On the Sea

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXV, Issue 68, 23 March 1915, Page 5

On the Sea

IN THE DARDANELLES. , OUR FRENCH CONFRERES. ■FRANCE’S UNSHAKEN DETERMINATION TO SEE IT THROUGH. HONOR OF THE TRICOLOR UP- | HELD. Times and Sydney Sun Service. (Received 8 a.m.) London, March 22. The French press unanimously records the Nation’s unshaken determination to carry through the operations at the Dardanelles. It was not expectthat they would succeed without losses. France and Britain had plighted j their word that both will sail to Constantinople. The arrival of the greater I part of the French Expeditionary Force will make the task easier. Official reports are reticent regarding the number, disposition and achievements of the landing parties. The French Admiralty report emphasised the important brilliant part played by the French division. The French had been given the honor of attacking the forts at close 1 range. Rear-Admiral Quepratte telegraphs: “The honor of the Flag was fully upheld, though it was dearly purchased by the loss of the Bouvet.”

DARDANELLES OPERATIONS'. BRITISH CASUALTIES 81. London, March 22. The Admiralty announces that unfavorable weather interrupted operations in the Dardanelles. The amount of damage to the forts as a result of Thursday’s bombardment is not ascertainable. Owing to the losses caused by drifting mines the attack was not pressed to a conclusion, but the power of the fleet to dominate the fortresses by superior lire seems to be established.

Various other dangers and difficulties were encountered, but nothing happened to justify the belief that the cost of the undertaking will exceed what was always expected and was provided for. The British casualties in personnel were 61 killed, wounded and missing.

Acting Vice-Admiral de Robeck telegraphed to the Admiralty testifying to the splendid behaviour of the French squadron, which, undaunted by the heavy loss sustained in the sinking of the battleship Bouvet, was led into close action by Rear-Admiral Quepratte with the greatest gallantry. (Rear-Admiral J. M. de Robeck, according to Nelson's 1914 Year Book, was in command of the patrol flotillas attached to the Eastern Fleet).

WITNESSING AN INFERNO. Times and Sydney Sun Sebvioe. London, March 21. The Daily Mail correspondent, giving his impressions of the bombardment of the Dardanelles, as seen from a high hill at a distance of fifteen miles, says:— “Up the narrow neck between Chanak and Kilid Bahr the largest vessels of the Allied fleet passed up and down for over four hours, hurling with sheets of orange flame from their heavy guns a constant succession of shells on the fort. The Turkish batteries, with decreasing frequency, flashed back their replies, many shots falling harmlessly into the sea. The ships turned and passed along this stretch of two miles, incessantly bombarding the two sides of the narrows alternately. It is easy to imagine wliat an inferno was in progress below ns, with its blinding flashes and discharges, deafening explosions, screams of great shells nearly a ton weight, which could he seen actually hurling through the air, the rattle of the enemy’s shots falling in the water causing torrential splashes, and hits thudding on the armored sides of the ships—all terrible manifestations of man’s, power of scientific destruction.

“The action slackened at 3.45, the five ships steaming homewards, one showing white froth on the port side, where the pumps were working. At 4.30 the forts ceased fire and the day’s action was over.”

THE AMETHYST’S DASH. United Pbebu Association. Malta, March 20. The object of the Amethyst’s dash was to cut the Kilicl Bahr to Chanak cable. She succeeded, but was detected, and when she began the return journey she was obliged to run the gauntlet of several forts. OPERATIONS WELL IN HAND. ANGLO-FRENCH MUST CO THROUGH AT ALL COSTS. (Received 9.10 a.m.) London, March 22. The Daily Chronicle, referring to the naval losses in the Dardanelles, says: “In no respect do they affect the ultimate success of the operations, and wo can well hear them. Happily the operations are well in hand.” The Daily News’ naval expert says: “These vessels would not have been sent to the Mediterranean if we could nob well spare them from the North Sea. Among the oldest we have are there, and the fact that there is at least one of the very newest of our ships there shows that the naval position in Home waters is not giving Admiral Fisher (First Sea Lord), any cause for anxiety. It is necessary to remember above all that in the past it was regarded as impossible that ships could attack modern forts successfully. It is obvious in any case that the Anglo-French have now to get through the Dardanelles at all costs.”

THE BLOCKADE.

GERMAN’S PIRATICAL SEIZURE OF CARGO OF OIL.

United Press Association. (Received 10 a.m.) Copenhagen, March 22. The Bryssel has been released, but the Germans seized the cargo.

(A Paris cablegram of 13th inst. stated that the Norwegian steamer Rryssel, oil-laden, from America to Stockholm, which the British had previously examined, had been released, the authorities being satisfied with the genuineness of the cargo’s destination). THE GERMAN BLOCKADE, London, March 22. The seizure of the Zuanstroon and Batavier by the U2B has aroused consternation and anger in shipping circles. There were sixteen Belgians aboard, and these were taken prisoners. A German aeroplane threw two bombs at the Dutch steamer Zevenbergen in the North Sea, but missed. The vessel teorpedoed off Beachy Head was the Carntoff, coal laden, from the Tyne to Genoa. She sank while a destroyer was towing her to Newhaven. The crew is safe.

i THE RIGHT TO SEARCH. The following letter appeared in the Washington Post on January 3. The writer is Colonel James Morris Morgan, who was a United States naval officer, but joined the Southern States at the outbreak of the Civil war: — The Editor, Post,—Before allowing their indignation to reach white heat, on account of the inconvenience to which their ships are subjected by British cruisers, would it not be well for Americans to examine the records of their own Courts of Admiralty between the years 1861-5, and see what American cruisers did to suspected British vessels? Of course, no English ship intending to run the blockade cleared for a northern port; but, if at Bermuda or Nassau they registered their port of destination as Halifax. or some other supposedly neutral port, did they save them from search by American men of war? Not much! If their draught was sufficiently light to enable them to enter the harbour of Charleston orWilmington they were incontinently seized on the high seas and carried to a northern port, where they were sold, and the prizemoney divided.

During the latter part of the civil war blockade runners belonging to British owners did not carry any cargoes whatever to the south, as it was more advantageous to them to carry a little gold to buy what cotton they wanted; but the fact of being empty did not save them from capture and condemnation! I distinctly remember the case of the Georgia, (a vessel in which I once served). She was a merchant steamer called the Japan, and was bought by the Confederates. After a trial of a little more than a year it was found that she was not suited for a commercial destroyer, and she was sold. A British subject by the name of Jones bough her, through an agent, in good faith. He then entered into a contract with the Portuguese Government to carry mails between Lisbon and the Cape de Verde Islands. She left Liverpool for the purpose of fulfilling her obligation, and when she arrived off the mouth of the Tagus she was taken possession of by the TT.S. sloop of war Niagara and sent to Boston—and that was the last the Englishman ever saw of his ship or his money. Instances of British merchant vessels ostensibly on voyage from one British port to another, but suspected of an ulterior design to run the blockade, which were captured by U.S. warships, are too numerous to mention, so it would be well if Americans went a little slowly on the indignation business.

THE WARSHIP AUDACIOUS. Interesting light upon the many conflicting reports circulated, chiefly from German and other foreign sources, about the disappearance of the warship Audacious, which the Germans claimed to have sunk in the Irish Sea several weeks ago, is thrown by a letter recently received by an Aucklander from a friend in England, an employee in one of the shipbuilding yards on the Clyde (says the Auckland Star). It will be remembered that the Audacious was reported to have mysteriously and suddenly disappeared,, and the story was circulated that she had been sunk by a mine or a torpedo off the north-west coast of Ireland. An air of mystery surrounded the whole affair, and a great deal of comment was aroused in the press all over tiie world, chiefly in America, some papers going so far as to elaborate upon the report by publishing half-paage photographs of the sinking of the battleship. The matter appealed all the more strange on account of the refusal of the British Admiralty to give any information or particulars on the subject. The writer of the letter states that the warship concerned was built in the yards in which he is employed, and only a few days prior to the report of her loss, set sail on her trial trip before being handed over to the Admiralty. She returned some time later. and was (locked while repairs were made to her hull. The ship had apparently been damaged in action. Possibly the fact that the vessel had not been taken over by the Admiralty from the contractors accounts for the otherwise mysterious silence of the British naval authorities in the matter.