DESTROYER SUNK BY A CRUISER.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 213, 2 June 1908, Page 8

DESTROYER SUNK BY A CRUISER.

— THIRTY-FIVE LIVES LOST. CREW'S SPLENDID DISCIPLINE. . With tho deepest sorrow the public learned of a grievous catastrophe which befell the British Navy ejirly on Thursday evening, April 2. A number of destroyers wero practising a night attack upon a squadron of battleships and cruisers m tho Channel, off Portsmouth, a manoeuvre, which is always attended with great danger, but which is iieccssary for the training of officers and men. During tho evolutions tho 30-knot destroyer Tiger suddonly found herself across tho bows of the large armoured cruiser Berwick, and was cut in two. The forward portion sank immediately,. carrying' down with it the Tiger's commanding olicer, Lieutenant Middleton. The after portion floated for somo, minutes,' and many of the 'men in it were saved.. Tho tale of dead reaches tho largo fiijuro'of thirty-fivo. ; 'l'his.is tho'worst disaster thait has befallen the, British torpedo flotillas since tho loss of tho Cobra with sixty-seven otiiccrs and men in' 1901. The outstanding, feature of the catastrophe is tho splendid behaviour of tho Tiger's crew, who sank in silence, without a cry, and thus met their fate with a heroism which is abovip all praise and which is worthy of the best tradition of the British Navy. HOW THEY DIED. When tho Portsmouth division of the Homo Fleet left the Roads on April 2 the weather was fino and clear (says tho " Daily Mail" correspondent). A little later, in tho sunset glow, a dozen dostroyers followed, the Tiger among them. These wero to mako a surprise night attack upon the battleships and tho five cruisers, which had gone out for practice manoeuvres. A capital evening's entertainment was looked forward to.. Lieutenant Middleton, in command of the Tiger, went off, it was noticed; in high spirits. Recently married, universally popular, and with tho prospect of a distinguished career before him, ho had every reason to bo cheerful. No one, he least of all, dreamod of danger. Such night attacks are common. They supply a valuable element in naval training. Lieutenant-Com-mander Middleton, liko ..everyono else, regarded this as an overyday affair. without any tisk attached to it at all.

But,. no less than war, peace has her disasters as well as her victories. As tho evenihg darkened tho weather changed; the sea i;oso; the night became pitch black, without moon or stars. A driving, drizzling'rain fell,'. making it difficult to seo any distance ahead. ■" . The weather ga'vo the destroyers their opportunity.' Just after eight o'clock they were air ready for tho attack. Neither they nor tho cruisers showed any lights. War conditions were as closely as possible reproduced. SMASHED LIKE AN EGGSHELL. Then occurred one of those catastrophes whiih wo expect in war time, but which, in times of peaco, make many people exclaim against such practice manoeuvres. To 'protest, however, i,i foolish. Without reproducing war conditions no fleet could bo> properly, trained for war. We must regard such calamities as that which overtook the 1 Tiger in. the, light of the price that' we pay for efficiency. : A'heavy price in truth, especially to those, who aro left behind lo mourn dear ones snatched away, but a price which we are bound, to _pay. . What happened was this: Advancing to tho attack, the Tiger the bows of tho cruiser Berwick, invisible in tho dark, rainy night. Just by half her length sho failed to get across-in timo. ; . Engineer-Lieutenant Vinning, coming up on deck at this moment, saw the bows of tho cruiser looming out of tho blackness. .In a flash ho realised that tho Tiger .was doomed. Ho actually had to jump to one . side to avoid, being struck. Safe for the moment himself, he instantly thought of saving others. Ho sprang to tho tube,, called down to the engine-room that the vessel was about to sink, and gave the order for the stokers to save themselves. Beforo he had timo to think about the men on the fore part; of, the destroyer the cruiser had- crashed into tho little, craft.She was going at a. good speed, and sho smashed: tho destroyer iiko an eggshell. A vessel of 400 tons stands no chance whatever against the impact of a big ship of nearly 10,000. . ' ; Tlio blow' came almost amidships. Tho fore part of the was cut clean away from tho stern. It tilted up on end and wont down at once, carrying, the commandor and almost all tho seamen with it. A few of them managed to get free and to riso to the surface, but,for most death was instant and inevitable. The after; part of/tho vessel did not sink at onco: |The deck was ,by now covered with stokers, and a futilo attempt was made to lowofr a boat.'' It was quite clear, however, that the broken vessel could not livo more than a few minutes. . Thero was no panic. ' SILENCE IN THE WRECK,

More wonderful still, there was very littlo noise. All sought swiftly and nlcntly for something w)iich . would keep them up in tho water. It was certain that boats would be got out as quickly as possible, and if they could only keep- afloat* for a littlo while they would be saved. Lifebelts, spars, oars, all objects which would float, and which could bo clung to, wero laid hold of and, clasping these, thsTmen on the after part were flung into tho rough sea. Some went down quickly, losing their life by ■ striking against wreckage, or being dragged under by the suction of tho sinking ship. -' Some hold on for a time and then grow numb and 'dropped off unconscious. Of all tho. fifty-seven men on board only twerity-thToo were _ picked up, and one of these died from injuries and exhaustion beforo he 'could reach , port. ,Tho boats that had been ' immediately lowered searched diligently, pulling to and fro with untiring effort: A powerful cruiser searchlight was turned on to the ibene of tho disaster,, making the night as clear as day. Backwards arid forwards tho went, guided by faint cries or the'sight of a head bobbing oil the crest of a wave, until at last, after more than an hour's _ search, the attemptto find any more men in tho water was reluctantly given up.' The Berwick-and the Gladiator, which had." the survivors on board, wero ordered to Spithead. Hero the Tiger's men were transferred to boats and sent ashore, some to Haslar Hospital, others to the Royal Naval Barracks. ENGINEER'S STORY. The artificer in charge of the engine-room of the Tiger, John, Charnock, E.R.A.* (says the " Standard"), gives a particularly graphic account of the thrilling experiences of those who were below when the disaster occurred. In tho course of an interview ho stated:—

"I was on watch in the engine-room, and standing near the) throttles, at the time of the collision. There about four of iis in the compartment, and the engines wero going full speed. Just before the collision I had been asked to: go forward to play cards, and should probably have done so when I had finished my duty. All at once there was a terrible crash,' and the sound of something going slowly right through tho ship' and tearing everything away was absolutely awful. It is quite impossible to describe the • effect upon us that tho crash occasioned. "All tho electric lights went out, hut thero wero somo oil lamps burning, and I looked up to tho telegraph, which indicated full speed ahead.' Realising that something was wrong, I stopped the engines, and sang out: 'Clear up on deck, for God's sako; this is no place for us.' Where I was standing, and looking in front of me, it seomed as if tho onn;mo-room was drifting away and the floornlat-cs wero collapsing. Thore was a hatchway just abovo us, and this had been partly crushed in by tho force of the collision. However, I manarcod to force' a space sufficiently wido to allow us to scramble through, and wo made our way on to tho deck. "When the vessel sank beneath us we struck out, and the force of tho waves dashed another man and mo against somo of the wreckage, After swimming for somo time I was picked up by the Berwick's boat."