The Lords of the Admiralty issued, on Wednesday, a series
of papers on the sinking of the Victoria' by the ' Camper- down,' of which one is a Minute by my Lords on the proceed- ings of the court-martial, another is a Minute on the closing of the watertight doors, and a third is a report by Mr. W. H. White, C.B., Assistant•Controller and Director of Naval Con- struction, on the causes of the capsizing of the Victoria.' We do not think that the country is likely to be satisfied with the evidence as to the closing of the watertight compartments. It is almost impossible to work the ships in the stifling atmo- sphere which this closing produces, and therefore the closure is always put off to the very last moment, and usually comes tob late. The controversy between the Admiralty and Sir E. J. Reed as to the construction of those vessels and the fatal effects of ramming, whether to the rammer or the rammed, is too technical for the judgment of any but experts. But one thing is satisfactory ; my Lords, though they found fault with both Rear-Admiral Markham and Captain Johnstone of the Oamperdown,' for not taking prompter measures to prevent a collision, gave no sort of countenance to the cry which was raised that Admiral Tryon's orders should have been disobeyed. That suggestion was most mischievous, and would have cost the Navy its discipline, and probably its very existence as a consequence of its loss of discipline.
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