On the Sea

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXV, Issue 3, 5 January 1915, Page 5

On the Sea

GERMAN SUBMARINE NEAR THE DOGGER BANK. (Bt Eliotrio Tbergraph — United Press Association. (Received 8.40 a.in.) | Amsterdam, January 4. | The Bremen Weserzestuad publishes a letter from a sailor on a submarine in which it is related that a submarine was cruising near the Dogger Bank on Christmas Day, when it was scared off by a British cruiser which attempted to ram it.

(The Dogger Bank is a, sandbank in the North Sea, between England and Denmark. It is a valuable fishing ground. In 1904, the Russian Baltic fleet while eri route for Eastern waters, fired on English trawlers.)

WHAT DOES THIS MEAN? (Received 8.40 a.m.) New York, January 4. One of the German shipping companies has informed its clients that it will resume the sailings in the spring. LAST OF THE FORMIDABLE. London, January 4. The last words Captain Loxley was heard to utter were : “Steady, men! It’s all right. No panic. Be British !” The captain’s dog stood at his side as the Formidable sank. The missile missed the magazine by 10 feet, and entered the dynamoroom, and rendered the wireless useless. Some of the crew wrapped their clothes round the midshipmen. The order was: “Boys first, .all the way!” accounting for the rescue of so many of them.

AN OFFICER'S EXPERIENCE. London, January 4. An officer of the H.M.S. Formidable states: “I was sleeping in my hammock and was awakened hy a tremendous crash. An inrush of water flooded the hoiler-ropms, stopping the electric light and steam-power. The men worked in such an orderly manner that four boats svere got away, each manned by its own crew. The men on the nnper deck were ordered to collect all pieces of wood. A second explosion a quarter of an hour later seemed to have been caused by the boilers bursting, and a trenmendous amount of wreckage and ashes was shot out of the funnels. A great inrush of water almost righted the vessel. There was not the slightest panic. The men, scantily clothed, stood for a long' time on the upper deck in the biting wind each with a piece of woodwork. Everyone thought the ship would hold out. Then came the terrible list, and after an uncomfortable three-quarters of an hour the captain left the bridge and exclaimed. ‘lnto the water with you. She’s going.’ The vessel was then nearlv flat on her side. Hundreds climbed over the rails on the upper side and stood in two ranks awaiting orders, when the captain shouted, ‘l’ll slide down into the sea,’ and the others slipped hack on the starboard side. Many were injured by the turrets. I could hear the groans in the water. The last I saw of Captain Loxley he was rturning on the boatdeck shouting to the men to get into the water. Then the vessel sank by the head, and the captain was sucked down.”

“DIED FROM EXPOSURE." London, January 4. At the inquest on .the Formidable’s victims at Lyme Regis, the verdict was that they died from exposure. Bing, a petty officer, gave evidence that he was in the turret at the time, and thought the explosion was gunfire. BRITISH PUBLIC CONFIDENT. (Received 8.-15 a.m.) London, January 4. The loss of the Formidable was received by the public with unruffled feelings, the cost of annihilating German trade by bottling up the fleet having been lower than the most sanguine anticipated.