On the 3d of June of this year, the German cruising corvette Augusta
left the island of Perrin, in the Straits of Bab el Mandeb, for
Australia; and as nothing has been heard of her since that day, the
report that she was destroyed in the typhoon on June 3 is probably
correct. The vessel left Kiel on April 28, with the crews for the
cruisers of the Australian squadron; 283 men were on board, including
the commander, Corvette Captain Von Gloeden. There is still a
possibility that the Augusta was dismasted, and is drifting somewhere in
the Indian Ocean, or has stranded on an island; but this is not very
probable, as the Augusta was not well adapted to weather a typhoon.
During her cruise of 1876 to 1878, all the upper masts, spars, etc, had
to be removed, that she might be better adapted to weather a cyclone or
like storm. If the Augusta had not met with an accident, she would have
arrived at Port Albany in Australia by the 30th of June or beginning of
July. She was due June 17.
The Augusta was built at Armands' ship yards at Bordeaux, and was bought
in 1864 by Prussia. She was a screw steamer with ship's rigging, 237½
feet long, 35½ feet beam, 16 feet draught, and 1,543 tons burden. Her
engines had 400 horse-power, and her armament consisted of 14 pieces.
[Illustration: THE GERMAN CORVETTE AUGUSTA.]
During the Franco-German war of 1870-71, she was commanded by Captain
Weikhmann, and captured numerous vessels on the French coast. January 4,
1871, she captured the French brig St. Marc, in the mouth of the
Gironde; the brig was sailing from Dunkirken to Bordeaux with flour and
bread for the Third French Division. The Augusta then captured the
Pierre Adolph, loaded with wheat, which was being carried from Havre to
Bordeaux. Then the French transport steamer Max was captured and burned.
The French men of war finally forced the Augusta to retreat into the
Spanish port of Vigo, from which she sailed Jan. 28, and arrived March
28 at Kiel, with the captured brig St. Marc in tow.--_Illustrirte
Zeitung_.
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