BRITISH TORPEDO GUNBOAT NIGER ATTACKED

Dominion, Volume 8, Issue 2306, 13 November 1914, Page 5

BRITISH TORPEDO GUNBOAT NIGER ATTACKED

Jf ■ ———» , SUNK BY GERMAN SUBMARINE

TWO MILES OFF KENTISH COAST

(Reo. November 12, 9 p.m.)'

, • • London, November 12. The Press Bureau states that a submarine torpedoed the torpedo-gun-boat Niger in the Downs. The gunboat foundered. All the officers, and seventy-seven of the crew were saved.

• Thousands of spectators along the sea front were watching a hundred ships anchored in the Downs, when suddenly an explosion was heard, and smoke was seen rising from the Niger, lying two miles out. There was great excitement; scores of shore boats were launched, and the crew were rescued. .The Niger sank in twenty minutes. Three of the survivors were injured by the explosion.

The submarine waß Been by the torpedo boats, which were patrolling the Downs, but they failed to catch her. < ,

The following messafge has been reoelved by tie 1 Prime Minister from the High Commissioner:— • .

London, November 12, 12 a.m. Official.—The Niger was torpedoe'd by a submarine this morning in the Downs, and foundered. All of the officers and seventy of the crew were saved. It is thought that there has beeniiio loss of life.

The Niger was a torpedo gunboat of 810 tons, carrying two 4.7-inch and four 3-pounder guns, and commanded by Lieutenant-Commandw Arthur T. Mjiir. The vessel was amongst a group of old ships, some of which were commissioned as mine-sweepers. ' ■ The Downs is the name given to a portion of the North Sea,- off the southeast coast of Kent, England, between the North and South Foreland, opposite Ramsgate and Deal. There is a good roadstead, protected by the Goodwin' Sands. , ■ ■ .