HMS Eurydice at Anchor off Cowes by Ivan Berryman. [Postcard]

After being re-commissioned under the command of Captain Marcus Augustus Stanley Hare, Eurydice sailed from Portsmouth on a three-month tour of the West Indies and Bermuda on 13th November 1877. On 6th March 1878, she began her return voyage from Bermuda for Portsmouth. After a very fast passage across the Atlantic, on 24 March 1878, Eurydice was caught in a heavy snow storm in Sandown Bay, within sight of the Isle of Wight, capsized and sank. Only two of the ship's 319 crew and trainees survived. Most of those who were not carried down with the ship died of exposure in the freezing waters. One of the witnesses to the disaster was a young Winston Churchill, who was staying at Ventnor with his family at the time. The wreck was re-floated later that same year but had been so badly damaged during her submersion that she was then subsequently broken up. Her ship's bell is preserved in St. Paul's Church, Gatten, Shanklin. There is a memorial in the churchyard at Christ Church, The Broadway, Sandown and the ship's anchor is set into a memorial at Clayhall Cemetery, Gosport.

Collector's Postcard - Restricted Initial Print Run of 100 cards.

Postcard size 6 inches x 4 inches (15cm x 10cm)