3-021-171 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

H.M.S. Cadmus ashore on Salcombe Bar, Devon, 1869. Engraving of a sketch by Mr. W. Lidstone, of the Cadmus aground after a '...perilous accident...[The ship] struck upon the rocks at the entrance to Salcombe harbour...water began to rush in through the leak...Admiral Drummond, of her Majesty's Dockyard,...at once ordered the paddlewheel steamer Trusty...to proceed to the assistance of the Cadmus...All through the night the pumps were constantly at work...the steamers Dee and Scotia arrived...[with] two lighters in tow [and] a party of mechanics and divers from the dockyard, who set about examining the leak. This was found to be no complete hole, but a space of crushed timbers, measuring 14 ft. by 4 ft. The divers stayed under water and repaired the vessel, while they were supplied with air by the pumps above...By such means, in the course of that day and the following night, when the leak had been stopped, the ship was enabled to float'. From "Illustrated London News", 1869.