From News of the Week, The Spectator, 9 January 1914:
It is with deep regret that we record the loss of this battleship, which was sunk in the Channel by a submarine on the morning of Friday week. The ‘Formidable’ was a vessel of 15,000 tons, and was completed in 1901. She carried a company of between seven hundred and eight hundred officers and men. The disaster happened in very heavy weather, and only two hundred and one lives were saved. The ship was struck about two o’clock, and remained afloat till after three o’clock. Four boats were launched under terribly difficult conditions, due not only to the heavy seas, but to the list of the shop. One of these boats, a barge, capsized, and several men were thrown out. Another barge carried about seventy men, who were taken on board a light cruiser. A pinnace with about sixty men was blown about till she drifted ashore at Lyme Regis, not, however, before several of the men had died from exposure. A launch with some seventy men fell in with the Brixham trawler ‘Providence,’ which brought them into Brixham.
After the explosion the crew behaved, as always happens in such affairs, with surprising coolness and fortitude. Everything was done to get the boats away and to prepare objects, such as the great target, which might support men in the sea. When nothing more could be done the men smoked and waited. The ship sent out signals continuously. When the ‘Formidable’ disappeared Captain Loxley and Commander Ballard were still on the bridge. The last words Captain Loxley spoke to his crew are reported to have been: “Steady, men; it’s all right. No panic, men. Keep cool and be British. There’s tons of life left in the old ship yet.”
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