HMS Eurydice Sinks off the Isle of Wight
Poet involved
What happened
The training ship HMS Eurydice was struck by a sudden snow squall near the Isle of Wight in March 1878. It capsized and sank within minutes while returning to Portsmouth from the West Indies. Only two of the more than 300 people aboard survived.
Literary impact
Gerard Manley Hopkins responded in The Loss of the Eurydice, a poem combining mourning with anger over recurrent naval disasters. Its compressed language and turbulent rhythms make the ship's sudden overturning both physical catastrophe and spiritual challenge.
Source: Wikipedia
