HMS Eurydice Memorial

Summary

Memorial of 1878 to the foundered ship HMS Eurydice.

Reasons for Designation

The memorial to HMS Eurydice of 1878 is listed at Grade II* for the following principal reasons:

* Historic interest: for its commemoration of one of the worst naval disasters in peacetime, in which hundreds of men lost their lives and which caused a change in naval training methods;
* Artistic value: a powerful memorial on a monumental scale, which incorporates the anchor of the foundered ship;
* Group value: for its place in the Royal Naval Cemetery and its relationship with the other listed memorials and the cemetery chapel, and within the wider naval landscapes of Haslar, Gosport and Portsmouth.

History

HMS Eurydice was launched in 1843; she was a 26 gun-frigate designed by Admiral George Elliot and initially sailed under the command of his son in American and West Indian waters. Considered to be one of the fastest of her type, she was designed with a shallow draught and broad sails. As the C19 progressed the increased use of metal for ship construction rendered the timber-hulled Eurydice outdated for warfare, and in 1861 she became a stationary training vessel. After a refit she set sail from Portsmouth in November 1877, carrying c300 ordinary seamen on a lengthy voyage across the Atlantic. She returned in March the following year and was within eyeshot of her destination when she was caught in a blizzard off the Isle of Wight. What her shallow hull added in speed it took from stability, and she capsized and quickly sank; all but two of her crew of 364 lost their lives, going down with the ship or perishing in the freezing waters.

A young Winston Churchill was witness to the disaster, at that time living in Ventnor with his parents.

The loss of the Eurydice is one of the worst British naval disasters to have occurred during peace time. It caused the Royal Navy to abandon sail training, leading to the abandonment of the use of traditional man-of-war ships. A memorial to lives lost was erected at the Royal Naval Cemetery at Haslar, with the ship’s anchor set into the stone.

Several phantom sightings of the lost ship have been made: in the 1930s a Gosport-based submarine was set on an evasive course to avoid colliding with a full rigged ship, which seconds later disappeared, and in the 1990s it was spotted by Prince Edward.

Details

Memorial to a foundered ship, 1878.

MATERIALS and PLAN: a dressed grey granite base, rectangular in plan, with a limestone sculpture into which the ship’s anchor is set.

DESCRIPTION: there is a sloping granite plinth which bears the names of the 362 dead. Above this is a substantial model of a rock with a facet incised ‘FOUNDERED / SUNDAY MARCH 9 / 1878’, and the ship’s anchor set upon it. The four sides of the base of the sculpture are inscribed with Bible passages: ‘I WILL BRING MY PEOPLE AGAIN FROM THE DEPTHS OF THE SEA. PSA LXVII:22 / WHICH HOPE WE HAVE AS AN ANCHOR OF THE SOUL. HEB VI:19 / AND THE SEA GAVE UP THE DEAD WHICH WERE IN IT. REV XX:13 / MY GOD IS THE ROCK OF MY REFUGE. PSA XCIV:22’.

Sources

Websites
Reports on the Eurydice disaster from the Times newspaper, 1875-78, accessed 5/3/2015 from http://www.pdavis.nl/Eurydice.php
Clayhall Cemetery, Haslar Heritage Group, accessed 5/3/2015 from http://www.haslarheritagegroup.co.uk/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=49:clayhall-cemetery&catid=20:the-buildings-of-haslar&Itemid=109
Memorial & Monuments in Portsmouth, ‘St Ann’s Church, HMS Eurydice’, accessed 6/3/2015 from http://www.memorials.inportsmouth.co.uk/churches/st_anns/eurydice.htm

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