Tryon's flag, and the Camperdown, carrying the flag of the second in command, Rear-admiral Markham. It was clear to every one in the fleet, except to Tryon himself, that the distance between the columns was too small to permit the ships to turn together in the manner prescribed, and by some, at least, of the captains, it was supposed that Tryon's intention was for the Victoria and the ships astern of her to turn on a large circle, so as to pass outside the Camperdown and the ships of the second division. That this was not so was only realised when it was seen that the two ships, turning at the same time, both inwards, must necessarily come in collision. They did so. It was a question of but two or three seconds as to which should give, which should receive the blow. The Victoria happened to be by this short time ahead of the Camperdown; she received the blow on her starboard bow, which was cut open; as her bows were immersed her stern was cocked up, she turned completely over and plunged head first to the bottom. The boats of the other ships were immediately sent to render what assistance they could, but the loss of life was very great. Tryon went down with the ship, and was never seen again. The most probable explanation of the disaster seems to be a simple miscalculation on the part of the admiral, a momentary forgetfulness that two ships turning inwards needed twice the space that one did. As the two ships were approaching each other and the collision was seen to be inevitable, Tryon was heard to say ‘It is entirely my fault.’
A portrait, after a drawing by C. W. Walton, is prefixed to the ‘Life’ by Admiral Fitzgerald (1897), while at p. 72 is a reproduction of a miniature painted by Easton in 1857.
[Tryon's life, both public and private, is fairly and sympathetically described in the Life by Rear-admiral C. C. Penrose-Fitzgerald, London, 1897, 8vo. A more detailed narrative of the loss of the Victoria is in the Blue-book, containing the minutes of the court-martial; cf. Brassey's Naval Annual, 1894 (art. by Mr. J. R. Thursfield). See also the article by Vice-Admiral Colomb in the Saturday Review, 27 Feb. 1897.]
TRYON, THOMAS (1634–1703), ‘Pythagorean,’ the son of William Tryon, a tiler, and his wife Rebeccah, was born at Bibury, near Cirencester, on 6 Sept. 1634. He was sent to the village school, but had barely learned to read when he was put by his father to spinning and carding, at which industry he worked from 1643 to 1646, earning two shillings a week and upwards. But his predilection was for the life of a shepherd, and he tended a small flock for his father from his eleventh to his eighteenth year, when he ‘grew weary of shepherdizing, and had an earnest desire to travel.’ Having relearned his letters and saved three pounds, he trudged to London, and, with his father's approval, bound himself apprentice to ‘a castor-maker’ (i.e. hatter) in Bridewell Dock, Fleet Street. He followed his master's example in becoming anabaptist, and worked overtime to provide himself with books for astrological and medical study. About 1657, as a result of a perusal of the mystical works of Behmen, he underwent a phase of spiritual revolt and broke with the anabaptists. ‘The blessed day-star of the Lord began to arise and shine in my heart and soul, and the Voice of Wisdom … called upon me for separation and self-denial … retrenching vanities and flying all intemperance. … I betook myself to water only for drink, and forebore eating any kind of flesh or fish, confining myself to an abstemious self-denying life. My drink was only water, and food only bread and some fruit. But afterwards I had more liberty given me by my guide, Wisdom, viz. to eat butter and cheese. My clothing was mean and thin, for in all things self-denial was now become my real business’ (Some Memoirs, p. 27). This strict life he maintained for more than a twelvemonth, relapsing, however, at intervals during the next two years, the natural result of such an ascetic life; but at the end of this period he had become confirmed in his reform, and he practised it strictly until death. In 1661 he married ‘a sober young woman,’ Susanna, whom he did not succeed in converting to his own ‘innocent way of living.’ After his marriage he visited Barbados, where he extended his trade in ‘beavers,’ and on his return, his business in the city continuing to prosper, he settled down with a young family at Hackney. There, in his forty-eighth year, he became conscious of an inward instigation to write and publish his convictions to the world. His writings are a curious medley of mystical philosophy and dietetics, his objects being, as he himself informs us, to ‘recommend to the world temperance, cleanness, and innocency of living … to give his readers Wisdom's bill of fare … and at the same time to write down several mysteries concerning God and his government’ (ib. p. 55). He strongly recommends a vegetable diet, together with abstinence from tobacco, alcohol, and indeed all luxuries; but recognising that, in spite of his admonitions, people would still imbibe strong drinks and
