NAVAL BATTLE

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LVII, Issue 124, 19 October 1914, Page 5

NAVAL BATTLE

FOUR GERMAN DESTROYERS SUNK. OFF THE DUTCH COAST. EVERY ENEMY SHIP ACCOUNTED

Received 18, 5 p.m. London, October 17. The Press Bureau reports that a British Cruiser and (our destroyers saini four German destroyers on the Dutch coast. The High Commissioner, under date London, October 17, 7.35 p.m., gives the following official confirmation:— The cruiser Undaunted, accompanied by the destroyers Lance, Lennox, Legion and Loyal, engaged four German destroyers off the Dutch coast this afternoon. All the enemy's destroyers were sunk.

! BRITISH CASUALTIES SLIGHT. SHIPS BUT LITTLE DAMAGED. Received 1!), 1.20 a.m. London, October 18. Official.—One officer and four men I were wounded in the engagement resulting in the sinking of four German destroyers. The damage to the British [vessels was slight. We picked up SI Germans.

! The casualties of the British Kaval Brigade in the siege of Antwerp were 12 killed and 89 wounded.

ANOTHER BRITISH CRUISER SUNK.

BY THE DEADLY SUBMARINE.

London, October 10.

A Cerman submarine sank the cruiser Hawke in the North Sea. Fifty-two 1 survivors were landed at Aberdeen. Tae submarine failed to hit the Theseus.

, [The Hawke was an old protected .cruiser built in 1803. Her displacement was 7350 tons, her speed 19.5 knots, and carried two 9.2 in. and ten Gin. guns. The Theseus was a sister ship.]

Wellington, October 16.

The -.Admiralty reports under date London, October 10 (1 p.m.):—The warship Theseus was attacked by a submarine in the, northern waters of the [North Sea yesterday artcrnoon, but was missed. Tho warship Hawke was attacked about the same time and sunk. Four officers and 49 men were landed at Aberdeen by a trawler. The remaining officers and men are missing.

ENEMY TRAWLER AS A DECOY. NO TIME TO LAUNCH BOATS. HUNDREDS STRUGGLING IN THK SEA. 200 ADRIFT ON A RAF.P. ' Received IG, 10.30 a.m. ' ! London, October 10. The Hawke sank in five minutes. The survivors, who escaped in one boat, wore picked up by a Norwegian steamer and transferred to a trawler.

Received 18, 3.30 p.m. London, October 17,

Whcn war broke out, the Hawke was a sea-training -vessel for boys. Most of the crew were very young, and included eight cadets who had only left Dartmouth College in August. The skipper of the trawler liensinness ,'statcs that the torpedo struck the Hawke aft of the engine-room at eleven o'clock in the morning. There was only time to launch one or two boats before the vessel turned 'turtle. ' The rescued men, who had been ad r .ft for five hours in an open boat, told him that they saw hundreds of men strut;g'ing in the water, wearing cork jackets, and hanging on to floats and rafts. They could do nothing, as their boat was packed.

j Other survivors state that the Hawke sighted a foreign trawler. In accordance with instructions, the Hawke approached, with a view to examining the ship. As she neared tbe trawler an explosion occurred, and the periscope of a submarine showed above the water.

The explosion was so terrific that maimed men were blown into the air, plates twisted, and a gap torn in the side of the Hawke, which canted to starboard with alarming rapidity. The crew attempted to man the guns, hut owing to the list it was impossible Ito train them on the submarine.

Tlic Hawkc was splendidly equipped with life-saving apparatus, but it was impossible to get out the boats. Al>out 200 of the crew got away on a readyjmadc raft. Their fate is unknown, but a steam pinnace, densely packed, was I seen to sink.

Dr. J. IT, D. Watson, surgeon on the Hawkc, a well-known international, is imissing.

STORIES OF SURVIVORS |NO SIGN OF CONFUSION. "EXPLOSION SENT US FLYING." Received 18, 11.10 p.m. London, October 18. Survivors of the Ilawko state that the torpedo must have struck the maija,[zino. The fittings were sent flying. The explosion crumpled up the two deck?. The Hawke heeled on to Iter beam ends, and lowering rafts from the bowa was I almost impossible, most of them being holed as they swung overboard. The skipper was on the bridge when the snip was struck. His orders were promptly obeyed, and there was no sign of confusion. It was bitterly cold. After the disaster the periscope of th« •übmarine was again that the Germans wcrc^flHßkk-sut

for any cruisers coming to th» Hawke'a assistance. Rafts fr'red from the ship gradually drifted a'purls, A survivor from the engine-room says: ''The explosion sent us flying. One cylinder was wrecked, the steam escaping in scalding clouds. The bugles [sounded the summons, 'Everyone re- , main at Mb post,' and the order to abandon the Bhip quickly followed." BOMBARDMENT OF OATTARO. FLEETS IN CONTACT. Received 18, 3.35 p.m. Rome, October 17. The bombardment of Cattaro was resumed with tho greatest violence from the fleet and Mount Touchin. During the night six French ships, in ! response to a wireless message, rushed in search of an Austrian torpedo flotilla, which was attacking one of the Allies' vessels. A submarine struck the 'Austrian torpedoer, but the rest escaped.

GERMAN CRUISER LAID UP.

LENGTHY STAY AT HONOLULU,

Received 18, 4.40 p.m. Honolulu, October 17. The Geicr remains indefinitely to repair engines, which will require several weeks. The Government is watching, to prevent the violation of neutrality.

RUSSIAN MINES IN THE BALTIC.

A MEASURE OF SELF-DEFENCE.

(Received 18, 4.40 p.m. * Pctrograd, October 17. Official.—Owing to the German submarines appearing at the entrance to the Gull of Finland and the Russian i shores, Russia has mined the mouthg of 'the gulf of Finland and the Gulf of [Riga, whence all traffic is stopped.