The evidence given before the court-martial on the loss of
the 'Victoria,' which has been sitting in Malta during the past week, has been of quite unusual interest. A full state- ment of the facts tends to show that from some cause, physical or accidental, Admiral Tryon was not for the time being in possession of that sound judgment and practical good sense which had earned him the reputation of being the best sea- man in the Navy. How strong was the confidence he inspired was shown by the frank, and, under the circumstances, per- fectly reasonable avowal of Captain Bourke, the captain of the Victoria.' Asked as to what was his opinion when the order for turning inwards with but six cables of distance was persisted in, he replied :—" It seems to me that I had in my mind that something else was going to happen. I had, like everybody else, unbounded confidence in the Commander-in-Chief, and the idea in my mind was, He is going to change; he is going to do something; he knows how to get out of it.'" There has been a good deal of foolish talk in the newspapers intended to show the stupidity of rigid discipline in the matter of obeying orders. People in view of this one catastrophe forget the thousands of disasters avoided by obeying orders blindly.
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