On June 22, 1893 the HMS Victoria, the flagship of Britain’s Mediterranean fleet, sunk off the coast of Lebanon in a collision with the HMS Camperdown. The sinking occurred because Admiral George Tryon, commanding the fleet, misjudged the degree of turn his flagship needed to undertake. The Admiral expected subordinates to follow loose orders and simply follow the lead of the flagship. Thus he refused suggestions to change his bearings, berated subordinates who tried to warn him of the impending danger, and seemed to space out as the Camperdown smashed full on into his bow. Tryon and 357 of his crew died in the disaster, leading to the court martial of the Victoria‘s captain and Tryon’s deputy commander, Admiral Albert Hastings Markham for their supposed dereliction of duty, and months of press recriminations. For a more detailed account, check out this article.
What could cause such a seasoned sailor to make such a colossal error in judgment? The generally accepted explanation is that Tryon, an exceedingly strict taskmaster, inspired such fear in subordinates that they couldn’t but follow his orders, however misguided or irrational they seemed. And that Tryon, stubborn to a fault, refused to recognize his error until the last moment. Though this didn’t satisfy everyone. Richard Winer, in one of his Devil’s Triangle books, blames the disaster on an “Arab fakir” who cast a spell that caused the Admiral to teleport to his wife’s home in London, where rumor claimed he was seen at the same time as the disaster. Strangely, this explanation of Muslim Magic has been overlooked by mainstream historians.