On the Sea

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXXI, Issue 39, 13 September 1916, Page 5

On the Sea

LOSS OF ITALIAN WARSHIP. Press Association—Copyright, Australian and N.Z. Cable Association. London, September 12. The Daily Chronicle's Home correspondent states that the. catastrophe to the Leonardo da Vinci occurred in Taranto Harbor at midnight. An explosion in the munition department tore a hole forty feet square in the M(le of the battleship. Hoping to avert further disaster the commander ordered the bulkheads to bo opened and the ship scuttled. Twenty-one officers and 227 of the crew sacrificed their lives in obeying this order. Thirteen officers and men landed in torpedo boats, many being wounded. The rest swam ashore, including the commander who succumbed to his injuries later. An official statement regarding the sinking of the dreadnought Leonardo da Vinci on August 2nd, shows that the lire broke out near the munition store. The ship was flooded, but the explosion caused her to sink in forty feet of water. The committee appointed to inquire as to the best means of raising the ship, and as to the possibility of internal foul play reports that the inquiry disproved that the fire was caused by external enemy action.