THE TORPEDO EXPLOSION OFF QUEENSOLIFF.

Kumara Times, Issue 1395, 22 March 1881, Page 2

THE TORPEDO EXPLOSION OFF QUEENSOLIFF.

The Melbourne cor respondent of the Daily Times furnishes that journal with the following account of the torpedo explosion on the sth instant:—"With the view of exercising the crew of the ironclad Cerberus in the duties of active warfare, it has been customary to take that vessel for a cruise down Port Philip Bay at stated intervals, and there to put the men through a course of torpedo practice, gunnery, <fcc. One of these excursions has resulted in a shocking catastrophe, which has cast quite a gloom over the community. The " official " practice had been successfully completed late on last Saturday ~ afternoon (a number of torpedoes had been exploded, and other experiments carried out without mishap, and Captain Maudeville, the Commander of the Cerberus, and the second officer had left the vessel to attend an open-air concert, to be given at Queenscliff by the Cerberus band), when someone suggested that something should be done for the amusement of the spectators, on board and on shore. Of course, what was meant that hitherto only small charges had been fired, and consequently the spectators had seen nothing to give them a sufficiently vivid idea of the terribly destructive powers of torpedoes. Their cuviosity was destined to be satisfied in a manner that they will never foi-get. An old zinc powder case was nearly filled with 701 b of gunpowder, a little wet gun-cotton was added to get rid of it—the gunner remarking jocularly that " it will all go up " —and a small piece of dynamite. I will not here repeat in datail the circumstances leading up to the tragic event that followed, for no doubt your readers have alreads perused them, but it will suffice to say that a crew of six men got into the captain's gig, intending to explode the torpedo a safe distance from the ship, and thus throw up a fine volume —♦ of water for the amusement of those on • - " shore. While the officers and crew- of the Cerberus were, iu the absence of their commander, thus playing at warfare, the spectators on shore were appropriately enjoying some favorite selections from the popular musical burlesque with which all are familiar. A ( loud explosion was suddenly heard, and looking seawards,; f we. are, told, . " the spectators were amazed at seeipg the

fragments of a boat, and what appeared to be the limbs of men thrown into the air amid a vast upheaval of water. The dreadful character of the disaster Was not at first realised, a number of people believing that a boat filled with " dummies " had been blown up. tinFortunately this was a delusion. Immediately the truth was known, the band played the " Dead March/' and returned to their ship. What occasioned this appal ing catastrophe is by ho meanß clear. The torpedo was pat over the boat's side, but one of the oars fouled the wire connecting it with the Iship, and it was while two of the crew tvere trying to free it again that the explosion took place. The body of R. S. Groves, the gunoer in charge, was hailed into the air 100 ft, and turned over three or four times before it fell. The surface of the sea seemed covered with fragments ot flesh aud clothing, and the water was discolored with blood. Three of the poor fellows comprising the crew were literally blown to atoms, and are simply entered on the ship's rolls as " missing," while the bodies of the two others were recovered in a mangled condition. Only.one of the crew—Jasper—escaped ; how, is a mystery to all. A few minutes before the accident one of the seamen jocularly remarked to him. "By Jove, Jasper, you are in the best place if there Is a blow up,'' and.this strange prediction proved correct; Jasper was blown into the air,, but beyond sustaining a severe" shock, and bruises to his legs and other trivial ir. juries, escaped unhurt from the explosion. When he fell into the sea he quickly recovered his senses, and struck out for the ship, but would probably have been drowned had not Mr A. Houston, a tenant of the Naval Torpedo Corps, jumped overboard »nd swam to his as* Isistance. It was a veritable blood bath. As he swam, a man's heart floated by fend touched his face, and altogether the water was in such a dreadful state that he was almost overcome. However he bravely persevered, and succeeded in Bavingr Jasper's life. Who is responsible for the tragic event has not yet been solved, but one thing must be patent to-all—that such terribly destructive agents aB torpedoes are not the instruments with which to delight a holiday gathering. A few years ago, at a review on Fiemington .racecourse, a man was blown into atoms b> a mine, and the spectators cheered lustily, thinking it was a dummy sent aloft for their amusement.