EXPLOSION ON A BATTLESHIP.

Rangitikei Advocate and Manawatu Argus, Volume XXXI, Issue 8764, 15 March 1907, Page 2

EXPLOSION ON A BATTLESHIP.

Proas Association—Copyright. Paris, Mareh 14.

Experts are amazed at the com-1 pleteness of the destruction oaused by fire on the Jena. Ten guns were ruined and only the bow pair were unharmed. . M. Berthelot considers that the fall of a shell or torpedo, or any violent shock would suffice to explode the powder. Paris, Maroh 14. The Missiessy basin has been emptied again. , The Jena is now lying on the blocks and is supported by the shores. Tb.e"fore part is intact, but the after part is seriously damaged. An enormous hole in the bottom to starboard enabled the gasss to escape, otherwise she would have been completely destroyed. The armour, screws and rudder are uninjured, but the iron floorings are twisted into strange shapes. The killed and missing are now estimated at 118. All the European rulers telegraphed expressing sympathy to M. Fallieres. Les. Debats suggested that the disaster was due to malevolence.

While shattering the dock gates and flooding the Jena's interior prevented the explosion of the principal magazine, it drowned the helpless wounded on the lower deeks.

It is expected the Jena will be repaired for coast defence or training purposes. The Chamber and the Senate adjourned to-day as a mark of sorrow. Twenty-nino of the Jena's crow died in the hospital. Fifty corpses were found piled in one passage.