A Battleship at Large.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume XLVII, Issue 7961, 26 October 1905, Page 2

A Battleship at Large.

It battleships were sentient beings I bat could use their weapons without human control, -they would surely lie dangerous beasts to be at largo.'and even as it. is, with nothing but sheer bulk to count on, a battleship that has 'broken loose may inflict enormous 'damage. A few weeks, ago the battleship Dominion. went adrift in rortsiinouiHi Harbour. She was moored, sn.vs the Tlaily Mail, off the North Corner, amid quite a fleet of other vessels, t'he King's yacht, ' the Victoria and Albert, being her nearest neighbour. Just after s'o'clock thv. outlooks on t'he other ships saw to their consternation that t'he Dominion ba<l broken loose. She u'ei'glhs 15.G00 tons, and she was being driven b.v t'he t ide donwii upon the other vessels The massive chain securing her to her buoy bail snapped under the heavy •train thrown upon it.

As soon as the 'alarm was sounded «Iw>arcl t'lio errant. battleship hv.r crow were tui-nwl out, and she dropped anchor 'as quickly as possible. This caused't he Dmnirni.oiv "to swing round, so that she struck the gunboat. Airt, lying near. Being a y«ry sturdy lilt It? vessel, Hie Ant bore the impact well. Her m/niring' stanchions, however, were swept 'down by the Tlominioifs boom, and the force, of the collision sent 1 lie Ant and her mooring liuoy floating down stream. A priTatc yacht was lying near at hand, anil st ra'igilt npon: thus byre ihe leviathan hull of the Dominion. Several ladies who were -aboard the vnchl were paralysed with terror as I hey saw the huge grey mass drawing near. The yacht's crew could not get out of tlie way, ami their tiny craft was crumpled up like an, eggshell where the lloniinion touched it.' Ho badly was the yacht damaged that she hail to lie at once removed, and her occupants taken aboard the halt lesliip. Still sweeping on the Dominion crashed full into the King's yacht Alberta, which was struck oil ihe starboard 1 quarter, her bulwarks iieing smashed anil her paddles in jun.nl.

The yacht's injuries are so serious that it to considered doubtful whetliar she will be repaired. But. as tire King 'had (already 'decided to have l.ec broken up in about a year hence, when his new turbine yacht will he readv t'hci l,o*s is :ndli very serious, Eventually the nil a mudbank, andwas recaptured by