The Death of the Vanguard

There wasn't much that a 6,000 ton ship powered by 5,812 horsepower engines had to fear on the open sea a century or more ago. Certainly, Captain Richard Dawkins of HMS Vanguard would have believed his vessel unlikely to be troubled by a sailing vessel as it sailed out of Kingstown (Dun Laoghaire) Harbour on August 27, 1875.
The Vanguard, which had been based in Kingstown, for four years, was travelling in convoy with three other ironclads, Warrior, Hector and Iron Duke (a sister ship) en route to Queenstown (Cobh), Co. Cork.
As they passed the Kish lightship a heavy fog came down, restricting visibility to less than a ship's length.
The Iron Duke was sailing slightly off course and was in the process of returning to her proper station - a problem with steam meant that her foghorn was not being used to alert the other vessels of her position.
At about 12.50pm Vanguard's look-out warned that a sailing ship had been spotted directly ahead. As the Vanguard turned to avoid the it the Iron Duke appeared out of the fog on her port side less than 40 yards away.
Collision was inevitable and almost immediate. To make matters worse the Iron Duke was equipped with an underwater ram which tore into the side of the Vanguard near the engines and boilers.
The Iron Duke freed herself after a few minutes and sustained minor damage, the Vanguard, however, was mortally wounded.
Water was flooding in at the rate of 50 tons a minute while the pumps could move 1.5 tons in the same time. And the pumps were powered by the engines which shut down 10 minutes after the collision.
For Captain Dawkins there was little that could be done. He was later criticised for failing to attempt to plug the hole in his ship but this came from captains and admirals who had no sailing experience of ironclads - in wooden ships most damage occurred above the waterline.
The Vanguard lowered as many of her lifeboats as still worked and the Iron Duke launched her boats. The other vessels sailed on and it was only on reaching Queenstown that they learned of the sinking.
On board the Vanguard the evacuation was completed in good order with Captain Dawkins the last to leave.
Just 70 minutes after the collision the Vanguard slid beneath the waves to the seabed 50 metres below. The tips of her masts still poked up through the swell.
The British Admiralty was confident that the ship could be raised and diving operations soon started but were later abandoned.
And there the matter ended, along with the careers of many of the officers involved, until the arrival of the Marlin Sub Aqua Club.
Based in Tallaght and Clondalkin the club is in the middle of an ambitious project to film and survey the wreck and, if Dúchas (the Irish Heritage Council) permits, to salvage one of the two steering wheels. After preservation the club plan to present it to the National Maritime Museum in Dun Laoghaire.
Club members have had to be trained to dive deeper as the greatest depth, 50m (the ship is lying slightly tilted at depths of 30m to 50m), is just outside that normally descended to by sports divers. "It's deep, dark and dangerous and safety is our number one priority," says Roy Stokes.
It's still deep and dangerous but for reasons Marlin members can't quite explain the visibility in Dublin Bay has been increasing every year. It's proved a blessing as it has enabled the Vanguard to be properly photographed and filmed.
According to Roy Stokes the Vanguard is still in very good condition - she was a powerful vessel with armour plating nearly five inches thick and solid teak behind it. She still contains all of her armament and has remained largely intact.
"A sunken Royal Navy ironclad battleship in such a remarkable state of togetherness may very well be unique in the world," says Roy.
It also helped that she lies in deep water 14 miles off the coast. "Up until recent times she was too far out to be dived on regularly.".

Le Quesne and Lecane

One man with a greater interest than most in the wreck is Philip Lecane, Monkstown. His great-grandfather, Philip Le Quesne (he later changed the spelling because no-one in Cork ever got it right), was an able-bodied seaman aboard the Vanguard on that fateful day.
He had joined the British Navy, aged 13, in 1866. His enlistment papers show that he signed up for 10 years, in reality 15 years as the order only came into force when he turned 18.
A year after the wreck Philip's brother-in-law died, leaving him the sizeable sum of £250 which he used to buy himself out of the Navy (£12) and to purchase a pub in Cobh.
The Philip Lecane of today knew of his great-grandfather's naval record but was unaware of the Marlin Sub Aqua Club's involvement with the wreck until it came up in casual conversation about another famous wreck, the RMS Leinster, with Roy Stokes.
Since then Philip has been brought to the site by the Club and has examined their video footage.
He has his ancestor's original naval record, a photo of some and two cremates, plus photocopies of other naval documents and also possesses a straw hat, typical of those worn on board the warships of the 1870s, which he bought while touring a preserved ironclad in Portsmouth - none other than the Warrior which was in the convoy with the Vanguard just before she went down.