THE MATSUSHIMA EXPLOSION

Rangitikei Advocate and Manawatu Argus, Volume XXXIV, Issue 9163, 5 June 1908, Page 2

THE MATSUSHIMA EXPLOSION

A GRAPHIC STORY. ~ HEROISM OP OFFICERS AND MEN. United Press Association. —Hy Electric Telegraph.—Copyright. Received June 4, 10.6 a.m. Sydney, June 4. The Herald’s Hons Kong correspondent supplies of tlm explosion in the alter magaßine oi the Japanese training ship Matsushima which visited Australia a year or two ago. Three cruisers were off the Pescadores Isles. At four in the morning nearly all were asleep on board the Matsushima when the alter magazine exploded and within live minutes the bow rose and she went under water in a smother of foam. Of 461 officers and men only 3 officers and 336 men secaped.

BLUEJACKET GIVES THE ALARM.

The bluejacket, whose only it was to strike the hours on the ship’s bell, noticed a thin wreath of smoke from the deck magazine and at the same instant smelt a peculiar odour. He ran to the officer on duty, who hurried down towards the magazine asking for a light. The thorouguly ala r mod sailor ran lor a lantern, calling out Eire! Eire! As he reached the fifth, gun there was a deafeniug explosion and a choking rush of smoko and flames. He crept on with difficulty to the upper deck over which water was already coming. The rooms occupied by the midshipmen were blazing furiously and the aftorpart of the cruiser was enveloped in smoke and flame. Explosions followed one another in rapid succession amid volumes of flame and smoke aft. The bodies of officers and men were seen to be blown up into the air, some to the height of a hundred feet. The magazine was situated just below the rooms of the junior officers, Which were surrounded by the senior officers’ quarters. The cadets were on the second deck and the bluejackets amidships. s° terrible was the explosion that the stern was smashed. Every officer in the stern was killed. A surgeon lieutenant, who as in a lavatory and two officers, who were on shore, are the remaining representatives of the Matsushima’s officers. MEETING DEATH LIKE HEROES. Tiie cadets behaved with coolness amounting almost to recklessness. Most scorned ..to fight with their friends to escape on deck and quietly awaited results. If the cadets displayed stoicism the bluejackets showed the grim exaltation which is probably peculiarly Japanese. The explosion threw the sailors in the middle of the ship out of hammocks and as they scrambled on to their feet mingled fames and water rushed in and the stench of gunpowder was suffocating. Some Japanese placed handkerchiefs over their mouth and wtided to the portholes. These portholes enabled a few to escape, but the water rose so rapidly that the majority were drowned or suffocated. In their last moments the sailors shouted a Japanese war song and tiie survivors heard two loud “Bauzais” then a third faint, hardly perceptible, cheer. After that the cruiser sank. The terrible swiftness of the disaster prevented sufficient help .being rendered.