A LIVELY CORNER.

Dominion, Volume 6, Issue 1665, 4 February 1913, Page 7

A LIVELY CORNER.

NAVAL SKIRMISH IN THE DARDA- ,.-.'- ;■■•'■■■■"' ' NELLES.. A young New Zealonder, writing to.Ms parents in Wellington, describes a brush ! between Turkish and Greek.;warships at . ; the entrance to. the.Dardanelles, of which he was a' close eye-witness. He is au en- ' gineer on a British hierohant steamer, and .tho.minor engagement' which/ he :.'.. describes took placo in tho early part of •■ : Deoember. last. 'He got his firstglimpse ■ .'of tho'war/at the Island of-.Tencdos, where> he -saw.,-three Greek. destroyers hulding uh a'' steamer- to examine her ■.;■ papers. ;"At tho/entranco to tho: Dardu- . riielleSfhis ishipwas passed- by the .Turkish 'fleet^cruiscrs'anil. battleships passing »n ono.side, and destroyers on '■ the other; ', /While -they .were.'"still quit© olose'to the .merchant steamer the Turks started blazing away,at tho Greek ships, which were away, out on the horizon. The; Greeks; ■'■ returned tho fire, and a number of their; .shells passed close, to the non-combatant •' Bteamor, which, as the;young man who'.tolls 'tho: story remarks, had got, into, a ■' lively corner;., She, could not 1 turn to got away, as there-were Turkish 1 warships all i J round her. j She had to go astern, and .it ' , ■ took 'her hnlfian hour to, get out- of 6he ':. line of fire. There was another British ■ merchantman some '' distance off, and a 1 • shell landed K on her deck, knocking splmt- » era all : over the place,- but' it- did .riot ' burst.■'. The fight did not .last for moro: than half an hour. At the end,oJ that: time the Turks returned to harbour. ," .-.'.-.• It was a thrilling rsight,:the writer of •the letter remarks,, to see: the destroyers '■-"•; dashing round,. with the crews, standing' -by the torpedo-tubes, and ihe bigger craft . with/decks cleared for aotloh", and: tho '"'■'■■ crews'at;the.giins.'-;.Sevjeral.sho.ts wdro . seen to strike' the Turkish ships, but none; , ■■ ■;' of them .seemed to ;do much.dauia'zo. : . The /..Greeks 'appeared" to -ba, somewhat taken .;'/ /by ; •as,'; the/Turks' -had'/notrpre- ' : ! viously been bufsido'the Dardanelles dur- -'' a'whole,/the/Now Zea- : ■;' lander'who tells the story, remarks, it was : .'■ i a '.boor .'kind of /battle, but /the /sight.,of ■;■ ' .warships' in .-'action, and the' sensationof • - • .{.being Under' fire wertf alike;interesting.';.; 1