LOSS OF THE BATTLESHIP FORMIDABLE

Dominion, Volume 8, Issue 2398, 2 March 1915, Page 6

LOSS OF THE BATTLESHIP FORMIDABLE

A THRILLING NARRATIVE STRUCK BY THE LURKING SUBMARINE A thrilling account of the incidents immediately following the disaster to the Formidable was given to a "Manchester Guardian" and '.'Daily Telegraph" representative by' one of the officers of tlio vessel who was on board at tha time aud barely .escaped with his life . I . was sleeping in my hammock (ho said) when about 2.20 1 was awakened by a tremendous crash. I at one® jumped to the conclusion that. we had either been struck by a torpedo or had run into a mine. I jumped out of my Hammock and ran m my pyjamas to tho upper deck. I had got as far as the gangway when I noticed that there was already a great list on tho ship. There were others ivith me—some in'pyjamas, some with virtually nothing on. At tho same, time we "turned head-on to the wind.

'The explosion occurred on the 6tarboard side abreast of the foremost funnel, and I should say that the resulting inrush of: water flooded the boiler-rooms, because immediately afterwards the olectrio light and steam-power failed on all the engines..: The Watertight doors had been closed; .and we carao to' a standstill." The men were told to hoist out the launch, which carries SO. This necessitated receiving a big rope-round the deck. Hauling on this rope with t-hs deck awash is a very difficult operation, but the men performed it in a marvellous manner. We got both boat 6 safely into the water, and in such an orderly manner was everything done that each was manned by its own brew and pulled out to a safe distance, so that it should hot be dashed to. pieces against tho ship's, side. .-:. 1 should here remark that there was a gale of wild blowing and mountainous seas were running, with, the result that in getting'the boats away a number of oars wore broken against the side of the vessel. The two sea boats, which are always kept ready for instant lowering when the, ship is at sea, were'also manned by their own crews, and got safely, into the water and;pulled out of danger. 'the information of those who might- wonder that the boats were not fully, loaded with men at once I may say that in the tremendous sea that was running the proper thing to do was to get/the boats away from the ship first and-then let the_men get into tb'em from the water after jumping from the vessel.

Deck Pulled Up For Life-Saving. The men oii the upper deck were told to get as much wood together, as possible for assistance;.in keeping : afloat when the ship v went down. All woodwork tlrnt was portable was at once brought to the upper deck and the-car-penter also-, pulled up part of one of the^decks;'. I 'The' accommodation, ladder was hauled aft to the guarter-deck and all the' moveable furniture was taken to the-upper deck. 'just, about this time —I should think 'a-Quarter, of-an.hour after the first explosion—a, second occurred. This proved'to be a blessing in disguise—at feast temporarily—because the great inrush of water which eiisued ' helped t% right'Vthe" vessel. 'We got' nearly on to an even keel and this made it much easier for us to get about the deck, flte second explosion seemed to me to burst the boilers. The force of the explosion came through the bottom of the ship : and'immediately; a tremendous amount •of ' wreckage arid ashes shot out of one of whe lunnels and fell into the sea;' ; ' AE the men eventually got on to the upper ; deck, each with some piecc- of woodwork in his possession or/near bun. I' should mention' that each man w-re an; Admiralty swimming ; collar, which, while good enough in a way, simply keeps a fellow's head on a level with the water, with the result that if there is anything of a sea bis mouth is nearly - ; always.' 'awash' '—a . very unpleasant experience. The officers were wearing a! Gieve waistcoat, which _ is a much better idea than the Admiralty,collar. It has a tube oil it, and when this is blown up it supports the wearer l higher out of the water.. There was not the slightest panic. I think this wn very creditable. They had been wsnd.ng for a long time, too, very scantily clothed in a biting wind, and it was a gzeat test .of their courage. :

Endeavour fa Right the SKIp. 'Everybody seemed to think the whip would hold out and tk-at 'to dawn, and she did actually float for about two hours and a quarter. She developed a terrible list, however, in spito oi ihe good effect of the second explosion, and in order to v correct this the turret crews tried to train their guns on the beam, but there being no hydraulic prossure available they wero unable to do this, and the effort had to be .abandoned. Verrey's lights were now sent up. The wireless apparatus was, of course, out of order, there being no current. At this time there would be about 700 men on board, out of our complement of 790, the remainder 'being the crews in the four boats that had. been lowered. Things were now getting rather waJcm. Our vessel was considerably down by the bead and the starboard side of the fo'c'sle was awash. The followed \ an uncomfortable three-quarters of an hour while we waited.' All our watertight doors were closed, and ■ every thing had been done that could be done to keep the ship afloat, but as time went on ' it was evident she was going under, and her ilist was increasing terribly. The crews of the starboard side —tbe side which was in the water—had been down and closed the gun-ports, but it was.; easily noticeable-in one of the gun casements that the water was rising rapidly inside and coming up the ammunition hoists. . , During the last ten minutes that the vessel was afloat—from about. 4.20 to 4.3o—the list appreciably increased, and matters had reached a climax. The cap-tain-came down from the bridge on the part'boat deck and sang out, "Into the water with you—she's going!" Then it was a question of each man for, himself, i You must understand.that the ship was now nearly flat on her side. Hundreds of the men' had climbed over the rails on the- upper side, which was out of the water, and -stood there, in ranks waiting for orders, and on hearing the captain v shout they all slid down the vessel's' sidei.'into the' sea.' Thai, Last, of the Ship. Many fe}i; with some force against the bilge keel, .which was showing above the water, and got some nasty injuries, but eventually ifwam off. I distinctly sawtwo men get hurt through falling on the bilge keel. \ln the meantime, a poor fellow who had not been-able to get hold of the;upper rail as the list became greater slipped'back right across the deck to--.starboard into- the. water. The fall was -more of a drop than a slip, as the-deck was by this time almost perpendicular. Many of them fell on the turrets, and 1 am afraid got injured thereby. As to myself, I managed to climb oyer the top rail with groat difficulty, and slipped down the ship's side with the others.' On getting into the water I struck out absolutely for all I was ■worth, to escape the suction of the sinking vessel. After swimming furiously for three or four minutes I turned round and found I was only three yards from the ship—l could almost touch it. 1 suppose tbe suction had drawn me tiark- I struck olit again, and this time cot clear, but could not resist the temptation to turn round and have a look at th« poor old, ship.. , It ,was . one of ,the, saddest sights t hav© ever seen ia my/life, and I never

want to see another like it. There was iust the stern of the vessel with the two propellers and the rudder sticking out of the water and plainly outlined against the sky. AD this time a very loud hissing noise was coming from the sinking warship. I suppose this was t]ie air escaping under tho tremendous pressure. Sharp sounds were constantly heard from the interior of the vessel caused by the engine ana other heavy materials slipping out of their places. I expected to_ hoar tho explosion of some of the 12in. shells, but could not detect this amongst the other noises.

A Cruiser to the Rescue. The vessel then disappeared entirely, and i turned my attention to saving myself. I had only got on my pyjamas, and after standing for over two hours in the terribly cold, wind on the deck. 1 can assure you, strange as it may appear, that I did not feel.it cold in the water. It was ccrtainly warmer than in the cold air on the slnj), and I was quite glad to get there.- Ail around me in tlio water I could see the heads of my comrades who were swimming and supporting themselves on pieces of wood. Many were injured, as their groans testified. and it was. with heartfelt gladness that I noticed a cruiser, which had soon the end of the Formidable, como up. 1 struck out for her. . A ropeladder was lowered to us, and I was just able, to climb up it with some others. Some men wore hauled up :n a noose. Tho rescued men were at once taken into the sick bay. and given a cup of brandy, after which they were carried off to the wardroom and the cabins, where they wero wrapped in blankets. . , As to the launch and pinnae© and the two other boats which were_ lowered, they must have been carried away by the 'wind; They were put into ths water about an hour before the vormidablo sank and before_ any men jumped into the water. If they had. had their full complement of oars jhey would have, done very good work indeed. but. in their crippled .condition, owing to their broken, oars, they wore greatly handicapped. _ In view of the large-number of officers who have been saved I should iike to say that every one of them was picked up out of the water except the two who were, landed, at Bnxham, and those were presumably acting under orders, being charge of the boats. 1 As to the conditions on board when the first explosion occurred, _I hava said there was no panic. The men who were on duty were lucky, as they had their clothes on, whereas those who were turned out of their hammocks were in sleeping garments, and very little could be'done for them. Pienty of blankets were available, and. the men! made good use of these, .when it ■was known that the ship was .sinking a few enterprising fellows raided tho canteen and brought up two_ boxes of cigarettes. These were served out, and greatly soothed the recipients. .

Captain Lexley's Fate. Captain Loxloy went down with his ship, according to British custom. The last I saw of him was when- he was standing on. the boat-deck shouting to the men to -get into the water. The ship sank by the head, and the suction would be so great that I do not think the captain could possibly escape being drawn down. Yes. it's rather'alarming to.be suddenly awakened and to know that you are going down, but we were- buoyed up with the hope that the vessel would not sink. For halt an hour she did not make any list, but, of course, in cases of this kind it is always a question as to how long the bulkheads will last. If the weathor had been better I believe the vessel would have floated.