ACCIDENTS TO DESTROYERS.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume L, Issue 60, 30 September 1907, Page 4

ACCIDENTS TO DESTROYERS.

A FATAL FIRE. London, August 9. ("n:' of the destroyers which took part a ?h> recent Royal Review has since met with an accident, with the result that -h» has turned up at Portsmouth with about 40ft of her forepart eom- :>!(-!>?}■ Hit away, leaving, as in the case of. tli» r,.3.Suevie, only a portion of the •!'ip to be towed into dock. It seems li.at the destroyer, known as the Quail, vis engaged in night manoeuvres otF the Swanage coast, and, with the other destroyers of the Home Fleet, was defending the approaches to I'oole harbor, into which the enemy, represented l>v the scouts Attentive and Adventure, were attempting to force an entrance. All the vessels taking part in the operations were manoeuvring without lights, an.l tire intense blackness of the night, combined with a high sea, rendered the proceeding a difficult and dangerous one. Suddenly the watch on board the Quail saw the searchlight of a scout sweeping the water near them; the beam proceeded from the Attentive, the flagship of Commodore Bayly, in command of the flotillas, and the vessel which headed, one of the lines during the late review.' She was dashing in at 20 knots, evidently searching for destroyers of the defending force. The blinding glare of the searchlight apparently dazzled the officers navigating the Quail, and before they could get her out of the way the Attentive was upon her. Her "sto i struck the destroyer on the starboard side abreast of the gun-platform. So great was the impact that the scout's sharp bow cut right through the frail sides of the destroyer. For some moments the vessels were locked together, and when eventually the bow of the Attentive was got clear the forward part of the destroyer broke off and sank; the collision occurred about 2 am. At the moment of the impact ten men were sleeping on the mess-deck of the Quail, in the part that was shorn off, and they had very narrow escapes. Some indeed were cut off from escape by the sten of the scout, while one man had his boots pinned down by the buckled metal and only escaped by wrigling out of his top-boots. Happily, no lives were lost, though several men sustained somewhat severe injuries and one man had his leg broken.

Directly the news of the accident became known the vessels of the Fleet turned their searchlights on the scene. ' The forward bulkheads of the destroyer ' were cut clean away, and it was only 1 the alter watertight compartments that ' kept the vessel afloat. The damage is recorded as being the most serious ever sustained by a destroyer which has been in collision, and kept afloat. Nov.- that (she is in dock, the Quail offers an extraordinary spectacle, for the whole forecastle has been cut off, exposing to view the transverse bulkhead; her plates are . almost as cleanly cut through as if they had been shorn with a machine tool, proving the terrific force with which Hie Attentive struck her; the latter, by the way, has sustained some damage also. ; ANOTHER DISASTER.

More serious, from the point of view of loss of life, has been another disaster —a fire —which occurred on board another destroyer of the Home Fleet, the Spiteful, which, like the Quail, had been one of those passed in review by the King. The fire broke out on Monday evening, while the Spiteful was getting under tfay to proceed to Portsmouth to replenish her stores-preparatory to going on a cruise with the Home Fleet, for suddenly a huge sheet of flame burst from the alter stokshold of the vessel, which was soon enveloped jn flames. Signals of distress were raised, and Commodore Bayly was quickly at hand. It was found that the flames had obtained complete control of the after stokehold, in which four men were known to have been at work. The crew showed great bravery, and one man, by means of a smoke-helmet, is said to have gone below and assisted to get out two of those who were in such great danger. The other two had apparently been killed instantly, for nothing could be seen of them, though their remains were ultimately discovered. As the fire could not be otherwise got under, the stokehold was fastened down and flooded; two men were "killed, one man was severely injured, and two were slightly injured. The Spiteful—and another destroyer, the Surly—had been specially fitted up for oil-fuel experiments. Two years ago there was a serious oil-fuel fire on the unlucky Spiteful, caused by a leakage from the tank, the oil from which had found its way to te bilges under the . boilers, anil a red-hot cinder set it alight. , The cause of the present fire is not yet j known, but it is suggested that it may j have been due to leakage, or else to a defective valve, but, in any case, a large I quantity of oil must have become ignited l to have created so much flare and such | intense heat.