ABOARD THE PHILOMEL

Dominion, Volume 6, Issue 2456, 8 May 1915, Page 6

ABOARD THE PHILOMEL

NEW ZEALAND CRUISER'S

ADVENTURES

SHELLING THE TURKS (By Telcjraph.—Press Association.) Auckland, May 7. Interesting details of the operations of the New Zealand cruiser Philomel since the outbreak of hostilities are contained in a diary posted to an Auck-. land resident by one of thoso on board the vessel. The diary shows incidentally that the vessel did not take part in the Suez Canal engagement, but encountered the Turks ndar Alexandrettii in the angle formed by Asia Minor and Syria. The Philomel was in Wellington wlifcn news of tlie outbreak of war was received, and on August 5 moved out into the stream and cleared for action. The writer states that the reserves were' called up,_ and on August 7 extra coal and provisions _ were taken on board, and volunteers joined the ship. On August 8 t'he Philomel left Wellington. Looking for the Enemy. On December 9 the Philomel went to Mocha, ' an Asiatic seaport, to deal with natives who had fired on a boat and wounded three marines. The town was bombarded and three scows in the harbour were damaged. February s.—Wo arrived at Alcxandretta, a Turkish seaport on tho angle between Asia Minor and Syria, and cruised along the.coast and started shelling tlie Turkish trenches with lyddite and shrapnel. We blew a blockhouse to picces—good shooting. On February 6 we cruised around and sighted a signal towor and that also was soon in pieces. We sighted Turkish trcops on tlie hills, but they waited for only two rounds of shrapnel. February 7.—Found somo more trenches, and cleared them up and shelled the lines of communication, railway and telegraph lines, and blazed away at the Turks, again doiug some good shooting. A Busy Day With the Turks. February 8. —Discovered the enemy in a fortress at "Jonah's Castle," and lowered a sea boat to ascertain what a camel and mule caravan was carrying. The leading Turks at once ran into the hills and left all their gear. On our men going to search, they were received by a hot fire from Turkish troops entrenched only a few yards away. One man went along and searched the pack mules under a hot fire. One mule was shot, and falling against a post offered some protection. The party returned on board at dark. All the time tho party was on shore we on hoard were pumping 4.7 shells into the Turks, doing terrible damage, for we were only 1300 yards off. One shrapnel shell fell in Hie middle of a group of about a dozen, and needless to say there were not many pieces left to collect. The party returned with one killed (William Stanbury); four _ wounded, and one (J. T. Moreton) missing. A volunteer party went ashore to find the lost man, the first attempt being unsuccessful. They returned successful from a second attempt at '2.30 a.m., Moreton being badly wounded. One of tlie wounded men, William Edward Knowles, died in the early hours of February 9. February 10. —Moreton died while the action was on. A Well Earned Rest. February 13, 14, and 15—Having a wcli-eanied rest. February 16.—Relieved by another cruiser, and left for Port Said. March 1. —Left Port Said for guard' duty, returning a fortnight later. We liavo covered about 30,000 piles, or near it, since wo left Auckland. That alone will tako a lot of beating by any ship in the Navy. So you will see that you New Zealandors have something to talk about after all. I often heard, remarks in Auckland such as: "Oh, what a small ship," but she is as capable as a good many more ships of a later class.