ON THE SEA.

Taihape Daily Times, 24 January 1918, Page 5

ON THE SEA.

SINKING THE REWA.

SUBMARINE NOT SEEN. LONDON, Jan 10. Describing the sinking of the hospital ship Rewa in the Bristol Channel at midnight on January 4, the Admiralty report states that the torpedo struck the Rewa amidships, but the submarine was not seen.

A member of the crew stated: We considered that we were out of the danger zone, and the ship was lighted up. The concussion extinguished the lights. There was no time to save personal belongings. The moon had risen. Magnificent order prevailed. Two or three of the boats were destroyed by the explosion. Most of the patients were from the East, many of them suffering from malaria. They had a terrible experience exposed in open boats and cn rafts for three hours. The boats were used for the stretcher cases, and the wounded who could walk had to be content with rafts which were repeatedly soaked by the waves Ten minutes after the last boat left the Rewa, whi»h was sinking evenly, she suddenly plunged below bow foremost and disappeared. The boats kept close together awaiting rescue. When this arrived 550 were transferred from the boats to ships within an hour, j The Spanish representative, who Is | carried on all hospital ships as a guar- ■ antce that they are employed for hos- | pital work alone, had left the Rewa i at Gibraltar.

TWO STEAMERS SUNK. SEVEN HUNDRED LIVES LOST. Received 9.15. NEW YORK, January 23. Two steamers have been sunk in the Mediterranean, and 700 lives lost.

LOSS Cl 1 THE WAR SPITE _ THE VESSEL BURNED BY BOYSS LONDON, January 22. Throe of the Warspito boys, Ernest Adams',. Frederick Flogg, and Harold Gurr, were charged at Hartford with igniting the Warspito. The police gave evidence that Blogg admitted Hus guilt.’’ Adams told the police that he saw a heap of wood in the vessel’s hold, and that Blogg ignited the heap.