MIDDY'S VIVID STORY.

King Country Chronicle, Volume IX, Issue 742, 3 February 1915, Page 3

MIDDY'S VIVID STORY.

Following ia a copy of. a letter whicb has been received from a midshipman on service on one of bis Majesty's ships which was in the vitkity when the explosion took place on his Majesty's ship Bulwark.

Words cannot deszribs tb.3 fearful BuddenneEa or the appalling enormity of the Bulwark affair. The Bulwark, as you probably know, was a ship in every way identical with this one, with 12in armour and goodness knows what not, but had she been made of card-board the disintegration could hardly have been more complete. I wes half-way down one of the messdeck hatchway from the upper deck, when. I felt an enormous concussion of air in my ears, and an inßtant later a noißs that can only be described as simply deafening filled the air

"Man and arm ship" "Close watertight doors," "Away all boats" was piped, for it was very naturally supposed that either a submarine or a Zeppelin had done this fearful damage. Two seconds " later, when I had raced up to the boat deck, I could Bee nothing but smoke and debris hurtling skyward. Such smoke I have never seen in my life before—inky black, and filling the entire sky. A fierce, blinding flaßh, the explosion of 300 tons of. powerful explosive, an ear-splitting roar and a deadly shower of debris, timber, coal, twisted metal fragments, burning pieces of wood and human remains, charred beyond all recognition—that is Low the Navy lost 750 men and a I £1,000,000 battleship. In less than thirty seconds 15.000 tons of steel were blasted to pieces —all that was left at high water being the anchor cable, which still held a mass of what had once been the bows of a battleship to the buoy. An ever-widening circle of wreckage and corpses marked the site of the disaster. Myriads of boats put out all along the shore to save, but they might well have known that they could expect to find but very few alive. About six corpses, too horribly mutilated for description, were hoisted on board; all bore fearful wounds and burns, and I should think were quite unrecognisable. Floating past the side went all that remained of the Bulwark; portions of the deck, chests of drawers, clothing of all descirption', charred and blackened by the appalling heat. A lieutenant-commander"s full dress coat and a midshipman's jacket went past side by side, cloßely followed by a, tattered blue ensign. A wooden box was fished up, and was found to contain the ship's silver communion plate absolutely unhurt. Destroyers and trawlers seemed to arrive from nowhere, and all the shipping in the harbour was stopped. I being midshipman of the watch was told to search all craft that came alongside in response to our orders. I, therefore, spent a most, unexciting morning rooting about the holds of private vessels of all descriptions. "Familiarity breeds contempt," and a little contempt goes a very long way with lyddite, doesn't it? This is a catastophe I can never forget.