AN EYE=WITNESS.

Pukekohe & Waiuku Times, Volume 5, Issue 209, 15 September 1916, Page 3 (Supplement)

AN EYE=WITNESS.

REMARKABLE NARATIVE. The following letter is addressed by the baker of H.M.S. an ew-wtness of the great battle, to the head teacher and children of h's old school, Longwick, Bucks : My dear Miss Watson and Children —I guess you are expecting a few lines about the great action. On Wednesday afternoon we sudden iy had the news the enemy was not very far alidad; our next report was that our battle-cruisers and fast battleships were very heavily engaged with the enemy, not far ahead. We dd not, personally speaking, place much value on this, for we have been very close on many other occasions and had been doomed to disappo'ntment. Shortlv after this heavy cannonading could be plainly heard, and soon we appeared on th.e scene of action.

At the time 1 had 3601b. of dough proving (rising) : n the t : ns, and as my bakehouse is situated on the upper deck it is very exposed. Aiy orders wore to leave it and get under cover below armour as soon as the position became critical. Twenty minutes before we commenced action, or, I should say, opened fire, I wont to the commander and obtained permission to reman "n the bakehouse until the last moment, which was the firing of the first gun. This order giave me the opportunty of witnessing trie opening of the battle fleetaction

While my dough was proving in the tins I went out on the quarter-deck and witnessed a most magn'ticent spectacle, one never to be forgotten. The whole vsible horizon, which was not more than four miles, was one long blaze ol flame; the hulls of the .enemy's ships were not visible to the naked eye, but could be seen dimly through the haze with the telescope, and the only means Ave had of knowing the enemy was there by spurts of flame from the enemy's guns. I was so intensely interested that 1 could not realise the risk until observing a cru'ser near on hue.

SAVING MY BREAD. 1 went back to the bakehouse and endeavoured to save nrr batch of bread. My staff, which consists of three men. had gone down under cover. The tire party by this time had orders to extinguish my fire: the dough required at le:ist twenty minutes more proof. But being very loath to waste the material and labour, I put the tins in the oven and chanced to luck, if it was possible to save it later, though my super:or officer had given me orders to leave everything \at any critical time. Having done this I hastened down below. By the time I got to my stnt:on we were in the thick of it. Several m'nutes later 1 got out a book to read, entitled "The Meditations of Marcus Aurelius," and had not read much when we. received the news that the Invincible had gone down and we were passing close by her. A few minutes later we got the reprt of a second ship blown up, and then a third. The next report was that the ship next to us was on fire, but this was quickly got under. Needless to bay, no more readii;^. Shoitly after soino enemy's destroyers appeared suddenly out of the mist to attack the ship. We opened lire with our ant : -torpedo armament, and the leading destroyer was observed to he hit and to catch' fire aft. She quickly after was observed to turn over. At the same time one of our heavy guns fired at the same line of destroyers, and when the smoke and splash of the project'le had cleared away the second boat in the line was missing. The others took to flight and disappeared m the mist. This shows you the awful havoc of modern gunfire. At the same time we were blazing away |f.t a battle-c-rn'sor, wlrch was observed to be heavily on tire and stationary.

After about two hours' engagement there came a short lull. It was known that the enemy's battle fleet had turned hack and left their battle-cruisers to their fate- to avod coming into contact with our whole fleet. Shortly after this we had to take cover, as our main armament had opened fife at what was supposed to be the Derffhnger

BAKED WITHOUT KIRK. I discovered just before going to :nv action station that my batih of bread had actually baked without any fire, and turned out fairly creditably. And though we did not know how long the bakehouse would remain intact 1 was anxious to save it, knowing full well we. nrght be glad of it if anything happened. . I went to my action station, luring had commenced agan. but 1 requested the fleet surgaon to allow me to go and draw my oven: he was very reluctant. but eventually consented, at my own risk. I asked for two volunteers out of our staff, and without ;any hesitation two came forward. Of course, oiir risk was no greater than any other s, hut I toil you tn's to show the sprit that prevailed. No one seemed excited: everyone 1 met seemed perfectly cool, as though we were carrying out an ordinary evolution; in fact, we lad a gramophone playing some of the timer Tlrs engagement did not last very long, and darkness Ret in—the most anxious time for a battle fleet. We witnessed several attacks ot tlu; enemv's torpedo craft. We saw one ol the enemy's light cruisers blown clean out of the'water in one of these attacks, just astern of us. Our l ; ght cm sers and destroyers did some wonderful work that night; the;; kept our battle fleet safe; not one ship was hit; But one must pay tribute to tha enemy; they arc brave men and fought splendidly. Several instance.- were observed during the battle wnero their vessel was awash and they blazed away with one gun. It is a pity their battle fleet di i not show some of this spirit. The gun flashes, searchrghts, star-shells (wirch the cnomy use), and the explosion? made a grand but terrible spectacle, for we realised hundreds of brave men were going to their doom. But we did not sctm t realise the full extent of the danger; I suppose we had waited so long to get at th)ein H was in the hlood and we wanted (to square accounts, a< it were.

A MIDNIGHT " HATCH'. Tin it was not much sleep in the sh:o that night. I made a hatch of doue.li at midnight and then lay down on the bakers with my life-saving belt on. ■ thought at the time one might just as well sleep as keep awake, for should anything happen there would not bo much chance of being saved in such a night as that. I had a couple of hours' refreshing sleep. We were all alert as the dawn broke and 1 went on deck aga'n. It was ;) beautiful morning. Half an hour after dawn w ( > heard verv heavy cannonading, and half an hour later we saw the cause of the gunfire, for dropping from the clouds from the south-west was a l«rge Zeppelin. W<bad a lovely view; til's was tho first one a. great many of us had seen : it was visibly for about fifteen minutes, and it manoeuvred very gracefully. It received a very warm reception from ou ■ battle fleet.' We fired our heavy guns at it, and it was last seen crossing the rays of the rising sun and d : sappe,aring

in the clouds. This little scrap was wry imposing from a spectacular point of view. We patrolled the battle ground for many hours after this, as we heard one of the enemy's battle-cruisers was helplessly adrift, but 1 think she must have sunk. This patrolling was the most pathetic incident during tile whole business, for we were constantly passing wreckage and dead bodies, either floating or on raits—comrades and foes. Tils is what goes home to you ; but one docs not grumble if one has the spirit of a Briton. One feels proud they havf clone their b : t and taken their chance. The battle-crusers fought the whole German Navy until we came on the »eene of action ! This, I think, is worthy of all our traditions; they have only scratched Britain's sure shield; we hope to strike home next time if th ? elements are favourable to us. With every good wish, I remain, vours sinccrelv dune 6, 1916. H.M.S.