royal Naval ship has been named Victoria though the Royal Canadian Navy currently has a submarine HMCS Victoria.
The letter will be on display at the Royal Naval Museum in Portsmouth Historic Dockyard, along with commemorative posters and poems that appeared after the event, photographic images of HMS Victoria and of the tragedy that occurred.
