Capricornian (Rockhampton, Qld. : 1875 - 1929), Saturday 13 February 1909, page 19


iH.M.S. GLADIATOR FOR. SALE.

It is officially announced at Portsmouth that the salved cruiser Gladiator is to be sold out of the service at the next sale of warships, not being worth repair. She will be disposed of as she lies in dry dock. The Admiralty agrees to spend £500 upon making her watertight in order that she may be towed away at the owner's risk. The Gladiator cost £54,000 to salve, and she will probably fetch £5000 in the open

market. A condition will be attached that she must be broken up and not restored to fighting trim for sale out of the coun-try. It was on the 2nd of October last that the Gladiator was towed into Portsmouth harbour. For five months previously she had been lying on her side, half submerged, off Yarmouth, in the Isle of Wight, where, on the 25th of April, she drifted ashore after collision with the American steamer St. Paul in a snowstorm. 'Twenty-seven of her crew met with death in the disaster. The ill-fated warship, a second-class, twin-screw protected cruiser, built at Portsmouth and launched in December, 1896, cost the country £300,000 to build. Of course, the guns and most of the fittings have been taken out of the ship.' and it will be little but the sheer hulk that will be sold